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Hi,
We are considering adopting from eastern europe and we are wondering about whether their is any extra difficulty for those who are not Christian. Is this highlighted in the homestudy? I have seen a few agencies who specifically look for Christian parents, but, for instance, Bethany Christian Services has it in their name but doesn't mention it in their webpage much. They do however note that several Russian regions seek to place with Christian families.
We are not affiliated with any religion. If there are any biases or pitfalls to look out for because of that, I sure would like to know now.
Thanks,
dk
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I adopted my son from Bulgaria using an agency that is Christian based. My homestudy agency was also a Catholic agency. So it was mentioned in my homestudy. However, it was NOT required.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no religion requirement for Bulgaria. I am Catholic, most of Bulgaria is not. So I don't think it makes a difference. They certainly were not looking to place my son in a family with the same religious beliefs as they have in his native country.
I'm not sure it was a requirement of my agency either. I just know that my homestudy agency put it in my homestudy before I even picked an agency.
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A homestudy will include whether or not you have religious affiliation because a homestudy is about who you are and how you live. Some homestudy agencies require you to be a specific religion or any Christian religion. A good agency will tell you that upfront before you pay any money if that is the case. You should ask that question before signing on if it is not apparent from their brochures.
Placing agencies also may have requirements for religion.
I don't believe whole EE countries, other than Armenia that still requires one to be of Armenian descent(which would likely make you Muslim), have religious restrictions.
You asked about bias: I am not aware of any of these countries having *bureaucratic restrictions* on religion, but noone will be able to *guarantee* that the officials referring your child are not biased towards certain PAPs for certain reasons. Bias is everywhere
Our homestudy states that we are Jewish and we have so far encountered no issues regarding adoption from Russia. I know other people who use our agencies who have been told about possible concerns, so I feel confident that they would have told us if it was an issue.
You especially shouldn't have a problem with any of the formerly communist countries. Since religion was illegal in the USSR for so long, many people there have no religious affiliation. However, there are agencies that are directly affiliated with a religion and/or specifically state that they work only with people of a certain religion. Those agencies won't want to work with you. They are usually very up-front about this, so you shouldn't have a problem avoiding them.
Best wishes,
Xanny