Has anyone adopted without

You can do independent and seek out the agencies yourself, there is a group on Yahoo and the Cara website for India adoptions. You can also go semi-independent, some agencies do that in the US. I've heard/read that independent is very difficult unless you have good contacts in India. My cousin who just came back from India said that it is much easier if you are a Indian resident and I know some people are trying that to quicken the referral process.