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Most countries do NOT routinely circumcise boys, so if it's important to you that your son be circumcised you'll probably have to take care of it here. There's a very good article in the Voices of Adoption section of [url=http://www.rainbowkids.com]RainbowKids.com Adoption Information, Support, Child Photolistings, Articles and Resources[/url] about it, written by a pediatrician. Basically it is more complicated because it entails general anesthesia if they are more than newborns. It will also have to be done by a urologist (if you're doing it for religious reasons you should discuss it with your rabbi -- I believe there are some Mohels who are also medical doctors and also some other religious ritual that can be done in place of a bris if the child has already been circumcised by a doctor). My understanding, from the account of a friend who was circumcised as an adult, is that yes, it is very painful.
We adopted both of our boys from Korea, and they were not circumsized. We decided not to have it done, for several reasons, but mainly because the differences of circumsizing an older infant o child. We were told that by the time our sons came home at 6 months it would be an actual surgical procedure in the hospital under anestesia, and the healing process would be a little longer. Our insurance also wouldn't cover it. Our agency also said we would need to wait several months, because they needed time to adjust to their new family and surroundings before havin a procedure like this so it didn't interfer with their attachments. I know several families who have waited and had it done, but both of our boys have had no problems being uncircumsized. It's definetly a personal decision, but I would do a lot of reseach first.
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My son was adopted from Eastern Europe and is intact. He was almost 3. I discussed it with my ped. SHe said he was healthy and it was up to me, and that there was no medical reason for him to have it done. I chose not to have it done. A little boy he was in daycare with had to have a circ corrected at age 3, it had been botched as a newborn. I know he was in pain for several days. However, you can research the archives here and you will find many, many threads on the subject. Some are heated, some are civil. Some have mentioned that the kids had no pain and bounced back quickly, other mentioned kids being in pain. Just like other things, depends on the kid. My kid feels little to no pain and would have breezed through it, I'm sure. Another kid may have a tough time.
The vast majority of the world does not circ their boys. Depending on where you look in the US, it is being done less and less in some parts. Here in the Great Lakes area, it's still done routinely. It's just seen as the thing to do, it's always been done that way. Circ didn't really become popular until the late 1800's-early 1900's. There truly is no medical reason to have it done, only religious. We didn't circ our son when he came home from Ethiopia. We thought about it, but after researching, decided we wouldn't.Um...just read my post. Sorry for the mini-dissertation. But I do have links if anyone's interested!
We did not do our bio boys as there was no medical reason and insurance did not cover it. (they are teens now and it has not been an issue even though thier dad is) My ason was six when we had it done for medical reasons. He had to be put under and he was in pain for about two weeks. It was only covered by insurance because it was a medical reason. (adhesions). Honestly, it's been like 18 months and he still remembers it and it's a very bad memory for him. It was also very detrimental to our bonding. If I had to do it again I would have waited longer.