Has anyone adopted recently from a Colombia Orphanage.

Hi, We are jsut starting out. Did you reeive any repies to your querie ? If so what did they say? We are keen to learn as much as possible so that when it comes to our time we will be well informed. Feeling a bit lost with it all at moment. Thanks x

Hi, we adopted almost 2 years ago from a private orphanage called CRAN. From the time our dossier was accepted to the time we got our referral was 7 months. We are now in the process of adopting from CRAN again. The wait times have gone up a bit, and we have been told to expect about a 12 month wait from dossier acceptance to referral this time. Hope that helps.

Thanks for that. Are you adoptng a baby or a child ?

I looked into Colombia and was told that either ICBF and/or an orphanage adoption would take years. So I'm confused - how does it work with CRAN? Our hope is to maintain birth order so we are open to a child (girl) up to 2 or 3 years old. Thanks for any info. Chrissy

We are adoting an "infant"; however, by Colombia's definition that is any child 0-35 months. Still, our daughter is only 2 and we have requested that she remain the oldest, so we are hoping that we will get referred a younger baby/toddler. Most of the babies referred out from CRAN are 4-6 months old, although ocassionally they do place older toddlers and children. The agency we are using only accepts about 7 families per year, and it is for the purpose of trying to keep the wait times low.

our ages are 40 and 41. Do you think its worth trying to contact CRAN or because they take so few families it is very unlikely we would be the "chosen few". Sorry to be so direct. I have been trying to find a program for 10 months and we are no further. THANKS!

We had our dossier submitted to ICBF last April. We wanted to do a casa but the 2 casas that our agency works with were not accepting any new dossiers at that time. I like the casas for the birth mom connection.

I'm confused. Whe the dossier arrives at ICBF do we then appoint an agency? Do they refer you to an orphanage? Do they have their own age limits? Why would i choose an orphanage as opposed to ICBF.

CMASC,I'm not sure what age child you want to adopt, but Colombia has a pretty strict policy, so parents 38 years and less are allowed to adopt children 0-35 months, and those in your age category can adopt children age 3 and up. I will be happy to PM you the name of the agency I am usuing and you can discuss a CRAN adoption. I recently learned that our agency also works with a casa called Casa de Maria in Medellin, Colombia. COOP- Whether you go through a Casa or ICBF, you have to start out going through an American agency that has a program in Colombia. Some agencies only work with ICBF, some only work with Casas, and some work with both. When you adopt through ICBF, it is like adopting through the public "Department of Children's Services" system. When you adopt through an Casa, it is like adopting through a private orphanage, although ICBF gives the orphanages their "accreditation." There are pros and cons to both ICBF adoptions and adoptions from Casas, so you just kind of have to weigh the differences and decide what is best for you. It used to be that Casas tended to place younger babies and the wait times were not as long. However, more agencies work with ICBF than Casas, and there are only a handful of Casas in Colombia, so it seems like the wait for Casas has increased recently. Also, if you want to adopt a sibling group or an older or special needs child, it's probably best to go through ICBF. Hope that helps a little bit.

Sorry Coop, just saw that you are in the UK, so obviously you wouldn't be using a U.S. agency, but one in the UK that works with Colombia.

Nasvillegirl - Thanks for the offer to help. I understand our ages are a factor and I'm ok with that. My only request is to maintain birth order which I think Colombia requires as well. Our daughter will be 3 in June so it may or may not work for us but any info you have would be appreciated. Thanks!

CMASC,You are right, maintaining birth order is going to supercede your age, so you would be able to adopt a child younger than your daughter. Sorry, I didn't realize you already had a child in the home. I will PM you the name of my agency and you can find out more info from them.

Thanks for that, but i don't think there are any agencies in uk that dea with Colunbia. When we adopted from Guatemala we used an Amereican agency, but i've noticed a lot of the agencies only deal with US citizens. I think things are going to be vey difficult for us as i don't know of anyone in Uk who has adopted from Columbia.

Coop,I don't really know the answer to this one, sorry. I'll be glad to PM the names of some American agencies to you though, and you could see if they might be able to work with you on a Colombian adoption. I know there are also agencies in Europe that work with Colombia, because when we were in Bogota' adopting our daughter we met several different European couples who were adopting as well.

Thanks that would be great. my e mail colettehogan@btinternet.com