Pandora's box

I have to say I feel like I've opened it. Certainly I recognised international (or any) adoption would be fraught with paperwork and legalities but I have to own up and say I hadn't realised the complexity of even initiating the decision. As a single man, I knew it wouldn't be easy but despite reading articles here and there about how men can adopt nowdays and are in fact encouraged to, I can't believe how little - even less than little - information there is for potential single men out there. I point out I've only been researching this for a few weeks and had no idea about adoption agencies. I also didn't realise these were mostly US-based (I'm in Scandinavia) and I can find very few here in Europe. I've spent the last three days - all day - tiring Google out so they will have to shut it down shortly to let it recover. Apart from here, I've found very little useful information about men adopting - except opinion from two camps. Suffice to say that I get the distinct feeling guys in my position are looked at as potential deviants and considered guilty until proven innocent. Is that the case from anyone who has already been through the process? I've also discovered that some agencies don't list single men in their eligibility country section of countries that appear to officially allow single men to adopt. I'm not sure whether that indicates and oversight or if it reflects the opinion of the agency itself? In which case, how do you find agencies that have no qualms about investigating one as potential adoptive parent material? Or is it possible to bypass the agency process, undergo a homestudy via the parent country welfare system, engage an international adoptive lawyer in the parent country to initiate dialogue with an adoptive lawyer and welfare system in the prospective child's country and do it that way - bearing in mind appropriate conventions etc. I'm sure I have a lot more questions but won't overwhelm in one post. Please PM if it is more comfortable.