Agencies??? MLJ??

Remember that Korea is the only country that does not let you use an agency anywhere in the U.S., for a non-special needs adoption. It requires you to use a U.S. agency that the Korean government specifically licenses for placing children with families IN YOUR HOME STATE. Does the agency you mentioned have a Korean government license to place Korean children in your state? In general, most of the agencies with Korea licenses to do NSN adoptions have been in business for 20 years or more, and the Korean government hasn't been granting licenses to any additional agencies for a long time, because the NSN program has so few children now available that it wouldn't make sense to expand the number. In fact, Korea has been working to eliminate the need for international adoption of healthy children over the next several years, by promoting domestic adoption, and the country's increased prosperity has dramatically reduced the number of children placed for adoption. Most states have only 1-3 agencies that a resident may use, and some states have none, meaning that a resident cannot adopt through the Korean NSN program. And even if there is an agency that IS licensed by the Korean government to work with residents, there is no guarantee that it is currently taking new applications. Each of the American agencies is linked to one of four Korean social welfare agencies. Two of these agencies are large, and two are small. The number of NSN children available through these agencies has dropped so sharply that, at times, there are more applicants than there are healthy babies. As a result, to avoid the development of years-long waiting lists, most agencies are not allowing gender selection (since most families request girls), and some agencies are temporarily not taking new applicants for the NSN program. Now, if you are open to special needs, the number of agencies open to you may be slightly greater, so you need to consider this option, as well. Some of the needs may be relatively minor, while some are more major, but only you can determine whether you would feel comfortable parenting a child with any of these needs. You should also be aware that many U.S. agencies and their Korean affiliates now prefer to see families travel to Korea to meet their children, rather than choosing escort. And, in fact, most countries now want Americans to travel, rather than to use escort, to bring home their adopted children. As an example, India now requires people who are not of Indian heritage to travel, even though it once permitted escort. The reasons are simple. Parents who travel develop an appreciation of their child's cultural heritage, and are better able to teach their children to honor and respect that heritage. And foreign governments want their designated representatives to meet prospective parents and assure themselves that that these people will take good care of their children. Whether an agency will accept a family that chooses not to travel is purely up to the agency, even if the foreign country permits escort. If you are afraid of flying, there are excellent programs for overcoming your fear. And, of course, many people with fear of flying take physician-prescribed anti-anxiety medications to get through flights. As a single woman who traveled to China to adopt, I can tell you only that the experience was wonderful. The flights were long, but I came home with a tremendous appreciation for the Chinese people and a lot of wonderful memories, as well as with my wonderful daughter. Don't let your fears stop you from having the trip of a lifetime. If you don't want to travel because you have a medical condition and are worried about getting sick overseas, be aware that Korea is very different from some of the countries from which Americans adopt, in that it has an extremely good, Western-style medical care system. Of course, Korea is also very strict in terms of its health requirements for adoptive parents, so you wouldn't even be allowed to adopt if you had a very significant health issue. If you don't want to travel because you think it will be a lot more expensive than using an escort, you should recognize that Korea has no length of trip requirement, in part because you don't finalize the adoption in Korea; you receive the child under a decree of guardianship, bring him/her home, and do a domestic adoption in your state of residence. You can go for just a few days, and you don't need to have both parents travel, if you want to save money. If you use escort, you will pay for the escort's flights, hotel accommodations, meals, and such, just as you would pay for those items if your spouse traveled alone to bring your child home. My guess is that you wouldn't save much on escort from Congo, either. Again, I would say that, while I don't know much about the Congo's relatively new program, the Korean program has been in existence for over 50 years, and is very organized and ethical. The country is prosperous and modern, and very user-friendly for Americans. You can stay in typical Western-style hotels, but at least one of the Korean social welfare organizations also has its own guest house for families. You wouldn't be "roughing it" in any way. And the experience of meeting your child's foster family, of doing some sightseeing, etc., would be absolutely priceless. Sharon

We are in the process of our second asoption from Korea. Our son was escorted to NYC, but now we are required to travel. At frst i was less than thrlled, but now I am really looking forward to the trip!

Surrah2,Some of your questions have been answered, but let me take a stab at the "can we switch after fees are paid" question. There are a number of points when you can pay fees. If you have just now started an adoption with an agency that facilitates adoptions from the Congo, but you have not yet completed a home study and sent it in, then you can switch to another country, however, I can't think of any agency off the top of my head that works in both Congo and Korea but does not require travel. But if you have already completed a home study and submitted it abroad and are waiting for a match, you are likely to lose two things: a) a lot of money if you decide to pull out after the referral and switch countries to one that does not require travel; b) a lot of time; if you switch countries after a match, you will need to redo your home study for the new country and submit a new dossier to a new country, and get on line behind everyone else who has been waiting for a match.So, that being said, you probably need to think long and hard before pursuing an adoption in a country that you may switch away from after a match. I hope I am understanding your question - if not, you should repost a clarification.

Thanks so much for all the responses...We do not want to travel because we have an autistic child and it would be bad to leave him for any length of time...We are considering adopting from both Korea & the Congo...a safer bet would be Korea for not traveling but my heart goes out to the Congo kids who live so poorly...I don't see any agencies that have both Korea & the Congo so I probably don't have an option of switching countries before the homestudy or what not... so I will have to pick a country and an agency and dive in...thanks so much...best wishes to all..