Considering Adoption and need some guidance!

I didn't adopt from Korea, but let me give you some information. Korea is the country with the longest established adoption program with the U.S. The program is organized and ethical, and since Korea is a fairly prosperous country and has a Western style medical system, the care given to the children in need of families is generally pretty good. Korea is the ONLY country from which Americans adopt, which requires families in the non-special needs (NSN) program to work with a U.S. licensed agency that has a special contract with the Korean government to place children with families IN THEIR HOME STATE. Because of this constraint, most parents have only 1-3 agencies from which to choose; in some states, there is NO agency with Korean government approval to place NSN Korean children with American families. If you are open to a child with special needs, you will have a broader range of agencies with which you can work, but otherwise, you won't be able to adopt if you live in a state with no agencies permitted to place NSN children there. There is a website called adoptkorea, started by an adoptive Mom, which maintains a list of the states and the agencies permitted to work there; I'm not sure how up to date it is, however. Each American agency with a Korea program works with one or more of the four Korean social welfare organizations that are allowed to place children with Americans. While Korea has overall rules governing who may adopt and so on, each of the four social welfare programs may have some additional rules. As an example, at least one of the agencies has a requirement regarding the maximum Body Mass Index (BMI) of the prospective parents, believing that being obese can cause a parent to die prematurely. Korea's adoption program has decreased sharply in size over the past decade. The main reasons are the increasing prosperity of the country (fewer babies placed because of poverty), the decrease in the social stigma associated with unmarried parenthood and increasingly available information about sex and contraception, and Korean incentives (such as tax breaks) for domestic adoption. The Korean government was, at one point, hoping to phase out its NSN program by 2012, though this will probably not happen, since there are still some NSN children who are not being adopted domestically. However, it is expected that the numbers of NSN babies will continue to drop, and that the number of people wanting to adopt from Korea will be far greater than the number of babies at any given time. Most agencies have already decided to ban gender preference, at least for childless couples, in order to reduce the number of people choosing Korea and ensure the placement of boys (Americans overwhelmingly want girls). Some have also begun to institute temporary program closures, except for parents open to SN children, so that long waiting lists do not develop. It is believed that today's supposedly NSN babies are a bit more likely to have been exposed to alcohol prenatally than in the past, and there does seem to be an increase in the number of referred children who turn out to be somewhere on the fetal alcohol spectrum. Korean medical reports will usually indicate whether a birthmother smoked or drank during pregnancy, but a child is not automatically listed as SN if she has. It would be a good idea to read about the fetal alcohol spectrum, which in some cases can affect learning, judgment, etc., before accepting a referral from Korea, if you find that the child was prenatally exposed to alcohol. Do be aware that, while escort used to be the norm for Korean children, agencies seem to be moving towards requiring or strongly recommending travel. The reason is simple. Traveling to adopt gives parents an opportunity to develop an appreciation of the child's birth culture, which they can pass on to their children as they grow. I traveled to China for my adoption, and I must say that I had an absolutely wonderful experience, and have some delightful memories that I regularly share with my daughter. I wish you well in your quest to adopt, and hope that you'll go to the Korea forum on this site for more information. Sharon