Has anyone heard of MAPS International

ndkaff.... When my sister comes over for Easter, I will ask her what country her neighbor tried to adopt from. She is very good friends with her. I'll let you know after I find out. Have a good holiday!

Thank you MomTo1 for all of your help:) Denise

No problem Denise.... I'm glad to help you. I'm also glad I checked the country. It turns out that I was wrong. The country she tried to adopt from was Guatemala. Two failed placements from there. What country are you looking to adopt from?

MomTo1, I was told that MAPS will escort the baby from either India, Guatumala, or Seria Leon(?). My husband and I are not too keen on traveling overseas at the present moment with all the terrisom(sp) going on. I have been reading, I don't remember if it was on these boards or not about people having problems with adopting from Guatumala. The birthmothers changing their minds. This is way my husband and I are thinking of turning to international adoption......less of a chance of birthmother changing her mind:confused: We are starting to lean towards trying to adopt from India if we go with MAPS:confused:

I can fully understand your desire to travel abroad!!! I won't travel either, right now. That is wonderful that the agency will bring the child here into the states. I know of one couple that adopted from India. They are members of our church. They have a gorgeous little boy. They plan on adopting a second child from that country in the next few years. Good luck to you!!! Do you have your dosier (did I spell that right, I did domestic adoption) ready. Have you completed your homestudy? You must be getting so anxious! How far along are you? Sorry for all the questions. I'm just excited for you! The joy I felt when they placed my daugher in my arms was something, I still can't talk about without tears welling up in my eyes. That feeling is awesome! I can't wait for you to feel it!

MomTo1, We haven't done any paperwork in regards to international adoption.:eek: Yes, we have a homestudy done. But, it needs to be updated. It is over a year old. We have been trying to adopt domestically for 18 mos.:( I fully remember ALL the paperwork we had to fill out when we started to domestic adoption process "way back when". I am sure there is double the paperwork when you try to adopt internationally:eek: Thank you soo much for all the info. you have given me:)

We have been trying to adopt domestically for 18 mos. Are you with an adoption agency, an attorney or are you searching yourself. I live in NJ and our homestudies are good for 3 years. Where are you from? Most domestic adoption, I was told take 2 years. If that is the norm, then you are almost there.

MomTo1, We live in MI and are/were trying to adopt domestically through an agency. In MI the homestudies are only good for a year. At the agency we are at they don't update your homestudy until you have been matched with a baby. The frustrating thing at the agency we are at is that the director wants our caseworker to do 4 homestudies per year. Each homestudy has at least 5-6 couples in them. I think they should quit worrying about getting in so many couples and try to get in more birthmothers. A homestudy group is just finishing up so I think the count of waiting couples is close to 30 if not a little more:mad:

Ndkaff.... Only good for a year. That is crazy!!! Our homestudy cost $900, is that what they are running there. It would seem like a money racketering business if they charge that much and you have to renew it once a year. I hope the homestudy costs is cheaper then it is here. I would be at my wits end also having to worry constantly about the homestudy running out. Are the international homestudies the same? I have to agree with you 100%, it seems they are worrying too much about the homestudies and not doing enough outreach to help pregnant woman who have decided they need to place. I fully understand your frustrations!!! With all the new couples coming in, do they try to match the couples that have been waiting the longest, or does it work like the agency we used, in which the birthmother choose the adoptive couple. By the way, here in NJ, we were told that a homestudy for an international adoption is very different then a homestudy for a domestic adoption. Is that the case in MI? 18 months of waiting is very hard. My nerves would be wreck and I think, I would start to get depressed. I remember each time the phone would ring, hoping and praying it was the adoption agency. May I ask if you suffered through any infertility also. I, personally, went through 7 years of it before we turned to adoption. I feel, when you have gone through this journey and then the adoption journey, the stress overload sometimes is often very hard to bare. I was at the point where I could not even attend children's birthday parties because it sent me into such a downward spirial. The rollercoaster ride of infertility and then adoption, at times, for me was like a death sentence. I have to tell you, that the minute they placed the baby in my arms, the sun came out again and it never has gone back. My life has changed 360 degree's. All the pain, went out the window. Looking at my child now, I am grateful that I went through everything I did and I ended up with Her. The big picture is so hard to see when you are in the dark tunnel. Good luck to you and I wish you a speedy placement. :) :)

MomTo1, Yes, we have been through infertility too. I had surgury for entrometorsis. Then I was on Lupron shots for a couple of months. A couple of artificial insemanations which failed. Then I was on clomid, a couple of more artificial insemanations. Then clomid, a injection(( forget the name ). In total I went through at least 9 insemations when we called it quits. The infertility specialist couldn't tell us why the insemantions weren't working.:( So we figured adoption was our next step:) Hopefully we will have some good luck with adoption soon:)

Oh boy, I've been there. I had that surgery too for endo. And the lupron that made me crazy. Went on the clomid, almost divorced over that. Did the inseminations and did 3 IVF's. Talk about not having any dignity left when you are done. At first, I would not admit that I went through infertility, when others asked me why I adopted. That whole can of worms was too emotional to open up. All the pain, the heartache, the let downs. Now, I have come to realize that by denying my infertility, I am denying a part of myself. I feel relieved, in a since, that my husband has been labeled the cause of our infertility, so I don't feel I have to carry all the blame, only part. Even though I had the endo, the doctor felt with his problem, that we would never be able to concieve. I did get pregnant once through IVF, but I miscarried. The doctor said because of my husbands sperm that it probably would never have developed properly, Yikes!!! Yet they still recommend I give it another try, because "they got me pregnant". I was just a statistic. Anyway, it's been a long road. I see it has been for you too. Hold on there girlfriend. Life can only get better, trust me! Good luck to you!

I live in Maine also. I am researching agencies as well. I have a friend that recently adopted thru INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION SERVICES CENTRE. She was very happy. She adopted a little girl from China about a month and a half ago. I have a friend who works for MAPS. She speaks very highly about the China program. What countries are you looking into? Anyone adopt from Russia in Maine?

My adoption attorney recommended calling MAPS when we were thinking about adopting from Russia. We live in Mass. My attorney i s very reputable and well versed in all types of adoptions, so I trusted her judgement... just decided not to go international. Best of Luck Bumpkin

well we didnt end up going international thru maps but we did go state wise and they did very good. the head director of the agency was changed right after we got there which made a big difference. the new director used other out of state agencies to find babies and after about 100 calls and 8 months we had a beautiful baby girl. if you have to go thru maine there is really only a few places that do international. i think maps and there is one in bangor and for some reason the name is slipping my mind. both of them do homestudies by taking a percentage of your income up to $3000. and the homestudy does only last a year and then you have to do an update which i think was $100 (not positive) i have 3 friends that have have used maps in the last few years and they all took more than a year to get the baby just because the other countries take so long to get paper work done. they do bring the baby to you only with certain countries. most countries make you tavel at least once sometimes twice. anyway i hope this helped a little! if you have any questions feel free to ask.

NO, we used MAPS and after a year of misleading information, we luckily found an attorney in Tampa Florida who took our case which hopefully will result in us going to court in August this year. We started December 2004 with MAPS and our soon to be new son has missed a year of school, still has unopened birthday and Christmas presents awaiting him in his room. I would call Irina O'Rear in Tampa Florida. Good Luck