Adoption in U.S. or Guatemala

Guatemala is closed for all foreign adoptions due to rampant corruption. We used Sunny Ridge - they are not too far from you in Bolingbrook. They hold monthly information meetings that are very informative. Dates and times are on their website at www.sunnyridge.org. Feel free to email me with any questions on the agency.

Guatemala is closed and won't reopen back in the USA due to corruption there an not complying with the Hague agreement.

There are many ways to explore international adoption. our daughter is 3yrs old and from Ukraine. She has mild cerebral palsy, we committed to her last May and brought her home in October. we spent just under $14k which included document preparation, travel and our facilitation fees. Thats totally reasonable for an adoption and alot less than even a domestic.
www.reecesrainbow.org

Also, for an international adoption your age limits are impossible. You are unlikely to adopt a child under age 1 in many programs, under 2-3yrs of age in most programs unless severe special needs.

don't be afraid of special needs, don't let the diagnosis rule the person. :) Our daughter has CP but she's delightful, smart, learning fast and has settled into our family perfectly. Many special needs are easily manageable, like HIV (www.projecthopeful.org) which is easier to manage than diabetes and kids with HIV live normal, healthy lives and to ripe old ages. :) Also things like cleft lip, missing fingers/extra fingers/toes, overactive thyroid, heart conditions, limb differences, CP, etc are all easily managed.

Also don't be so hung up on the age.... adopting a child under 1 is almost completely unheard of in IA. Be flexible with age, look around at the special needs, you just never know. So if you are more open something will come your way. You can message me if you have questions!

I have been there. I have adopted 2 children from Korea.. and it was great experience. I checked America.. but they have two many rules.. like that parents can come back... and things like that.. South America sometimes has problems.. i have a friend who went to columbia and got stuck for 3 months.. because of civil unrest...and another who got taken for over 20,0000 We used Holt International.. they are reputable.. my son was 2 months old when he came home.. healthy.. and well cared for.. he is now 14 and my daughter was 7 months old.... love Holt.. check them out.. if you ever want to talk... email me.. ____@____.com A. H. mom of two awesome kids...

You may wish to contact The Cradle in Evanston. They may be able to help. If you are flexible, Guatemala is definitely an option, however you may need to expand your age requirements to up to a year due to their system and fostering, etc.

A few of my friends and family members have adopted both here and abroad. None of them paid less then 10,000. International adoption can be significantly more. My very good friend adopted from China, and at the end spent around 25,000. (including international travel.) Many international adoptions are with children who have "special needs." Special needs can mean something as simple as a cleft palate. (which you'd have to pay to fix.) Adoption is very expensive and I've hear a good rule, is to save AT LEAST 10,000 for US adoptions and 15,000 for international.

It's my understanding that Guatemala is now closed to foreign adoption. Maybe it's opened back up -but check into that. We have friends who adopted from Guatemala 4 years ago and were considering doing it again, but they had closed to outside adoption at that time. When they adopted from Guatemala, it took a little over a year. They went through the U.S. agency who then paired them with a pregnant woman in Guatemala who was going to give her baby up for adoption. They had to go stay in Guatemala for pretty long stretches after the baby was born -they would stay or go visit the foster mother in her apartment with the baby. I want to say the adoptive mother had to stay for 2 week stints over several months. The father went once for an entire stint and then would go for shorter times due to work. They were able to finalize the adoption and bring her home at 6 months. Check to see if they've re-opened for adoption and if so, if the process is still the same.

We have family friends of ours that was set to bring their daughter home from Gautemala and have been going on a 3 year battle to get her home and this poor child is living in terrible conditions. They go out to visit her when they can but the country will not budge. It's all very sad. So Guatemala is not an option unfortunately.

I don't have an answer, but would be very interested in the responses. We too are beginning the process of looking into this!