|
|
Agency Questions Choosing your agency can be a rather daunting task. Take your time, get informational packets from a number of agencies, and feel free to ask the agencies questions. Here is a list of questions that may be helpful. You probably don't want to ask one agency all 43 questions, but choose the questions that address your concerns. Note that there is no "right" answer - but asking these questions may help you find the agency that is right for you. 1. What are your agency's and country's requirements for prospective
adoptive parents? (For example: religion, marital status, age, and number
of current children.) 3. What orphanage are the children in and where is it located? 4. How many adoptions have you done from this orphanage? 5. How long have you been working with Cambodia? 6. With this orphanage? 7. How much experience do you have in placing special needs, older, younger children? 8. Who is the facilitator? How long have they been a facilitator? 10. How familiar are you with the facilitator? Have you ever met him/her or visited the orphanage? 11. Does the facilitator do humanitarian work? If so what? 12. How do you keep in contact with the in-country facilitator? 14. What do I need to do in order to have a child referred to me/us? 15. What are the payment amounts and when are they due? 16. What kind of reductions in fees for special needs children do you give? 17. What payments are refundable and what aren't? 18. Do you have us sign a contract and if so could you please send me a copy? 19. If we feel uncomfortable with the match, what are our alternatives? 20. How many photographs will we receive? Is a video available? 21. How many times will the referred child have been seen by a doctor? 22. Will we have access to these medical reports? 23. Will there be psychological and emotional information available on the referred child? 24. Do you have families who have met the child that I can speak to? 25. Do we travel in a group or by ourselves? 26. Will we be required by either state or US immigration laws to adopt or readopt the child here? 27. What are the post placement requirements? 28. How much should we estimate the following will cost: Foster care or nanny donations (very common for Cambodia); traveling; room and board; translator; translation fees for documents; drivers; donations to orphanage; gifts to officials and host families; document authentication; home study review fee etc. 29. How much money will we be required to carry with us while traveling? 30. If we apply, who will be assigned to our case? 31. What is the experience and the typical caseload of this person? Who will be the back-up during absences? 32. Do you help with travel arrangements such as flight reservations and visa applications? 33. Does an agency facilitator stay with us throughout the entire process? 34. Will we be given "after hour" numbers while we are abroad? 35. Is there anyone who has used you in the past that lives in our area
so that we can possibly get together with them? 37. Do you do humanitarian aid? If so what? 38. Are you involved in child welfare programs in Cambodia? 39. What percentage of your income goes towards the children left behind? 40. Will we be able to find out when was the child brought to the orphanage and by whom? 41. Will I be allowed to visit the orphanage? 42. Is the orphanage a government institution or is it private? 43. What are the most common problems encountered in adoptions from Cambodia? |
|
(c) 2004 CambodiaAdoptionConnection.com |