There has been a lot of news lately in regards to international adoption programs, and most of it is not overly encouraging. I wrote awhile ago about all of the changes in the China adoption program, and how officials have decided to become more restrictive on who can adopt from China, starting in May of this year. You can read those posts here and here, and you can get lots more information on China adoptions on the China adoption blog.


Even more recently (last week), Russia has announced that they have indefinitely suspended accepting any new applications from parents in the United States wanting to adopt Russian children. Technically, this suspension is part of the Russian re-accreditation process for the U.S. agencies and will only last several months, but suspensions rarely end as quickly as planned (or as quickly as adoptive parents hope). You can read more details about the Russian adoption suspension here and here and you can find a very informative post about this topic on the Russia adoption blog here.

And most people involved in adoptions have heard that Guatemala is currently revising their adoption process and procedures to comply with the Hague Treaty. The U.S. government recently issued a warning that visas will not be issued for adopted children unless procedures are tightened up, and there has been some rumors of unethical adoption practices occurring in Guatemala. You can ready more about the Hague issues affecting Guatemalan adoptions on the Guatemala adoption blog here and you can find lots of current info on the situation on the Guatemala Adoption Info and News site here.

Russia, China and Guatemala together make up the top three countries that U.S. parents have been adopting from in recent years, and with all three programs going through changes or having some issues, many adoptive parents are wondering where to turn.

Ethiopia, a fairly new country to international adoptions, is seeing huge influxes in the number of adoptive families, partly thanks to the relatively quick timeframes, lower than most fees and very unrestrictive guidelines for adoptive families.

Vietnam, recently reopened after being shutdown for several years, is also seeing a lot of growth as an adoption program.

Changes are commonplace in international adoption programs, and are good, if they are being done to make the adoptions happening more ethical and safe for the children and for adoptive parents.

My advice, as always, is to do your research if you are just starting out on your adoption journey. Remember that there are millions of orphans out there that need loving families, and do not be discouraged.

For more information on adoption programs, you can read my “Transracial Adoption Options” posts. You can also check out the Africa Adoption blog.