Choosing Between Domestic Adoption and International Adoption

The best way to make a decision between considering domestic adoption versus an international adoption is to write down a list of pros and cons.

Adoption STAR has developed a list of important areas to consider as you make the decision between a domestic and international adoption.
Cost
Educational requirements
Parent requirements
Paperwork
Wait time
Travel
Children available
Child’s social background and medical history
Child’s birth family connections
Legal issues
The decision is yours

Cost

The cost between international and domestic adoption can be similar or vary greatly depending upon the country you choose to adopt from within international adoption and which domestic program you ultimately choose. It is a misconception that there is a large difference between the costs for an international adoption versus a domestic adoption. Both international and domestic adoptions have their own unique costs involved. Some of the vast differences include costs for a visa and other immigration documents and the cost of traveling overseas, both common costs within an international adoption. While within a domestic adoption you may have expenses such as birth parent living expenses, which would be rare to see in an international adoption. A domestic public adoption would cost very little if you adopt from your state’s foster care system.

Educational requirements

Education is typically involved, or at least should be involved with all types of adoptions, however this is not always the case. There are important educational requirements based on The Hague Convention for International adoptions and that requirement is to have at least ten educational hours pre-adoption. Domestic infant adoptions don’t always have educational requirements pre-adoption, however Adoption STAR has been a leader in promoting the importance of both pre and post adoption requirements. When adopting an older child through a public agency, educational requirements are required and are often followed the Model Approach to Partnership in Parenting (MAPP) curriculum.

Parent requirements

This is another area where international and domestic adoptions can differ noticeably. An agency, for example has no control over a country’s adoptive parent requirements and these requirements may include age, marriage length, whether or not singles can adopt, and even weight and other health requirements. Within a domestic adoption, many times you will not need to worry about age requirements and many agencies, including Adoption STAR works with married and unmarried couples and singles.

Paperwork

By far, an international adoption wins for requiring the most paperwork. In addition to the application process which is often lengthier than a domestic application and in addition to the home study paperwork, there are the required immigration applications and documents, the dossier preparation, paperwork that needs to be notarized and/or authenticated, paperwork that needs to be translated into the language of the country you are adopting from, etc. You also have many entities that will be requiring your documents such as your adoption agency, your state, the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) and the foreign government.

Wait time

It is difficult to assess waiting times within any adoption as so many factors can contribute to this time period. However within international adoption, if all goes well within a specific country program, there is typically a proposed time frame between the adoption steps including a range for receiving a child referral, traveling to meet the child, and estimated time when child can travel home with you. Within domestic adoption, an agency can always attempt to provide you with their placement time statistics, but that does not mean you will adopt within that time frame. Within most domestic infant child placement agencies, the child’s birth parents are making the selection. Other issues that may impact wait times is how restrictive a prospective adoptive parent may be in their feelings about a child’s race, background issues, etc.

Travel

Today international adoption almost always requires you to travel to the child’s country of origin. Travel is typically required one to two times and can range in time frames from one-week stay to 4 plus weeks.

There may be travel involved within a domestic adoption if your child is born or residing in a state or city that differs from your home state or city

Children available

This area may truly make or break your decision to adopt domestically or internationally. If your heart is set on adopting an infant that you should rule out an international adoption. Newborns are not available via an international adoption, and it is rare that children under age 1 or 2 are available. The number of children adopted internationally has been declining, as the available children are becoming older. If a family prefers to adopt a toddler or school age child, international adoption may be a better option for them.

Child’s social background and medical history

Social and medical histories will be provided on children whether you adopt domestically or internationally. Often within an international adoption, there is not much information even though the child is older because often the child has been abandoned and there is no information on his or her biological relatives. In a domestic adoption, you will receive both an extensive social and medical history as well as educational information for children who have been in the foster care system. Within a domestic infant adoption, an adoption agency will provide you with background information on the child’s birth parents that includes a social, educational and health history as well as information on prenatal care and whether there are any risk factors including but not limited to drugs or alcohol, mental health, learning disabilities within the birth family, etc.

Child’s birth family connections

In a domestic adoption, you will learn more about a child’s birth family, specifically the child’s birth parents and you and the birth parents may have the ability to select to meet and have ongoing communication after placement. In an international adoption you may or may not receive information on the child’s birth family and rarely will you have the ability to keep in touch. One reason why some adoptive parents state they chose the international adoption route was that they did not want to have an open adoption and “deal” with the child’s birth parents. Experience and studies have shown that in closed and international adoptions adoptive parents “deal” with the birth parent more frequently as it is hard to compete with the fantasy birth mother and hard to continuously share with your child that there is no information available to answer his or her questions.

Legal issues

There are many myths when it comes to legal aspects within adoption. It is important to research the unique legal issues involved in both a domestic and international adoption. Each country has its own set of laws governing adoption that must be met and if for some reason the country you selected experiences political upheaval within its borders or its relationship with the U.S. is damaged for whatever reason or there is a natural disaster such as an earthquake, your adoption plans may be postponed or suspended. Though it is true that if all goes well within an international placement, it would be rare for the birth family to stop the process, this may not be as common as you might think in a domestic adoption. One reason why some adoptive parents state they chose an international adoption over a domestic adoption was because they believed that the child’s birth family may come and take the child back. The large majority of domestic adoptions are not revoked or disrupted. You may have read stories put out by the media about children’s disrupted adoptions years after placement, these are the extremely rare and are usually the result of unsound legal practices.

The decision is yours

As you can see there are many factors to consider and you may have a longer more personal list to explore. Perhaps you have a strong link or ethnic connection to a specific country, or maybe you speak the language fluently and feel more equipped to adopting via an international adoption. Perhaps you have always dreamed of parenting a newborn or feel that domestic adoption provides you with more options. Remember even when you choose either an international or domestic route there are still options within that path… such as what country? Or what domestic program? What agency? Etc. Consider it exciting that you have these options. In addition to all the research and weighing the pros and cons, it comes down to what makes you feel the most comfortable. Now the decisions is yours…