If you have to go a few thousand miles to find a mate or child,just maybe you have some other issues.
Couple of options for domestic adoptions:
1. Have a ton of money - No problems
2, If #1 presents a problem, go with county / state agency. Be prepared to have your life / habits / beliefs examined and also to serve as foster parents for a time.
3. If #2 presents a problem, such as some reticence to open your whole life to the state or you hestitate to bring foster children into your home, foreign adoption becomes a relatively attractive option.
I adopted a child from Eastern Europe and I find your statement offensive.
Being "leery" of people who "have to go a few thousand miles" to adopt a child because they must "have other issues" shows a willingness on your part to make a negative judgment about thousands of people on the basis of little or no information.
If you had some personal experience of the lengthy delays, barriers, costs, and frustrations that form an obstacle to domestic adoption--- or if you had an idea of what it means to respond to the needs of a child anywhere who yearns for a mother and a father and a stable home --- I think your responses would be more well-considered and more favorable.
“Sorry but I am just leery of the whole “adopt a foriegn child” thing,...”
I’m with you on that. I don’t understand people like Laura Ingraham who adopted a Mexican girl and a Russian boy. A hundred years ago when American citizens considered themselves Americans, no problem. But now it seems that most people from a foreign country identify first with that country instead of America, no matter how their adoptive parents raise them. Just my opinion, I could be wrong...
The 'available' children in America really aren't. Biological parents, and I believe grandparents as well, have sued to get the children back, sometimes years later. Most don't, but who wants to take the risk?
Adopt from an overseas orphanage, and you won't have that problem.
“I am just leery of the whole “adopt a foreign child” thing...”
What children are available in America? Have you tried to adopt nationally? Let me explain... available children are pretty rare. Infants and toddlers even more so. Open Adoptions are available but you better be extremely wealthy and young. Essentially, you post pictures of yourself, your home, your vacation home etc.. in a portfolio in hopes to get selected by the birth mother. Many adoption agencies will even recommend you get some “plastic” work and change your appearance. The Open part of the contract (if selected) can include visitation, summer vacations etc of the birth mother and the child. Some contracts even require that you TAKE the birth mother on your family vacation. “Available children in foster care” are available but you better prepare yourself for long term emotional and physical abused kids. Many are already on anti-psychotic medications, have abused animals, have set fire etc... as young as five. The main problem is that the birth parent(s) have to sign away their parental rights. Many of these children are placed in foster care for years even after abuse has been done. So, what does a family do if they want a child? Well, they could go the whole fertility route with no guarantees. They could try to adopt in the U.S. with no guarantees OR they can go through the foreign adoption procedure with the guarantee that if they pass all of the test (believe me, there are tons of them like medical exams, financial disclosures, home inspections, background checks done via county/state/federal, driving records, tax records, fingerprinting, etc...)then they can receive a child.
We adopted a toddler from China who is now four. She is the absolute light of our lives. She is not our “foreign” child but OUR child... and yes, she is an American. Red, white and blue! Many will say that she is lucky due to the fact that she doesn’t have to worry about dying in some orphanage or being forced into a factory at 12. However, let me tell you that we are the lucky ones.
>>If you have to go a few thousand miles to find a mate or child,just maybe you have some other issues.<<
Oh, come on now. Getting drunk every night, watching porn on the TV, expecting my wife to become my sexual servant are normal issues, aren’t they?