[pnh102]

I can't blame your brother and your friend for wanting to adopt from abroad. Even if they were able to adopt children of those who are targeted by this program, there's an unending maze of legal difficulty that would befall them should one of the birth parents decide to contest the adoption.

At least when children are adopted from dirt poor people in third world countries, this is less likely to be a problem.

[Chickensoup]

There is no problem with adopting US children as long as parental rights have been relinquished and that the child is not tribal claimed (1/8 indian)

That said, one would want to look closely before adopting any child with a difficult genetic heritage of substance abuse or mental illness. It can be a very tough adoption. There are plenty of middle class babies available. Particularly now that there has been an economic downturn.

I adopted middle class babies, I told my adoption agency that I wanted children that were from families of similar construct.