Adoption in Asia

A coworker of mine is considering international adoptions and asked me for my advice. It's a great thing to want to adopt a child that needs a loving home. I've no idea what kind of advice she wanted from me since I've never adopted before or even close to wanting a child. I've been seeing celebrities adopting from Asia the last couple of years. I've mostly seen and heard about Angelina Jolie adopting from Cambodia and Vietnam. There have also been stars adopting from China. I know that there is a huge demand for overseas adoption especially from China, there's like a waiting list that you have to be on for some time. But what about the other Asian countries that we don't hear about? Are adoptions available there for foreigners? Well here's the rundown.

Vietnam: As you already know that Vietnam has just opened adoption to foreigners within the last couple of years again. As far as I know, you are able to adopt from Vietnam even if you're single. You can't adopt as a couple if you're just boyfriend/girlfriend (like Angelina Jolie). Normally there is a bigger demand for girls so the waiting could be longer than for boys. Most of these kids have special needs that need to be tended to. Adoption in Vietnam costs between $9,000 - $12,000 depending on the agency you choose. Vietnam is the place everyone wants to adopt from now.

Cambodia: Well we know that Angelina Jolie adopted her first child Maddox from Cambodia and put the country on the map. Not a lot of us knew that we were able to adopt from Cambodia (well at least I wasn't aware of that news). To adopt from Cambodia you have to be a married couple within the age of 25-55 and if you're not married then you have to be 40-50 years of age. So anyone younger than 25 try Vietnam cause you won't have a chance in Cambodia. All the paperwork is basically the same, you still have to do the homestudy and file paperwork from your home country and the adoption country.

Thailand: Alright you're able to adopt from Thailand. You can be single to adopt but at least 25 yrs. old and you have to be at least 15 years older than the child that you plan to adopt. Of course you have to file the paperworks and all that fun stuff. There's not a lot of adoptions from Thailand. In 2006 only 56 Immigrant Visas were issued, down from 2005 which issued 72.

Laos: The Lao government has suspended all adoption to foreigners of any Lao children. There's no orphanages or government responsible so it's not really clear who they can categorize as "orphans". So if you want a Laotian child your best bet would be an orphan from Thailand or neighboring countries because you will not get a child from Laos (my parents learned that early on).

China: Ok China is the major place for adoptions. Mostly girls are in the orphanages and they are in demand. But be warned you'll be on the waiting list for a long time.

I'm not exactly sure about the other Asian countries so if anyone has any info for me to pass along to my coworker please feel free to leave some. Giving a child a second chance at a good life is the greatest gift that anyone can give.