At this time American families can bring home a boy at 12 months or older and a girl from 15-18 months or older through international adoption from Russia. Though both boys and girls, through international adoption laws, are available for adoption at 9 months old. After you are in Russia and meet the child chosen for you, you may ask to see another child if you decide not to adopt that child.
For families wanting a very young child, Russia requires paperwork state that they are wanting to adopt a child age 0-18 months for a boy, and a child age 0-24 months for a girl. Also families can expect to wait longer for a very young child. They may wait for a referral for as long as 3to12 months. Families can adopt one child, siblings, or two unrelated children. However if the two are unrelated one must be at least age 36 months or older at the time of referral. Medical information on the child is limited.
Therefore, adoption agencies strongly encourages parents to seek advice from an American physician who specializes in the medical information you will receive. The physician can inform you before going to Russia with how to interact with the child, what questions to ask, and information to gather in the evaluation of the child, etc. You can send via fax or email information back to the physician and receive their opinion before accepting referral of a child. It is a myth that most Russian children offered for adoption have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Effect.
For married couples and single women, or if you've been divorced, are leading qualifications for adoption. And there are no restrictions for the number of children in the household. Russia is quite lenient regarding the ages of parents. Russian guidlines consider the mother as the primary caregiver so the age of the mother is themain factor in gaining approval to adopt. Russia does have stricter regulations regarding the health of the adopting parents. Therefore, if you have medical conditions, or if you are currently taking prescription medications, then it would be to your benefit to discuss your specific case with you adoption agency so they can help you determine if there will be any issues before you continue the process. If you are taking a prescription medication for any psychological diagnosis, including depression, they will need to know this up front. Also, if there is any prior criminal charges or arrest record they will need to know that as well, so you will need to discuss this with them. While it does not automatically disqualify you, each situation is dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
With all international adoptions, all medical information and your criminal past must be addressed in your home study with other adoption related documents. Make them aware of any relevant information prior to your applying with your adoption agency, They can help you avoid the expenditure of time, money, and emotions, only to later discover that Russia might not allow you to adopt due to undisclosed information.
Please see http://www.adoption-
