When considering an agency, check out the agency's reputation and accreditation. Start with the licensing department of your state. It can tell you whether the agency has been cited for licensing violations and whether the licensing office has received any complaints about the agency. You can request a copy of the state rules governing adoption agencies so that you understand the standards your agency must follow. Your state department of social services or your state or local department of consumer affairs may also be able to give you information about the agency.

International Adoptions

You can adopt a foreign child through an American agency that specializes in international adoptions. (You can adopt directly, but most people use an agency since because direct adoption from an international country can be very difficult and the risk of problems is high.) An agency will know the U.S. immigration laws and the laws of the country of the child, as well as the adoption laws of your state.

U.S. immigration laws require that prospective adoptive parents be married or, if single, at least 25 years old. The adoptive parents must file an Orphan Petition (Form I-600) with the agency now known as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly called the INS), to show that the child's parents have died, disappeared, or abandoned the child, or that one remaining parent is not able to care for the child and consents to the child's adoption and immigration to the U.S. If there are two known parents, the child will not qualify as an orphan under any circumstances.

Along with the Orphan Petition, you will need to submit a number of other documents, including a favorable home study report from the agency you choose. If USCIS approves the petition, and there are no disqualifying factors such as a communicable disease, the child can be issued an immigrant visa.

Much of the paperwork for an international adoption can be completed even before you have identified a specific child to adopt. Advance preparation is a valuable option because the paperwork often takes a long time to process, and may hold up the child's arrival in the U.S. even after all foreign requirements have been met.

Finally, be sure you check your own state laws for any preadoption requirements. Some states, for instance, require you to submit the written consent of the birth mother before they approve the entry of the child into the state. Some experts recommend that parents who adopt overseas readopt the child in their own state in order to make sure that the adoption fully conforms to state law, and in order to get a birth certificate that is in English. Sometimes, readoption is a legal necessity -- required either by the state in which you live, or by the country in which you adopted.

No foreign countries allow the adoption of children by openly gay or lesbian parents. Nonetheless, many lesbian and gay parents adopt children through international adoption procedures, keeping their sexual orientation a secret from the foreign country.

If you want to adopt a child from another country, contact International Concerns for Children, www.iccadopt.org, 911 Cypress Drive, Boulder, CO, 80303-2821, 303-494-8333.