The Avilla Family's own....

Adoption Adventure

We have served as references for Cradle of Hope to people inquiring about working with that agency. One woman submitted a particularly well-articulated set of questions that I answered, then I kept and reissued to other families.

1. How long did it take for your adoption?
We started the process of looking for an agency in September of 1995. Our daughter became officially "ours" on January 20, 1997 in Khabarovsk, Russia. That's almost 17 months. However, there was a change in the adoption process in Russia, delaying things probably about three months. Also, we made a switch to Cradle of Hope after starting the process with another agency. Our first agency did not have any available referrals at the time our paperwork was ready and was kind enough to show us possible referrals from Cradle of Hope. Our switch to Cradle probably added an additional four months to our process.
Here is the timeline:

• October 1995 Began collecting dossier information
• March 1996 Sent application to Moscow
• April 1996 Tentative approval from Moscow
• Then we made the switch to Cradle of Hope and needed to redo some paperwork.
• August 1996 Approval of second dossier
• August 17,1996 Referral of daughter
• In October, the Russian systems made a change from Ministry of Education to the Court system. No adoptions in October, very few in November and December.
• January 1997 Traveled January 5 through January 27

1b. - How long did it take from the time they received your application?
Our application was formally completed in August 1996 and we had already indicated our interest in adopting Lise so there was no wait for a referral. It's not usually done this way.

1c. - How long did it take from the time the dossier was complete to a referral?
Same month, but we had already seen Lise's picture in April and told Cradle of Hope that we wanted to adopt her. It took a couple months to redo our paperwork.

1.d - How long did it take from the time of referral to travel?
Four months. There was a delay of at least a couple months because of the switch over in Russia from the Ministry of Education to the Judicial system.

2. Did Cradle of Hope provide you with any parent education or preparation before your adoption?
There is a lengthy and thorough booklet that was provided by Cradle of Hope that went into most of the aspects of the adoption. When we returned from our trip, another large booklet arrived that covered many aspects of adjustment and parenting. They both seemed full of helpful information. Truthfully, I didn't read either of them! We had been subscribing to the A.Parent.Russian newslist and there was a wealth of information that we gleaned from it over the year before our adoption. Everything from Attachment Disorder to Russian recipes!. We felt pretty well prepared…

3. How did you feel about the agency staff? Did they respond to you promptly when you had questions or problems? What kind of support did they give you at different phases (application, dossier, referral, waiting, and post-placement)?
The agency staff at Cradle of Hope was excellent in every way! We had experience with another adoption agency that was smaller. That agency's service was fine, but the fewer staff members needed to cover multiple roles. We experienced a "family" feeling there and the director has become our friend. When we made the switch to Cradle of Hope, the professionalism of the team there was immediately evident. Where we had spoken often with the director of our first agency, our Cradle of Hope contact was an efficient case worker. We made numerous contacts via phonemail and faxes and always received prompt replies. The larger staff at Cradle seemed to be able to provide more specific expertise in the different areas of the adoption: the assembling of the dossier, knowing where specific pieces of paperwork were in the process, the translation work, etc. We took initiative to ask questions rather than wait to hear from Cradle. Several times we faxed over a small list of questions that they returned with the answers noted on the fax. The distance did not effect our ability to get information and work with them, even though there is a three hour time difference. During the different phases, the staff was always available and responsive to our contacts.

My personal opinion is that our experience was optimized because we took initiative to ask specific questions, and we had a realistic expectation of a response time from them (usually within a day and a half). Our gleanings from the APR newslist and the FRUA website were helpful in understanding about the different areas of which we needed to be knowledgeable.

4. How much information did you receive with the referral of your child? Did you feel like you got adequate medical information? Did you feel free to turn a referral down if it wasn't a good match for your family?
Our first picture was a color copy of a polaroid, taken of Lise about six months earlier. We then requested medical information, which we received a couple days later. The initial medical information was detailed enough to enable us to have Dr. Johnson in Minnesota review her health and make a recommendation to us. When we visited the orphanage, we were able to review her complete medical file with all the comments about her developmental milestones, we were very grateful!

We did feel free to turn down a referral. The people at Cradle are very understanding about the very personal process that each family goes through to come to that consequential decision to accept a referral. I really respect their kindness and professionalism regarding this aspect of the adventure.

5. Did they clearly disclose all the fees and expenses you'd be expected to pay? Did you have any unexpected surprises as far as how much you'd have to pay?
My wife is a spreadsheet-a-holic. She had all the costs we were expecting on the worksheet and we were able to see accurately what the adoption would cost. There were no surprises.

6. Did they require you to bring large sums of money when you traveled overseas?
Our "Foreign Source Fee" was submitted to Cradle of Hope here via check, so we did not need to carry those funds with us. What we did bring was $1,500 in cash for:

• the visa fee - $200
• passport photos - $20
• Filatov medical exam - $90 (more now)
• overweight luggage fees - about $100
• souvenirs, film - about $100
• tips for drivers, translator - $50
• extra excursion (two hours each way by car) - $70
• miscellaneous food - $15

Kerry and I both had cloth money pouches that we had around our neck or tied to our belt at all times while awake.

7. How much hand-holding did your agency provide when you were traveling? Did you have a good experience with the folks who worked for your agency in Russia?
Hey, they didn't just hold our hands, they carried us! Every step of the way we were guided by a Cradle of Hope representative. During the entire 22 day trip, the only times we were not with a Cradle representative were upon the initial arrival into Khabarovsk, through passport control and customs, (about 45 minutes on our own), then during our flight from Khabarovsk to Moscow, then on our departure from Moscow, we kissed our coordinator Natasha at the ticket counter and made our way through passport control to board the plane.

Regarding our experience with the people who worked for our agency, we have wonderful memories of everyone, from drivers to homestay hosts, to translators. There wasn't a "dud" in the bunch! All were friendly and several became our dear friends. Most of what makes up your "experience" of Russia is the staff and support people that are part of the Cradle team. Several of the people were doctors, working with us to drive or translate on their time off. I really commend Cradle of Hope for their excellent staff in Khabarovsk. We had an absolutely wonderful time!

8. Do they provide any support post-placement of your child?
We received a very comprehensive guide book from Cradle of Hope. Any of our questions have been answered by phone. We were given three post-placement questionnaires to complete at intervals after our return.

9. If you had to do it over again, would you use this agency?
Well, we did have to did it over again-twice! (for Lise's brother Vanya and her three sisters). We were happy to be working again with Cradle of Hope. The second and third time, it is like dealing with family. We continue to be pleased with their service and competency.

The Adventure of a Lifetime with consequences for eternity starts with one step for your family, too!...


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