New laws expected to make process even more complex

Just a year ago Sue Cain's mission in life was to help average suburban people like herself navigate the complex process of international adoption.

The Wheaton woman and her husband, Tim Buividas, had adopted two girls from Eastern Europe. They found Gracie in Russia in 1999 with the help of an adoption agency, but they worked independently to locate Emma in 2003 in Ukraine.

Neither process was ideal, without struggles. But, she says, at least they could choose whether to go through an agency, which can cost an additional several thousand dollars, or go independently with the assistance of a facilitator and translator.

They were determined to help others realize that their dreams of adopting children could come true.

"There's so much information it's overwhelming. It's nightmarish," Cain said. "We want to give them a starting point."

The couple joined with some other adoptive parents to organize the not-for-profit Adoption Services Group in Lisle to serve as a clearing-house for people who want to find a child overseas either independently or through an agency.

Cain and company also were licensed by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to conduct home studies. They helped bring 75 children to suburban homes during their four years in business, Cain said.

However, the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption regulations, which will go into effect next year, led to the demise of the company.

The organization closed this past summer -- the first of many small agencies that could shut down because of costly and complex changes. Ultimately, that will limit options for adoptive parents, Cain predicts.

"The laws were changing so quickly and I didn't think we could keep up and do a good job," Cain said.

The regulations -- which aim to prevent trafficking, kidnapping, smuggling and baby-selling -- will require annual audits that will be costly and likely create mounds of paperwork.

Agencies will have to be accredited by the U.S. government rather than just through their state, another costly and time-consuming task, agency representatives say.

At least some of the additional documents aim to spell out adoption fees upfront -- a good thing Cain says. Another new cost and benefit: Agencies will be required to provide 10 hours of parenting training to adoptive couples so they are prepared to deal with some issues unique to internationally adopted children, according to the U.S. State Department Web site.

Cathy Harris, a facilitator who has helped nearly 1,000 families in the suburbs and throughout the United States adopt Ukrainian children, says she also would go out of business if Ukraine ever signed the Hague pact. Since it has not yet, she can keep working unaffected as an exempt agency.

"Families already pay a lot of money for adoptions just by the actual cost -- between immigration, traveling, time away from work, paperwork, etc.," Harris said in an e-mail interview from Florida. "I cannot imagine how many good, middle-class wonderful people who wouldn't be able to afford to adopt; therefore, their hopes and dreams of ever becoming parents would be stripped from them."

Anna Maslanka, branch manager of Madison Adoption Associates in Palatine, also predicts higher fees.

"It's going to cost thousands and thousands of dollars to get accreditation. It's going to cost thousands of dollars to maintain that accreditation," said Maslanka. "We're already having trouble making ends meet. So the families are going to get hit. We can't do anything about it."

Sunny Ridge Family Services in Wheaton and The Cradle Adoption Services in Streamwood say they are big enough to absorb the additional accreditation work, and they already exceed the new parent training rules. So, they say, they don't expect their agency fees to increase.

But things still will change.

"Most of the things required by The Hague are things that we have been doing for many, many years," said Jim Erickson, vice president for program services at Sunny Ridge. "There will be more scrutiny, which is good."

The rules also will require agencies have a physical office that remains open and staffed 40 hours a week, Cain said.

All of this could raise costs beyond acceptable levels for small agencies, she said. Adoption Services Group was only able to keep its prices lower for clients because it kept costs down, in part by only staffing the office when clients needed them, she said.

"This is going to close the door on many families … the blue-collar working families," Cain said. "It's going to assure that kids don't get adopted. It's hurting the cause of getting kids out of orphanages and into homes."

The estimated $17,000 to $20,000 for independent adoptions -- where the adoptive parents undertake much of the required paperwork on their own -- is already a lot of money for working families.

Linda Hageman of The Cradle and Maslanka of Madison agreed, adding they too suspected the number of international adoptions will drop after the law goes into effect. But, they noted, some of the regulations were beneficial and needed.

"We should raise the bar," said Hageman. "There have been far too many cases of families who weren't properly prepared for the child they were adopting. The intent is good. It remains to be seen in practice how it plays out."

Cain hopes to regroup one day as a parent-to-parent support group, but for now her efforts are extremely limited.

She will be sharing information on adopting older children, those over 3, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday during the Midwest Adoption Conference at Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, in Palatine.

For more on the forum, which runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., see www.midwestadoption.com.