The other day I posted some general information about adopting from Russia. Today I'm going to describe the actual process.

Before I get started, I recommend you buy a copy of The Russian Adoption Handbook, by John McLean, if you're even remotely interested in adoption from Russia. It was last updated in 2004, so a few things may have changed, but overall it's an excellent resource.

Second, I recommend you join the Internet lists: APR on EEAC, and Russian_Adoption... more

This post is intended to be a very broad overview of the process of adopting from Russia. You might want to check out my Adopt from Russia blog for a ton more information (as well as a lot of blah blah blah) involving Russian adoption, but here I hope to present Russian adoption in a nutshell.

This is part 1 of adopting from Russia: the basics. Part 2 will be about the paperwork and procedure.

People generally choose adoption from Russia because they are looking for a Caucasian child, although it's very possible to adopt children... more