Adopting From Russia

We adopted two children from Yaroslavl and felt so much more knowledgeable on our second adoption based on the experiences of our first. The motivation for this website is to give others some of that 'second time around' experience even though it is only their first time.

This website provides practical and up-to-date information you need to know to adopt a child from Russia. Everything you read here is based on the actual experiences of people who have recently adopted from Russia through a variety of adoption agencies. The site is continually updated to provide accurate and current information.

If you haven't adopted yet, we encourage you to use the website as a resource.
If you know you will be adopting from Russia and would like an email reminder to revisit this website after you return, what is your

If you have adopted, please share your own experiences via the Trip Report form so that we can continue to add to the richness of the site and its usefulness to others interested in the adoption process.

Documentation requirements described here are for citizens of the United States. The rest of the information is not specific to the adoptive parent's country.

Please note that there is no guarantee that any information on this website is accurate or that your adoption experience will match any experience described here.

The organization of the site roughly tracks the chronological order of the process, like this:

• General Information - about the website and about adopting in Russia
• Your dossier
• Travel Arrangements
• Evaluating a referral
• What to pack - general including what to wear
• What to pack for infants and toddlers including clothing
• Packing, preparing and resources for older children
• Arriving in Moscow
• In the city your child is from What you will be doing there plus hotels and what to see and do
• Moscow - after you have adopted in Russia and are waiting to come home. Hotels, what to see and do, general info
• Leaving Russia, airlines, connections and flying home
• Back Home - Entry, Post-Adoptive Evaluation, Re-adoption, Naturalization
• Book store - books, Russian language tapes, travel guides, other resources
• Essential Russian - one word and one phrase! And more ...
• Agency Information - Consumer reports style feedback about agency, facilitators, cost, time to adopt.
• People you can talk to who have been through it already
• A few useful links
• Maps - Moscow and the cities in Russia adopting families have reported on.
• Add your comments, suggestions or adoption trip report to the website.

Apr 2007 Update

You may have heard that 'Russia has stopped international adoptions.' That is simply not true. What happened is that all agencies' accreditations have expired. That means that new, agency-facilitated adoptions cannot start. All adoptions that had already started can proceed. 'Independent' adoptions can be started.

Reaccreditation of agencies has begun. The best guess of those 'in the know' is that the first agencies will be reaccreditted in June. It has also been reported that the new accreditations will not expire. If true, it means an end to expired accreditations.

AdoptingFromRussia.com was started April 14, 1999 and is updated as people return from Russia and provide new information.

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