ACCEPT Adoption and Counseling Center

March 2004

Re: Adoption agency for international adoption
Congratulations on considering adoption - it's a wonderful thing! My husband and I are in the process of adopting from Kazakhstan, but we were in your shoes just a few months ago - trying to figure out what our options were, which agency to use, etc.

We ended up choosing ACCEPT as our local agency (www.acceptadoptions.org) and World Partners for the Kazakhstan part (www.worldpartners.org). On both of their websites you can learn more about adoption and information on various programs and countries. So far we've been very happy with the services provided. Another site to check out for information is Bay Area Adoption Services (www.baas.org).

The local agency does the ''homestudy'' of you and your household, which you will need regardless of what country you decide to adopt from, and the other agency does the facilitation in whatever country you've chosen. Sometimes the local agencies also offer the intl part, in which case you'd only use one agency.

Email me if you have any more questions. If you think that Kazakhstan might be right for you, I can share lots of information! :-) Jenn

Oct 2002

Re: Adopting an Asian Child
We worked with ACCEPT (offices in San Francisco and Mountain View). We had wonderful experiences meeting our daughters in China. Everything went smoothly. There was no B.S. Absolutely none. This was particularly helpful when there were questions about changing rules and special needs issues. I'd heard of other agencies which weren't so straightforward and ripped folks off. I've also know folks who've worked with BAAS and have been very happy with that experience. I highly recommend ACCEPT. I am so thankful for all their supportive help with building our family. I wish you luck and joy in the adventure ahead of you. Franny

Re: Agency for China adoption (Feb 2002)
I highly recommend the international adoption agency Accept located in Los Altos, 650-917-8090. The China facilitator they work with is incredible! Our entire experience was a great one. We adopted our daughter in 1998 and the wait was not very long, but I understand the wait is longer for every agency now. There are many good informational websites, especially: http://fwcc.org/ and http://tussah.com/lara/chinasto.htm (this is a great website as people tell their adoption stories, including their experience with the paperwork process and the wait -- happy parents

Recommendations for International Adoption: In 1995 and 1998, we had the privilege of working with ACCEPT--they're on the Peninsula. We travelled with Norman Niu (their liasion in Southern California) to Guangzhou, China and everything was handled for us. I'd highly recommend this agency. mxc

June 1999
If you wish to adopt from China, I would recommend using ACCEPT (An Adoption and Counseling Center) if only because they use U.S. Asian Affairs who translated the paperwork and dealt directly with the China part of the process. Norman Nui, of US Asian Affairs located in Monterey Park, took a group of us to China and everything was very well organized. He took care of everything efficiently and walked us through every part of the process in China. ACCEPT now has an office in San Francisco with their main office at 339 South San Antonio Road, Suite 1A, Los Altos, CA, (415) 917-8090.

My daughter was 3.5 months old when we adopted her in 1995. Families in our group adopting a second child in 1999 received daughters in the 6-8 months old range. I think the older children are a result of a lot of changes in China's adoption procedures since 1995. Norman wants to get the children out of the orphanages as soon as possible. -- Jane (6/99)

We, too, used ACCEPT (650) 917-8090 to do the homestudies for our two international adoptions. For our first adoption, they referred us to a local placing agency. For our second adoption, we shopped around and chose to work with a placing agency located in St. Louis, Missouri. ACCEPT didn't care which placing agency we used. They were really supportive and helpful. I agree with the suggestion that you try to decide what kind of adoption you'd like to do, and then look for the agency that will work best for you. If you don't get it right the first time, keep trying, because each agency is different. We found some agencies to be too touch-feely for our tastes (i.e. grieving the child you never conceived), too unorganized, or suffering from a God-complex (i.e. we'll decide whether you're worthy or not). We adopted two wonderful little boys from Russia with the help of the staff at ACCEPT. I believe ACCEPT can also help with domestic adoptions. I would definitely recommend that you at least check them out. -- Joyce (6/99)