Step 5: Adoption Travel

Travel normally occurs about 6 - 8 weeks after your family receives an assignment from China, or 6 - 8 months after receiving your dossier registration number from Ukraine. The trip is normally about 10 days long in China, 3 – 4 weeks in Ukraine.

Step 5 Adoption Trip Preparation

Considerable preparation is required before your adoption trip. A variety of documents must be gathered and prepared. Mental and emotional preparation is also essential. This service is optional for Ukraine, and families may travel on their own without any advice or assistance. Offered services include:

• Our Travel Preparation and Instruction Pack that contains travel tips, precautions, and general information about conducting adoption business in your child’s country.
• Pre-trip briefing to review your travel documents as well as health and safety issues involved in traveling, to provide last minute information, and for you to ask any final questions before you leave.
• A complete packing and travel checklist.
• Recommendations for working with airlines and travel agents, and medications to take for your child.
• A list of all forms and personal documents that should be taken with you.
• A travel wallet to help you organize your documents for each step of your adoption.
• Forms and instructions for obtaining a Visa to enter your child’s country, if necessary. (small additional fees must be paid to the foreign government)
• Guidance on which official foreign offices you must visit, and how to work with foreign authorities.
• A list of all documents to be gathered, including detailed information on how each document should look and the text it should contain.
• Detailed instructions on how to fill out American immigration and medical forms required at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, or Embassy in Kiev, and how to work with Consulate staff.
• Most importantly, unlimited consultation about trip and adoption processing matters.

Our fee for Step 5 Adoption Trip Preparation is: $600 (required for China only) ($630 for credit card or PayPal).

Step 5 Adoption Assistance Overseas

This service is optional for Ukraine, but may only be purchased with Step 5 Adoption Trip Preparation. Services include:

• Make available English speaking facilitators (or native speakers with interpreters) who are experienced in adoption matters.
• Arrange all necessary official meetings for you in advance of your arrival.
• Between two and three weeks notice to make plane reservations and provide notice to employers.
• (China only) In most cases, the opportunity to travel with other families for support and to share some expenses.
• Carry documents to different government offices when your presence is not required.
• Provide assistance with resolving any difficulties that may arise with your dossier.
• Provide you with multiple copies of all adoption documents from the foreign authorities.
• Pre-purchase or provide needed supplies like a crib, bottled water, disposable diapers, or soft drinks.
• Book hotel reservations in your child’s country, normally at discounted rates, or provide accommodations in a private home or apartment.
• Assist you with shopping and sightseeing, time permitting.
• Arrange a visit to child's abandonment site and orphanage, if allowed and safe.
• Arrange for surface transportation or airline tickets for travel from the child's province to the US Consulate or Embassy for Visa processing for your child.

Our fee for Step 5 Adoption Assistance Overseas is: $600 (required for China, optional for Ukraine, for all countries must be purchased with Step 5 Adoption Trip Preparation) ($630 for credit card or Paypal).

Step 5 Assistance for Travel

We can also arrange for your travel to your child's country. This includes assistance with:

• Selecting a travel agency experienced with international adoption.
• Finding a competitive airline rate for your trip.
• Evaluating the quality, routes, and schedules of different airlines.
• Selecting airline tickets that provide you with flexibility in changing flights with little or no fees.
• Arranging tours of popular cultural locations in your child’s country before or after your adoption.
• Reviewing the itinerary and invoice from your travel agency for accuracy and completeness.
• Determining your travel preferences such as type of meals, class of flights, class of hotel, etc. to make your trip as smooth and comfortable as possible.

Our fee for Step 5 Assistance for Travel is $200 ($210 for credit card or PayPal).

Additional Travel Expenses

In addition to the Adoption Assistance Step 5 fees listed above, there are additional fees that must be paid in your child’s country. They are not fees to Americans Adopting Orphans, but rather routine travel expenses and fees, and fees paid to in-country facilitators. These include:

China (~10 day trip):

The facilitator team that we make available to families in China charges a daily fee, this fee and most other official fees can normally be wire transferred in advance of your trip.

• Daily charge for a vehicle and driver (if needed), interpreter, and an experienced adoption facilitator every day you are in your child's country. This fee has a fixed rate of $60/day/per family (2 family minimum). There may be an extra charge if your child lives outside of Central Guangdong Province.
• A normal stay in China is 5 nights in your child's province & 5 nights in Guangzhou. Typical hotel rates are $60 per night, with higher charges for finer accommodations.
• Meals should be easily available for less than $20 per person per day.
• Coach airfare to China is typically available for $700 per person, or less, from the West Coast.
• Some air travel is often needed within China; most domestic flights are about $150 per person.
• Fees to Chinese officials include $3,000 to orphanage, $600 to local court, $100 for Adoption License, and $200 in miscellaneous fees.
• US Consulate Visa fee for your child to enter US, $335.

Ukraine (~3-4 week trip, additional expenses and fees for longer trips)

The facilitator team that we make available to families in Ukraine charges a set fee of $2,500. This can be wired in advance of your trip. There are additional expenses usually totaling $4,800 or less that must be paid while in Ukraine that includes the following:

• All court, adoption registration, and orphanage fees and donations (a separate personal donation to your child’s orphanage is strongly recommended.)
• Local transportation in private vehicles w/ English speaking guide on days with adoption business.
• Make available food and lodging in a private apartment, or to arrange for a suitable hotel.

Not included:

• Coach airfare to Kiev from the West Coast is typically available for $1,300 per person.
• Airfare or train fare for you and your guide to and from your child’s home town ($100 to $200 per person)
• Food and lodging (Typically $60 per night in private apartments, $100 per night in hotels)
• Three nights food and lodging in Kiev for US Consulate Visa Processing, $500
• US Consulate Visa fee for your child to enter US, $335

Note – (China only) If a family using Step 5 Adoption Assistance Overseas is not able to travel with another family, or chooses not to travel with a group when one is available; or if a child from China has been assigned outside of Central Guangdong Province, there may be delays and/or additional fees.

Note – We can also make available a "mother's helper" to assist you with your luggage, babysitting, etc. This is particularly useful to single parents or to families where only one spouse travels. Fees and availability vary depending on child’s location.

Note – Americans Adopting Orphans is not a travel agency. We provide information to help families make travel decisions, decide between travel options, select travel agencies, and make available experienced facilitators in foreign countries. Traveling families are ultimately responsible for their choices and the risks associated with international travel.

Information about the people Americans Adopting Orphans works with Overseas:

We believe that by working with adoption professionals we offer the highest level of service, with experienced, knowledgeable, and politically savvy individuals, at a very reasonable price. This also offers us direct, culturally appropriate contact with the foreign government. While families can choose not to use our services overseas in Ukraine, we are proud to be able to offer what we believe is the finest assistance and support available.

Some agencies simply hire local guides through travel agencies to help families. While this can be satisfactory, the quality of service received can be inconsistent, and a simple guide may not be able to resolve complex problems. Travel agency guides can also be more interested in obtaining tips or getting kickbacks from shopping expeditions than in providing adoption services. Other agencies choose the very expensive option of only sending staff members from the US with adopting families. Agency staff traveling from the United States may not be as personally familiar with current sensitive cultural and political situations in your child’s country, or be able to arrive in advance of the families to prearrange banking services and expedited adoption processing.