Adoption Europe

Adoption in Europe, and mainly Eastern Europe, is a region from which many Americans seek adoption placements. While there have always been high numbers of adopted children from Latin America and Asia, there was a time when Russia was the leading nation in adoption placement. Over the years, adoption from Russia and Europe has declined, always falling second or third to China's lead in adoption placements. This is due in some part to the higher cost of European adoptions, despite greater leniency on adoptive parents in Russian.

The adoption process in Europe differs from country to country. Adoption from Russia can cost almost double that of Chinese adoption, due to travel requirements, visa expenses and lodging fees. Adopters must spend a certain amount in Moscow, an expensive city, while waiting for their adoptive child's visas to come through.

Why so many adopters choose to seek placement from Russia and Eastern European countries may have something to do with a philanthropic need to give children from poor communities a better life. Adopters may also be attracted to the idea that many Russian children, for example, are Caucasian and will not appear to be too different from their adoptive families, if also Caucasian. Some people believe that the adoption of a child of a different racial appearance and ethnic background can injure a child's sense of identity and prefer to place with children who appear to be biologically related to them.