FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
| Q. How many children did your agency place in 2004? | |
| A. 60
children, as reported to the Russian Ministry of Education. |
|
| Q. How many attempted adoptions last year (2004) were disrupted and fell through? | |
| A. None
were disrupted and 1 adoption fell through in Sakhalin region. |
|
| Q. Can I have an information package sent to me with information about AIA Agency and the procedures for adoption in Russia? | |
| A.
Please refer to all general information about our agency on our website.
We operate in different regions of Russia, and these regions have
different procedures, so we need to review your free application form
with your criteria for children, before determining which region to
proceed with on your behalf. After determining an appropriate region
we will provide you with an information package with detailed information
about adoption in the specific region, including all necessary forms. |
|
| Q. How can I receive information in response to specific questions I have about your adoption programs before deciding to submit an application? | |
| A.
You can e-mail us at info@akadoptions.com,
or call us at (907) 677-2888. Remember we are
located in Alaska, which is four hours earlier than Eastern standard
time. Please refer to contacts page for
more details. |
|
| Q. Do you accept clients from outside Alaska? | |
| A.
Yes, most of our clients are from outside Alaska, from all different
parts of the country. |
|
| Q. Is it more difficult for me, and my home study agency, to work with an agency not located in my state? | |
| A.
We work with home study agencies all over the country. We are as reachable
as any other agency, and answer e-mails and return calls within one
day of receiving them. The adoption placement services we provide
are the same as you can obtain from a local agency. |
|
| Q. Can I see photolistings of the children you have available? | |
| A.
It's contrary to Russian law for an agency to post photolistings of
children on a website. |
|
| Q. Can I receive references about AIA Agency? | |
| A.
One way to learn about our agency from current and former clients
of our agency is to join our chat on the Internet,
which we operate weekly, on Thursdays from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern
Time. As far as references from our former clients, we can provide
them once you have started to consider our agency seriously and not
as a first step. |
|
| Q. Do you work exclusively in Russia? | |
| A.
Yes. |
|
| Q. What areas of Russia do you work in? | |
| A.
We are accredited to work in Moscow city, Khabarovsk, Magadan and Stavropol regions. |
|
| Q. What is the timeline for an adoption? | |
| A. Some clients have paperwork already prepared (such as their homestudy) and already have USCIS approval. It usually takes such clients eight to twelve months from initial contact with the agency, until the adoption court hearing, depending on the clients' criteria for a child (gender, age and other).It can take some clients longer, up to four months, just for them to obtain a homestudy and USCIS approval. |
|
| Q. What is the waiting time between the first and second trip? | |
| A. Different regions of Russia have their own procedures and timelines. Comparisons of different regions procedures cannot accurately be made. In addition, the timeframe within the same region can be different depending on how quickly clients can prepare their dossier documents for the second trip. Also, some factors are outside of AIA control, such as judges' and other officials' vacations, holidays, and court scheduling matters. On average, clients make their second trip about eight to 14 weeks after their first trip. |
|
| Q. What does it mean that AIA Agency is "accredited?" | |
| A.
Starting in 2000, the Russian government required adoption agencies seeking to place Russian children for foreign adoption to be accredited and maintain a permanent office in Moscow, and have five years experience. The accreditation process required a thorough review of AIA's personnel and procedures. Many agencies which had formerly worked in Russia failed to obtain accreditation. AIA was one of the first to obtain accreditation. Agencies without accreditation are not legally entitled to operate adoption programs in Russia. |
|
| Q. Which orphanages do you work with? | |
| A.
In accordance with Russian adoption laws and procedures, we receive referrals of children not from orphanages but from the regional Departments of Education, who are the legal guardians of orphans. The Departments of Education have jurisdiction over all orphanages in the territories they serve. |
|
| Q. Do you work with facilitators or coordinators in Russia? | |
| A.
The people who assist us in Russia are our employees or work under
contract for us and do not work for other agencies. |
|
| Q. Do you provide full service for your clients in Russia? | |
| A.
Yes, we will make reservations for you for hotels and airtickets within
Russia. Our staff in Russia will meet you at the airport and drive
you and accompany you during your trips to Russia and will leave you
only when they see you walking to your plane. |
|
| Q. How many people work for AIA Agency in Russia? | |
| A.
Our employees include a head of office, translator, bookkeeper, and
secretary in our Moscow office. We also employ regional representatives.
We also engage contract services for translation and drivers. |
|
|
A.
There are 5 people working for the agency in our AK office, including
an American attorney, a Russian attorney, a specialist with Master
Degree in Education with experience of working with children and
adults in Russia and USA, and 2 social workers, MSW, LCSW, MPS ,
approved by the State of Alaska to assists in preparing home studies
for Alaskan residents. |
|
| Q. How is communication between clients and your agency staff in US handled? Are clients passed on to different representatives? | |
| A. Clients
will work with one person at our agency who is knowledgeable about
the region where clients adopt from and who has direct contact with
the agency regional representatives in Russia. |
|
| Q. How do I know that you're qualified to provide the services you say you can provide, and do you know the people in the regions where you work? | |
| A.
Our program directors in US have personally developed the programs
in the regions they operate in. They know the local government officials,
the orphanage officials, the local judges and court procedures, and
they hired the AIA employees and contractors with whom the agency
works in those regions. They have handled many adoptions in those
areas. |
|
| Q. The Russian government doesn't charge a fee for adoptions, so where does all my money go that I pay to AIA Agency? | |
| A.
AIA is a service business and the fees paid are for overhead, salaries,
and other expenses of operating the agency, and for providing the
various services such as translations, advice and assistance, and
other matters as set forth in our contracts with our clients. Adoption
procedures in Russia are a legal procedure, just as in the United
States or any other country. It requires preparation and a lot of
legwork, and a court proceeding, and then finalization of the adoption.
Russia is a country with strong bureaucratic procedures, and requires
lots of paperwork to be moved before your file will end up in the
court so your case can be scheduled. |
|
| Q. Why are AIA's fees so expensive? | |
| A.
AIA fees are competitive. As an agency working exclusively in Russia,
we believe that we can provide a high level of qualified service to
our clients. |
|
| Q. Why are AIA's fees so inexpensive? | |
| A.
AIA is a nonprofit company which charges competitive fees which we
believe are fair and are commensurate with the services we provide. |
|
| Q. Do I need to pay a large nonrefundable payment up front, prior to receiving a referral of a child? | |
| A. No, clients pay an initial nonrefundable registration fee of $1,000 prior to receiving a referral. All payments to the agency are scheduled to be made in four installments as provided in the AIA contract. | |
| Q. Do I need to take a lot of cash to Russia? | |
| A. No, you pay AIA Agency before leaving for Russia, and can take only the cash you need for travel and similar expenses. | |
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