Tell me about the children from Kazakhstan.

Children available for international adoption from Kazakhstan range in age from 6-9 months and up because the children must be on a national database for 6 months before being released for international adoption. There is great ethnic diversity in Kazakhstan including Kazakh (an Asian ethnic group), Russia Caucasian, Gypsy and Tatar. It is preferable to be open on ethnic background because requesting a specific ethnicity can substantially increase the wait. Families may adopt two children at once, but cannot adopt two infants at the same time. Information on the child is provided when parents arrive to meet the child. The orphanages are set up in the Post-Soviet style, and are similar to Russian orphanages.

Kazakhstan will accept both married couples and single women. Families up to 48 years of age are eligible to adopt younger children, and families age 50 - 55 are eligible to adopt toddlers or school-aged children. Kazakhstan is flexible in terms of length of marriage, number of previous divorces, and number of children in the home. Kazakhstan officials are not open to adoptive applicants with major physical or mental health issues or criminal background.

Once we obtain your home study, Immigration Approval, and receive all dossier documentation, your dossier can be authenticated. After authentication your completed dossier will be translated and then submitted to the Kazakhstan Embassy in the United States. After the Embassy processes the dossier it is sent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kazakhstan. After they review the dossier, it is sent to the central Ministry of Education. The dossier is then sent to the regional Ministry of Education. The family is then issued an invitation to travel to Kazakhstan to identify a child. Families usually receive their invitation to travel about six months from dossier submission.

Families have the option of taking one longer trip to Kazakhstan to complete the adoption or to take two shorter trips. Families are typically shown one child at a time, and able to interact with the child before deciding to adopt that child. Families travel to the region where their child lives, and then to the capital city, Almaty, to the US Embassy before returning home.