Explanation of Our International Services and Fees

Application Packets I and II
Our application process has two phases. The initial application (Packet I) asks questions that help us get to know you and determine whether this agency can help you meet your adoption goals. Packet II gives more program details, asks more questions (sorry!), and includes personal, employer and pastoral references, Child Abuse and Neglect/Criminal Record checks, and Medical History/Exam forms. Final approval is considered once we have received and reviewed all the information from both Application Packets as well as your Home Study.

Home Study
The Home Study is the document that enables us to determine that you are ready to adopt. A social worker will meet with you 2-3 times, with one of those meetings being in your home. The report from these meetings becomes the document that represents the family to courts and governments involved in the adoption process. In Missouri and Minnesota, we prefer to complete your home study ourselves, as it gives us the opportunity to prepare you for the adoption you desire, and helps us get to know you better as well. In other states where clients have another licensed agency complete their home study, Love Basket will review that study for $125.

Stateside Processing Fee
This charge covers our work with adoptive parents including but not limited to: preparation of dossier for processing overseas and help with INS paperwork, referral of your child, coordination of placement with our foreign, staff, assistance with parent preparation for travel and receiving child, phone, fax, and courier costs. Each country requires you to send periodic progress reports for a specified time after your child arrives home. This fee also includes translation, processing, and courier fees for these reports.

Child Support and Overseas Processing Fees
These fees include the care and support of your Child, as well as the processing of your adoption overseas, translations, attorney and court costs overseas, passport procurement, and work with birth parents in processing your placement.

Travel/Escort Costs
Escort fees are paid to Love Basket. Parent travel arrangements are the responsibility of the adoptive parent and are paid directly to your travel agent. We can provide staff to assist you once you arrive in the foreign country.

Post Placement Services

India: Once your child arrives in the U.S., you must finalize the adoption in your state of residence. Our post placement fee covers the required visits and report preparation to meet this requirement in Missouri and Minnesota.

Guatemala:  The Guatemalan authorities only require simple progress reports that you prepare (see Placement Program statement);  however, your state legal authorities may require a formal post-placement visit by a social worker in order to re-adopt your child and/or obtain naturalization status.  Check with your attorney or local INS office for more details.

Ethiopia:  The Ethiopian Government requires post placement reports be submitted 3 times during the first year after the child arrives home, and then yearly until the child turns 18 years-old.  Because the children adopted from Ethiopia are not usually seen in person by the adoptive parents prior to overseas court processing, it will be necessary for the child to be re-adopted in the child's state of residence in order to establish the child's US Citizenship and obtain a US birth certificate.

Home Study Update
By statute, your original home study valid for one year. If placement does not occur during that year, you will need a Home Study Update to satisfy state requirements and to remain on our waiting list. You will need to complete an update application (not as exhaustive as the initial one) and schedule one visit in your home with a caseworker.

Love Basket Inc. 10306 Business 21 Hillsboro, MO 63050
Phone 636.797.4100 Fax 636.789.4978 Info@LoveBasket.org

Copyright © 2002 Love Basket Inc.  All Rights Reserved.  Site Design by The Joseph Company.