The Russian Adoption Handbook

Although I said I was going to discuss the I-600A today, I've decided to discuss a better topic instead. (Afterall, it's MY blog - I can do what I want)



ALERT: To anyone who is thinking about adopting from Russia - To anyone who is in process of adopting from Russia - To anyone who has given the slightest inkling of adopting from Russia - YOU MUST pick up a copy of "The Russian Adoption Handbook" by John H Maclean.



See below

You can see that our copy is well loved. The picture doesn't accurately show all the post-its and notes that we've taken along the way.


This book is frequently referred to as "The Bible" by other parents who are in the "Russian adoption community". At first, I was nervous calling this a "bible". "Can I do that?" I thought to myself. "Will I be struck by lightening?" But then I looked up the word "Bible" on dictionary.com and found the 4th definition to be:

bible: (lower case) any book, reference work, periodical, etc., accepted as authoritative, informative, or reliable: He regarded that particular bird book as the birdwatchers' bible.

Ah ha! A perfect description! Indeed this book is a bible. From the paperwork to the available flights and hotels to the psychological phases that we parents go through along the way, he covers it all. I have been nothing but amazed as to the amount of relevent and useful information that the author has compiled. One minor problem is that this book was last updated in 2004. As we all know, this is an eternity in the realm of international adoption. (As the rules change daily!) Nevertheless, this guy knows his stuff.

My favorite chapter (or at least one that I got a kick out of) is the one titled Flight From Hell. Here is an excerpt from this book by John Maclean. (NOTE: I'm not claiming this to be my own. This is from John Maclean's The Russian Adoption Handbook):

The Delta 12:50pm flight is considered a "baby flight" so this is one where you will have plenty of company... The trip itself will be something you will file purge when you get home. On a flight with 20 babies, you will see little heads popping up and down over the tops of seats like prarie dogs on speed. You can relax in the full knowledge that whenever your child is shrieking or throwing food, there is another child on board screaming even louder and chucking whole grocery stores down the aisle. You might want to change your child's diaper out on the wing, but they have a rule against that. Instead you are allowed to use the changing table in the bathroom, which is the perfect size for your kid, but only if he's a hamster.