When you are adopting internationally or from Puerto Rico, you will have to travel to the country you are adopting from. We encourage our clients to plan to arrive at least a day before you have any in-country meetings scheduled. Some wonder why they should arrive early. There are a few reasons that we think it is important.
Acclimate yourself to the time zone & country. Travelling to a new country and a different time zone can be a stressor on your body as well as your mind. If you have at least 24 hours to acclimate to the new time zone and city you will be staying in, you will be much more relaxed, rested and ready both mentally and physically for the rest of your trip.
Have a day or two to get your head together & rest. You will be making very important decisions on your trip that will affect you and your family for the rest of your life. Taking a day or two before your first scheduled meeting will enable you to rest and get your head together before meeting officials and making decisions about your adopted child(ren). Because this is such an important trip, now is not the time to hurry and hit the ground running.
Prepare yourself for your upcoming meetings and trips to the orphanage. International travel is inevitably stressful, and you may find that having some time to prepare in-country before your upcoming meeting and/or trip to the orphanage is beneficial to you.
Be prepared in case your luggage is lost. One of the unfortunate realities of travel is that there is a chance your checked luggage will be lost. If you arrive a day or two ahead of time, you will have time to deal with an event such as lost luggage. Whether you need to track down your bags or find a clothing store to buy a few outfits to hold you over until your bags are located, you will be grateful for the extra time to deal with a situation like this.
In short, we believe arriving in-country a day or two early will be beneficial to you in that you will be more rested and ready to attend the meetings and make important adoption decisions that will affect you and your family for the rest of your life. You will have more time to acclimate to the country in which you are travelling. It may be tempting to not take an extra day off work or save a little bit on hotel or travel costs by arriving in-country at the last minute, but we think the trade-off is worth it.
Family Connections, Inc. is a New York State authorized adoption agency that has achieved Hague Accreditation from the Council on Accreditation. The agency is a leader in international adoption with over twenty years of experience supporting children and adoptive families. The agency provides home study services and post-adoption supervision services for families adopting children from around the globe. The agency also acts as a Primary Provider for Pakistani families who are adopting from Pakistan. The agency would be honored to support your family's adoption plan. Please contact us at 607-756-6574 or info@adoptfamilyconnections.org to discuss adoption services. You can also click the button below to ask us your adoption questions.
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