We asked several families who completed independent adoption or were in the process of completing adoptions to give us feedback on why they chose to adopt independently. Here are their responses:

• "We started with an agency and then read about the Ukraine law on "No Agencies". When we questioned our agency about this, they told us to lie. When we told them we were not comfortable lying under oath in a foreign country - they said we were probably too uptight to adopt from Ukraine and should look at other countries."
  - Janis

• "We chose independent because of the tremendous savings and the fact the extra work was very minimal. We had priced adoptions through agencies and the lowest we could find was $14,000 for one child and we wanted two which was about $25,000-$30,000. We adopted for $12,000 and only that much because we had to go through two separate adoptions to get our two kids from two separate orphanages 600 miles apart."
  - David and Barb

• "We worked with an agency for almost two years with no referrals until finding Cathy on an adoption bulletin board. Money was also a big factor. "
  - Patty

• "My husband and I chose to adopt from Ukraine for many reasons. The first being cost! We couldn't believe we could adopt two Ukrainian Angels for less than one child from Russia!! We also liked the idea of being in control of the adoption timeline. When we found Cathy's website, we knew it was the way to go. We also liked the idea of meeting the children before the adoption is finalized and being able to tell if they are the child meant for us. "
  - Anna