The purpose of International Adoption Services Centre is to provide nurturing, secure, and permanent homes for orphans born abroad through adoption by American citizens. We believe that adoption can and should be a positive experience for children, birth parents, and adoptive families. To ensure the most positive experience for all involved, we are committed to educating, counseling, and supporting adoptive families throughout this life-long process. We are also committed to providing assistance to children who are living in orphanages around the world. International Adoption Services Centre, Inc. is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization that places adopted children of all ages with individuals and couples throughout the United States and with U.S. citizens living abroad. The Centre is headquartered and licensed in the State of Maine for ten years. The Services We Provide IASC works with adoptive families and persons, institutions or agencies located in their child's birth country and in the United States. Our services include: providing adoption placement and counseling. assisting with Citizenship and Immigration Services’ requirements and other legal and documentary requirements for intercountry adoption. acting as liaison for families with institutions, courts, governments and the U.S. Embassy in the child's birth country. arranging for medical evaluations and care for children identified for adoption. providing country education and travel preparation. providing a homestudy, upon request, of prospective adoptive families in Maine. providing post-placement assistance and support. preparing reports to local courts for finalization of the adoption in the U.S. providing continuing education about cross-cultural and adoption issues. Our Support of Orphanages Regrettably, we know that not every orphan will be adopted. That is why we have made a firm commitment to help orphans live in more comfort and with more dignity. As such, we provide much needed assistance for orphans by sending supplies to the orphanages in which they live. We distribute donated medical supplies, children's clothes, toys, diapers, and blankets to orphanages designated by our staff and contacts in the birth countries of waiting children. Availability of Children The children available for adoption range in age from newborn to 15 years old. Children identified by the Centre for adoption generally receive a medical examination and blood test for HIV and hepatitis prior to placement, depending on the availability of testing in the child's birth country. We try to obtain detailed information regarding a child's health and biological family, but, as is typical in an international adoption, information regarding a child's medical and social history is sometimes limited. While we will place some sibling groups and twins, we generally place one child per family at a time. We do not place unrelated children at the same time with the same family, however we can be flexible on this issue. We make every effort to place a child with a family within twelve months of submission of the required documents. Often, children are placed more quickly. While we will use our best efforts to locate an available child for each family, we cannot guarantee that a child will be placed, or that a child will be placed within a specified time frame. We have a special needs program for children with disabilities, and for older children. We try to place children in this program for a reduced fee. We welcome all inquiries for this program.