I had a late night phone call last night. I know the caller didn't realize it because she is two time zones away, and I was up shopping for curtains online, so I didn't mind a bit. Hopefully she is reading this!

The purpose of the call was my former coordinator for our Kazakhstan adoption is now branching out from only working within his agency, and is facilitating Kazakhstan adoptions on his own. This nice woman was calling to ask what I thought of our coordinator. At first I was apprehensive about this idea, after all, aren't we all safer using an agency? But the more I talked with this woman, and started thinking about it, it is not such a bad idea.

Remember that in Kazakhstan, you do not need to use an agency to adopt. That may change in the future if Kazkhstan follows Russia's lead in requiring agency use and accreditation, but for now, any Tom, Dick, or Harry can help you complete an adoption. This coordinator was more or less the "middle man" between our agency and the Kazakhstan in-country coordinator. I started thinking about what his participation was in our adoption versus our agency. Then I started wondering, what exactly DID our agency do for us?

Dossier completion for Kazakhstan isn't rocket science. Neither is getting documents authenticated with your Secretary of State. If your coordinator can translate, as this person can, why then would you need an agency? My first thought was, well, I would want someone to be liable if this adoption falls apart. But this coordinator is now living in the U.S., and is subject to our laws. He will sign an adoption contract just like you would with an agency. I honestly can't think of what else an agency would contribute except some hand holding. Our agency was rotten at that anyhow. I actually remember while we are in Kazakhstan saying, if we do this again, we could do this ourselves. Our agency did nothing for us. Maybe we will get that chance!

For those who want someone to shuffle their paperwork, then an agency is the way to go. You will likely make your own travel reservations anyway. But if you are a little adventurous, confident in your ability to put together a dossier, and want to save about $5000, you might consider working directly with a coordinator rather than an agency. You basically eliminate one level of bureaucracy. You don't have to go through your agency to get news. When we asked for information, it was us calling our agency, they called the coordinator, the coordinator returned the agency call, and the agency called us. At the end, I finally said, please just let me talk to the coordinator. It worked so much better!

In any event, if you are considering working directly with a coordinator versus an agency, research the coordinator with the same dedication you would any agency. With Kazakhstan, it boils down to reputation and contacts in country. If your coordinator has them, and you can find other families who will tell you it went well, I say go for it.