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Once my husband and I made the decision to adopt, we decided to use IAG, they had the best reputation out there and we knew someone who had used them and were very happy with them. We submitted our Home Study to BCIS and our IAG application on 4/14/03 and received our referral from IAG for twin girls on 10/16/03. We then got the great news on 1/22/04 that we would be traveling to Orsha, Belarus to get our 3-year-old twin girls Natalie Marina and Erica Antonina on 2/6/04. For the next week and half it was a whirl wind, trying to gather up the last pieces of documentation needed, making the travel arrangements and getting things squared away at home in anticipation of beginning our new life. Through every aspect of the process we were treated as if we were the only ones in the world adopting. Alison provided prompt responses and we received never ending assistance from both the IAG staff here and in Belarus, not to mention the personal interest Larisa took to ensure that we were a perfect fit for the girls. The trip lasted one week, but the memories and the historical experience will last a lifetime. The girls were healthy and are doing fabulously with the adjustment. They are learning more and more English each day. Words can never express how happy we are. Eileen and Ed
My husband, Alan, and I brought our beautiful 10 month old son, Michael Angelo, home in November of 2000. He has grown to become a wonderfully healthy and bright little four and a half year old boy. He is a very athletic and talented little fellow. He plays baseball well, usually hitting the ball a good 100 feet at least. He took up ice hockey in January of this year and in September, will become the youngest player on the Mighty Mites team ever. He is also a proficient little swimmer, already swimming 25 ft. laps with ease and mastering the breast stroke. IAG is a wonderful organization with loving and caring people that work for themÉthey strive to keep families involved for the welfare of the children that are adopted as well as the children that remain behind in Russia. I would assure any prospective parent that they would be pleased with the results if they chose IAG as their adoption agency. I welcome any prospective parent to email me at: weski1@peoplepc.com with any questions that they may have. Mari Hertzberg Dear Larisa, My wife and I were hoping to be able to attend the White Nights Gala to thank you and your staff in person for everything they have done for us. Unfortunately, previous commitments are preventing us from attending. It sounds like it is going to be a wonderful event! Hopefully, we will be able to attend the next event in Pittsburgh. Since we will not be seeing you soon, we wanted to write and thank you again. Words can not describe how happy we are to have Shayne with us. When we see Shayne asleep in his crib every morning, it causes us to reflect on how lucky we are. He has brought all of us so much happiness in the five months he has been home. When Shayne is smiling and laughing at his brother, Joshua, it makes us think of the other children from Shayne's orphanage and what would have happened to Shayne if he had not come into your lives. Although thinking of the time Shayne spent in the orphanage makes us sad, it also brings a feeling of fulfillment to our lives. The fulfillment in knowing that we have taken one child out of a less than desirable environment and brought him into a loving and caring family. We owe this feeling of fulfillment to you and everyone at IAG. We want to do whatever we can to help the other children in this world that are without homes and loving families. While we can not take them all into our home, we know that a contribution to IAG will help in making their lives better. I have enclosed a donation that we hope to continue making annually for as long as we can financially afford to do so. I am sorry that we could not donate more. I have also submitted to the Aetna Foundation to match my donation. You should be receiving the Aetna Foundation match at the end of the year. Please let everyone know how much we respect and appreciate the efforts of IAG. Sincerely,
We have been home with our beautiful, sweet, funny, charming 2-year-old little boy since September 2002 and can't thank IAG enough for helping bring us all together. Beginning with our initial contact with IAG and throughout the entire adoption process with them, we have felt very secure in the knowledge that we were in the best possible hands. Everyone associated with IAG, both here and in Russia, is a consummate and empathetic professional. Each step of the process proceeded exactly as it was explained to us with no problems anywhere. We can honestly say that IAG exceeded every single expectation we had. All of the people working for IAG very generously provided us with information, guidance and support from day one. And they continue to do so, even though our adoption was finalized months ago. IAG is not merely concerned with completing adoptions; IAG is all about creating families. Russ & Becky
We adopted our son Jared from Babrusk, Belarus in September 2002, when he was 1 year old. He has been home with us for six months and is a happy, bright, curious, completely adorable child! He started walking a week after we brought him home and is developmentally on target for everything except expressive language, which we expected. However, he is just starting to talk now and we are confident that he will be fully "caught up" before we know it. I would strongly recommend IAG to anyone who is interested in adopting from Russia or Belarus. The reasons are too numerous to mention, but here are just a few. The entire staff is wonderful - they really care about you and about the children. They are honest, straightforward, and have very strong work ethics. They are very responsive - all of our questions were answered in a very timely manner, and if the staff member didn't know the answer, they did their research and called us back. They walked us through the entire process step by step. Larisa travels to both countries and works with the Baby Home Directors to gather information on children referred for adoption. She is in close contact with your driver and your translator when you are travelling (who by the way, were both superlative), so any concerns that you may have are addressed immediately. They review your trip with you from start to finish and also give you (if you so desire) the names and numbers of adoptive parents who have travelled to the country you are going to - so you can talk to someone who has already personally been through the process. The Baby Home Director and all of the officials we met in Belarus were warm and friendly. The Baby Home was immaculate and the caregivers were loving and sweet. It gives us comfort to know that Jared had such wonderful care during the first year of his life. He is the perfect addition to our family! I have just returned to work full time and unfortunately I am unable to respond to e-mails from prospective adoptive parents at this time. Judi We adopted our baby girl from St. Petersburg with the help of IAG in June 2002. We loved working with IAG. We investigated many other agencies and chose them for one primary reason: we never heard anything negative about them (after talking to many people who had used them). Our experience bore their reputation out: Larisa Mason and the US staff are very well informed, our case manager was extremely empathetic and on the ball, IAG's Russian staff in St. Petersburg and Moscow are fabulous, and, most importantly, our daughter came from a baby home with excellent caregivers and an enriching environment. We are in the process of working with IAG again to adopt a second child. For our first adoption we traveled on the two-trip system at a time when parents received little, if any, information about their prospective children. Once we were in Russia, IAG did a great deal to facilitate our learning as much as we could about our daughter. We were able to visit her daily at her baby home, playing with her outside and in a large play room, as well as spending some time in the room where she lived. We were given a tour of the baby home. We were able to interview the baby home director and ask (numerous) questions of our baby's caregivers. It was obvious to us that IAG's Russian staff were very familiar with the baby home - they clearly work very closely with the orphanages. At our request IAG also arranged a medical exam by an international adoption pediatrician in St. Petersburg. The resulting report helped to put our minds at ease about any medical issues that our daughter may have had. IAG also encouraged us to learn as much about our child's birth culture and birth place as we could. Not only did we visit many of the important landmarks with highly knowledgeable tour guides and experience Russian cuisine, we also did plenty of ordinary things, like shopping for groceries, riding the subway, and visiting the chapel of a local saint for whom our child was named. To prepare us for parenting an adopted child, IAG required that we do a lot of reading which at times felt burdensome given everything else we were doing to prepare for bringing our daughter home. In retrospect the education requirements were very helpful. We felt ready for anything that we might be faced with and felt able to speak with doctors, orphanage staff, and social workers with knowledge. Luckily, we have not had to deal with any of the issues raised in the reading - so far at any rate. Given Murphy's Law and the vagaries of adopting internationally, it's important to work with an agency that you fully trust. Our experience of IAG staff is that they are so capable and expert at what they do, few issues arise. Those that did were taken care of promptly without our needing to get overly involved. Our daughter has been home now seven months. At 16 months she's lively, curious, even tempered - an active toddler and a fabulous baby. She's fully adjusted, has no attachment issues, and is developmentally on target in every way. We are so grateful to Larisa Mason and all of the IAG staff for having helped bring her into our lives. Bettina and Michael
My husband and I think very highly of IAG, and truly feel that you could not have a better experience with any other adoption agency. We have been thrilled with IAG twice! We adopted our son in July 1997 at the age of five months. We adopted our daughter in March, 1999 at the age of six months. The first time it took 7 months to travel for our son after we submitted our homestudy. We had our interview with them then in February, got our referral in early May and traveled in early July. For our daughter it took four months to travel for her after we submitted our homestudy. We didn't have to meet with them that time. Both of our children are healthy and well adjusted. They are smart, active, and extremely loving. Both are doing well in school, and are very well behaved. We truly feel that these two children were meant to be our children. Our cost was over $20,000 including the airfare, hotel, food, etc. But, I believe you get what you pay for. IAG is very professional and does everything for you. All you have to do is show up at the airport. You have a personal driver and translator with you at all times, and usually travel with other couples adopting. During both trips we made good friends that we still keep in contact with. All of IAG's staff that we worked with in Russia were very knowledgeable, helpful and truly nice people. We never worried about anything--they did it all for us. We just met them in the hotel lobby every morning and they told us where we needed to be. It was wonderful. It really was a vacation --both to St. Petersburg and Moscow. We did lots of sightseeing, and enjoyed the beautiful cathedrals and museums. We were there ten days for each child. I really only have wonderful things to say about IAG. Everyone I know who has adopted through them, some two and even three times has been thrilled with them. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me. Amy and Eric
We recently adopted our daughter from Belarus through IAG, Inc. When we orginally started the adoption process several acquaintances recommended IAG. In our initial research we interviewed several agencies, and asked many questions. We had not contracted with IAG, and one of their staff always made the time to answer any questions we might have. The other agencies we spoke to were not as comprehensive in their answers, and typically did not get back to us promptly. We had an interview with Larisa and her Staff prior to us signing the contract to work with them. It was for both parties to make sure this relationship was a win-win situation. After we signed the contract we found the agency to be professional and upfront about everything my husband and I would be going through. Larisa works with very good orphanages, and the children from the Baby Home where we adopted were definitely loved and well taken care of. International adoption is a long, stressful journey and my husband and I are glad we chose IAG to help us. Our daughter is a constant joy, and I can't imagine us without her. We would be happy to answer any questions about our experience in the world of international adoption and IAG. Kristy and Barry
My husband and I began our adoption journey in the Spring of 2001, and adopted our daughter Lili from the Moscow region in the Spring of 2002. We made 2 trips to Russia and Lili was just under a year old when we brought her home. We had her evaluated by different specialists and therapists, and to everyone's surprise here in the U.S., she was extremely healthy and developmentally on target in all areas with the exception of speech. (This was not a concern as English is considered a second language for her.) Lili is thriving here and brings us so much joy. We have been blessed with a truly special child that has the happiest spirit I have ever known. We were very pleased with all of the IAG staff here in the U.S. and also in Moscow. IAG was always honest with us and truly acted as though they cared about us and our daughter. Larisa Mason is phenomenal and we have a great deal of trust and respect for her. The trips to Russia were as pain-free as they could possibly make them and we have many happy memories about our stay in our daughter's native country. Natasha, our translator, was incredible in her knowledge of her home and made us feel like welcome friends from the moment we met her in the airport. Not only do we hope to adopt another child in the future, but we will not even consider using any agency but IAG. They are absolutely the best! If you'd like more information, please contact me at hopefox1@aol.com. Hope We adopted our daughter at age 11 months from Orsha, Belarus with the help of IAG. from the moment we first called IAG, we knew they were different from any other agency we had talked to. In fact, IAG "rescued" us from a bad situation with the first agency we signed up with. Larisa Mason, Barb Clements, and ALL of the staff at IAG make doing an adoption fun and exciting, the way it should be. We were so well taken care of from the moment we first met the IAG staff until the moment we stepped off the plane with our new baby. We cannot say enough good things about IAG, and intend to commence another adoption with them in the near future. Please feel free to contact us by e-mail at stacie.wingeier@dowcorning.com if you would like details regarding our experience. Stacie In January of 1998, my husband and I traveled to St. Petersburg to adopt our precious son Nicholas. We celebrated his first birthday together in Moscow over a Pizza Hut pizza with a 1" candle on it as we sang Happy Birthday to him for the very first time. He has been smiling ever since - and so have we!!! He brought us so much joy that, two years later, we decided to grow our family by adopting a little sister for Nicholas. While on the waiting list for our second Russian adoption, all adoptions in Russia were halted for a period. We decided to take a chance with Larisa and travel to the Ukraine where we adopted our beautiful little Viktoria who was nine months old. Even though traveling to the Ukraine was a little scary and the process was very different from the Russian process, Larisa was in constant contact with us and monitored every step of the process. Our children are now 4 1/2 and 2 years old and we can't imagine how we ever lived without them! I recommend IAG to anyone considering adopting from Russia or Belarus. What I have appreciated most has been the continuing education offered by IAG. Prior to the adoption, they provide in-depth education and instruction about the adoption process, what to expect when you travel, and what to expect when you finally have your precious child. The education and support continues for as long as you decide to participate -- long after the adoption is completed. I still frequently attend the monthly parent educational meetings which I find to be extremely helpful. Above all, I would like to emphasize the honesty and integrity that you will find with Larisa and IAG. They are experts in this field and will provide you with the most current and up to date information at all times. As you can tell, I love to talk about our children and how we became a family. Please feel free to email me at rjzelazny@msn.com. Jamie We were honored but at the same time frightened to be the first family to travel to Belarus through IAG. Larisa Mason and the entire IAG staff could not have been more helpful to us. They answered every one of our questions about our referral and Belarus. By the time that we traveled we were totally prepared to set out on our wonderful journey to parenthood. Belarus was a beautiful country with welcoming people. The baby home director and every adoption official that we encountered were truly committed to helping us become a family. Now only a few months later, we can't imagine what our lives were like before our daughter. At one year, she is bright, pleasant and ahead developmentally. We would recommend IAG and especially IAG's Belarus program to anyone considering international adoption. Please feel free to e mail us with any questions. John and Gloria
We arrived home from Moscow, Russia in March of this year with our beautiful eleven and a half month old son Jacob. Our trip was a fabulous experience that we will never forget and we can't wait to share it with Jacob. After arriving in Moscow, we went straight to the baby home from the airport, so you can imagine how tired and anxious we were. We were ushered into the office of the director of the baby home and waited for her to bring our son to us. She walked through the door holding Jacob and he gave us the biggest smile.! He was a happy, and healthy boy with amazing grey eyes and the longest eyelashes we had ever seen. He has been smiling ever since. We are extemely grateful to Larisa Mason and everyone at International Assistance Group. Larisa and her staff are professional and very well organized. We can honestly say that when we arrived in Russia we had no worries and felt very comfortable with our driver and interpreter. They were both wonderful. They not only made sure that we were safe and being attended to but you could tell that they were genuinely concerened about the well being of Jacob. They both exposed us to sites in Russia and we felt that we left with a great understanding and appreciation for the country where Jacob was born. Adopting Jacob is the best thing we have ever done and we can't imagine our lives without him. If considering adopting from Russia or Belarus, we whole hearteldly recommend International Assistance Group. If you would like to contact us to talk about our experince or to ask us any questions we can be reached at MDQ@Massed.net. Good Luck! David and Marisa We adopted our daughter when she was 20 months old from a baby house in St. Petersburg, Russia. That was over 5 years ago, unbelievably. She is the heart of my heart. It was a journey of joy and anguish. When we met John and Larisa from IAG we knew we were in good hands. They worked with us diligently until we finally met our beloved daughter, Anna. We have two generations in our home--our oldest child has just started college, our second is in l0th grade, and then little Anna, who the four of us seem to raise as a team, is in Kindergarten/lst grade. It is early in the morning as I write this and I need to get the day started for my family before they all awaken, so I can't write the details. One version of our story is in the IAG bulletin (first edition) and it is called, "Anna's Story". Feel free to email us: bonnieb@gse.upenn.edu We love to share our story and we love to talk to prospective or new adoptive parents. Bonnie and Bob My husband and I adopted twice through IAG, once a little girl from Uzbekistan in 1995, and again a little boy from Russia in 1999. To say that we were more than pleased both times is an understatement! I realize now just how fortunate we were to have found IAG, an agency that provides such personal service, such care, such comprehensive assistance. One that brings integrity, honesty and an incredible amount of knowledge and experience to the process! Both times, the process was exactly what we were told to expect. We were fully prepared every step of the way. While in Russia, we were extremely well cared for by our translators and other IAG staff. We felt completely at ease, knowing that we would be walked through every step of the process, and that we all shared the same goal....to bring home our child as quickly and efficiently as possible, and to begin our life together. Our children are beautiful, healthy, thriving children and are such sources of joy. My heart swells each time I talk about them! We have tremendous respect for Larisa in particular, and all IAG staff in general, for the work that they do, the care they provide to adoptive parents as well as adopted and waiting children, and for helping to "make the future special" for so many children and parents. I love to talk about our experience and invite anybody considering adoption through IAG to contact me at jinxie5000@attbi.com. I would enjoy discussing our experience and answering any questions Good luck to you in your adoption journey! Mary Jean |
 IAG accredited in Russia | 
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