Adopting Adoptable Domestic Children

In terms of adopting a waiting child domestically, why is the domestic adoption situation so complicated? I've been educating myself about the domestic adoption protocol for a couple of years now; it isn't easy. The agencies and states make it so confusing and expensive. It doesn't have to be this way. Everyday that we are confounded by the bureaucracy and red tape means another child waits in limbo.

I am a single mom with one 13-year-old bio daughter. I am of Asian/Russian descent and wish to adopt an Asian boy or biracial Asian sibling boy/girl waiting for a family. May I go ahead and have a homestudy done and apply to state agencies or make a brochure and send them out to state agencies in states where there are a higher likelihood of Asian children?

Living in Virginia, I was instructed to go through the United Methodist Family Services. When I went for an interview, they told me there were NO ASIAN children available. They expected their fee, but she told me that she didn't think there would be any Asian children for several years! I asked her if she communicated with a national database or if I could contact agencies in CA, WA, OR, NY,etc. She said no (in 1999).

It is getting to the place where I think I can do more footwork to find a child than the agencies. Is the unsaid expectation that adoption lawyers will do the running around and coordinating? Am I supposed to just retain a lawyer and pay him/her to do this work?

With all the state and federal money being used or misused, why can't we pool/pull information together as in the national waiting child database and get all the legally free children in it so that all children are accountable? Am I making any sense to anyone?