How to Pursue an International Adoption
Once you make the decision to adopt, the basic question becomes whether to adopt domestically or to adopt a child from another part of the world. International adoption comes with different challenges than domestic adoption, and parents considering this route need to organize themselves for a rewarding, but complicated, process.
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Things You'll Need
- Financial documents: employment information and proof of ability to complete adoption
- Parent qualification documentation: parent educational course, completed home study
- Legal documentation: birth certificates, marriage certificate
- Good citizen proof: background checks, family and personal references
- Government adoption documents: INS applications/approvals
- Support structure: family/friends, pediatricians, parent support network, medical, educational specialists
- Travel documents: passports, visa invitations/visa (if required)
Instructions
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Understand the process
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Do your research-- international adoption is a process and each country's inter-country adoption processes are different. A good place to start is the U.S government's website on inter-country adoption. There are many decisions to be made, among them whether to use an adoption agency with in-country programs or an adoption attorney, if private adoptions are allowed in the country from which you elect to adopt.
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Decide how to pay for adoption and put your financial plan into motion before you begin. Costs can range from $15,000 to $30,000, not including travel, which may require tapping savings, setting up a home equity or general loan. Knowing what you can afford may enter into your adoption country selection.
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Develop a list of countries that you want to consider. This can have cost implications and can affect not just the age of children available for adoption, but their sex. In China, for instance, many more girls than boys are available for international adoption.
Complete adoptive parent home study
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Locate a home study resource for your state and/or geographic area. International adoptive parents must complete a home study qualifying them as adoptive parent candidates. Exact requirements vary slightly from state to state, but this extensive review examines reasons for adoption, parenting capabilities and ability to support the child. This organization not only provides the documentation that accompanies the family's application to the child's birth country, but also conducts the required post-placement report to the U.S. and birth country governments, to assure that the adoption is successful.
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Complete the parent education courses required by your state and arranged through the home study resource. These classes assure that parents acquire good parenting skills and are ready to be parents.
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Gather legal documentation needed to complete your application. Among them are proof of U.S. Citizenship, birth certificates, marriage certificates if you are married, Social Security numbers, IRS statements and financial records. If you do not hold a current passport, file the application because it can take several months to obtain.
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Compile references. The home study itself requires that parents submit not just their personal statements regarding their child-rearing philosophy, but both personal and family references supporting their application.
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Complete background checks. Home study documents require that prospective parents complete criminal background checks and provide proof of employment or ability to support a child.
File adoption application
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Complete Form I-600 Request with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The INS approves requests for inter country adoption and provides authorization to bring a child into the country. You cannot begin the actual adoption proceedings without this approval, which must match the sex and general age of the child you wish to adopt. An internationally adopted child of U.S. citizens becomes a U.S. citizen the instant the adoption is complete.
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Work with the inter-country adoption agency you selected to be matched with a child. Once you have received INS approval to bring the child back to this country, the adoption could proceed in a matter of months, or take two or more years. Depending upon the country you select, you could make one to three trips and stay in-country for a few weeks to a few months.
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Assemble your support network while you wait. This includes a pediatrician, or expert in internationally adopted children, to review your child's adoption files, making sure you and the child are a good fit. Family and close friends are vital, but it also it's important to put an adoptive parent network around you. Parent networks like Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption, which supports families who adopt in former Soviet influenced countries, provide support, not just while you wait, but once you return home and face challenges. Depending upon your child, you may also line up medical, dental and educational specialists.
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Tips & Warnings
People who adopt internationally frequently move heaven and earth to become parents and often liken the experience to an endurance test. International adoption requires a certain mental attitude that includes both patience and fortitude; patience as the wheels of another country's legal system turn, often achingly slowly, and fortitude to withstand the ups and downs of a process over which you have little control. Maintain more of a sense of control by moving swiftly through the things you can control; going in person to retrieve documents, completing your parent forms immediately, expedite applications in overnight mail.
Any internationally-adopted child is a child who has experienced trauma. Parents need to become informed so that they are prepared to help their child be successful.
References
- Photo Credit boy behind parents image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com
