International Adoptions
You must use an Adoption Service Provider for your intercountry/international adoption, even if that child is already a relative. You can find a listing of all licensed agencies here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/Intercountry-Adoption/about-adoption-service-providers/adoption-service-provider-search.html. (If the child is already your relative, see our complex cases page).
Sometimes countries listed as open for adoptions on USCIS and DOS’s websites are in fact almost impossible to adopt from. Call an agency or Diana to learn the current reality!
Often your family will have two separate service providers for your adoption: 1) the international adoption service provider (“ASP”), and 2) the home study agency. They need not be the same provider! Generally families will decide what country they wish to adopt from and choose an Adoption Service Provider agency for that country with policies with which they agree. That agency may dictate which home study agency studies it will accept. Make certain that you are comfortable with BOTH agencies!!!
It is your home study agency and social worker who are most likely to be local and easily accessible. The adoption services provider may be in another state or more involved with international matters. It is the local agency that will be there, boots on the ground, to help you.
An immigration attorney’s job
What if you have a difficult issue with your homestudy or with form I-800A or I-600A? Did you have an unfortunate criminal incident in your past? It is guaranteed that if you were ever arrested or convicted, your US Citizenship and Immigration Services fingerprinting will find it!
Always be completely honest with your agencies and reveal any negative history. Our firm may well be able to help you qualify under U.S. law for adoption, even with some negative history in the past
Let an immigration attorney help you be pre-qualified for adoption with the U.S. government.
If your child is coming from a Hague country and has two living parents, we strongly advise you to get professional help in filing form I-800 for him! This is the form that allows him to come to the United States after adoption.
Diana can help you reunite your family. Call for a consultation today to learn what you must do to bring a relative child here to stay with you permanently or to address other complex adoption options.
Your ASP’s job
Your adoption service provider is the agency responsible for opening and maintaining an adoption program in a foreign country. Generally, this involves their having traveled to the foreign country, learned the adoption proceeding, and hired staff overseas who can help to identify children in need of services and complete a lawful adoption in the child’s home country.
If the child’s country is a Hague country, that adoption must comply with both country law and the Hague treaty. Regardless, your ASP is responsible for ensuring you receive the legally required training and formally accepting your home study.
Your ASP has a part to play in your filing form I-800A or I-600A with the U.S. government, either of which will establish you as suitable adoptive parents and prepare the government for eventually granting citizenship to your legally adopted child/children.
Your home study agency’s job
Your home study agency will complete a family assessment that will be filed with your form I-600A or I-800A along with documents from your ASP and provided to the sending country. Again, you must choose a home study agency with which you feel safe and comfortable. Does the agency understand your culture and your needs? Do they know how to parent children? Ask first and hopefully save heartache later!