Adoptive Parents
Process
Home Study
Type of Adoption
|
Inter-Country Adoption
List of Countries
We facilitate many types of inter-country adoptions, but they all involve a child being brought into BC by parents that live here.
Just as in domestic adoptions, The Adoption Centre:
- Counsels families both before and after the placement of the child.
- Completes thorough checks of the adopting family (home study).
- Reviews the child's social and medical history.
- Collects the letters of consent that are issued by birth parents and government of origin.
- Ensure that all necessary requirements are met if the adoption is finalized in the child's country of origin.
Inter-country package
- Each country or state has a unique and very specific list of requirements for the adoptive parents to follow
- Additional documents, profiles and detailed medical exams may be requested.
- Once these have been compiled, translated and usually notarized, the package is sent to the chosen country
Matching/Proposal
- The US programs operate much like the domestic one in BC, where birth parents select the adoptive parents. Most other countries will match you with a child and then send you the proposal.
- The time this takes varies widely depending on the country and how many requests/applicants they get.
Placement & Adoption
- After you have received and accepted a proposal, travel plans are made for you to pick up your child.
- The adoption is either completed in the country of origin or in BC after you get back (known as a "Section 48", named after the section of the
Adoption Act that describes it).
Periodic progress reports are requested by all countries whose children are adopted out and must usually be done by a registered social worker.
When the adoption is completed in BC, a Post-Placement Report is required by the courts after six months of placement. This is done by your social worker and passed on to your lawyer to be included when you file for adoption.
|
Additional Costs of Inter-Country Adoptions
This is a sample of some of the additional costs that may be incurred with an inter-country adoption and is by no means exhaustive – it is included only to give you an idea what is involved.
- Most inter-country adoptions require travel to the place of child’s origins.
- All involve the services and fees of either an agency or government at the other end.
- There are additional costs associated with any country that is not English-speaking, as documents need to be translated and a consultant with country specific knowledge may be needed.
- A guide may be required in a foreign country.
|
