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If required by the foreign country, the agency (or you) sends these documents, along with the completed home study, to your county clerk, the appropriate State-level agencies, the U.S. Department of State, and the appropriate foreign consulate to be authenticated. These documents are then translated, if necessary, and sent to the foreign source or institution, and you are entered on an appropriate waiting list.
At this point, the fee for services provided by the foreign agency and payment for other expenses incurred in the foreign country may be due. These can vary widely, depending on the source country, ranging from $500 to $8,000. The average is approximately $5,000. Like the stateside agency, the foreign program may accept payments in installments.
Filing With Immigration
Once you have been selected by an agency for a foreign program, it is necessary to file a petition for approval to adopt a foreign orphan. The petition, called the I 600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petitions should be filed with your nearest INS office. If you are resident in the United States, this petition must be approved before an adopted child can immigrate to the United States. INS publishes a helpful booklet that explains more about the I- 600A entitled "The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adoptive Children," publication M-249, which you can request either from your adoption agency or from your local INS office.
Your adoption agency is generally responsible either for filing the I 600A on your behalf or assisting you to file it. To file your I 600A, you will need to provide your fingerprints on form FD-258 and your approved home study. Married couples must submit proof that at least one applicant is a U.S. citizen, proof of their marriage(s), and documentation of any previous divorce(s). Single adopters must also submit proof of their U.S. citizenship and of any previous marriages or divorces. INS will determine if you can properly care for an adopted child. Upon approval from INS, you will be sent Form I-71H, "Notice of Favorable Determination ."
Concerning Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petitions
You also should request that notice of this approval be sent to the U.S. embassy or consulate in the country in which you plan to adopt the child. Your I 600A petition approval will remain valid for a year from the date of approval. It can generally be easily extended upon the submission of a brief addendum to your home study.
Child Location
When your I 600A petition is approved, there is no guarantee that the petition for a particular child will be approved. Approval for a particular child depends upon the child's status as an orphan according to the definition in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and, to some extent, upon the child's medical status. The INS publication M-249 referenced above explains in detail the INA orphan qualifications.
As a child becomes available for adoption in a foreign country, he or she is matched with prospective parents who can best meet that child's needs. The more flexible you are in terms of the country from which you adopt, the age of the child, and the medical status of the child, the faster you can be matched with a child. It is also important to have a good understanding from your adoption agency of the status of foreign adoption in the country in which you are interested and of how long it will take for the adoption to be processed. An excellent source of information is the Department of State's Office of Citizens' Consular Services. You may telephone this office at (202) 647- 3666 for information on foreign adoption laws and the status of adoption in those countries in which you are interested. Simply identify yourself as a prospective adoptive parent and ask to speak to the officer who handles those countries.
If a child is offered for placement, you should request all available information, especially information concerning the child's health and orphan status. Both pieces of information are vital to making a good decision as to whether this child is appropriate for you to adopt. If you have any questions concerning the child's health or orphan status, clarify them prior to committing yourself to the placement or initiating the adoption or guardianship process. You should never let an agency pressure you into committing to a placement if you do not feel you have sufficient information or if you feel you have been rushed into making the decision.
If you have not paid the final installment of the agency fee, it may be due when you accept the child. The fee for foreign expenses, or at least the fee to the foreign program, may also be due at this time, if it was not already paid. In some programs, once you accept the placement, you are responsible for the cost of the child's care in a foster home or orphanage and medical expenses in the foreign country. The cost of foster care can vary widely and can be quite high. To protect yourself from financial exploitation and to be assured that the child is receiving the benefit of the funds you provide, you may wish to request that your adoption agency provide you with a breakdown of the foster care/orphanage expenses and some proof that the funds are actually being disbursed to the institution/individual caring for the child.
The Legal Adoption Process
Once you accept the child, the process allowing you to adopt the child can begin. Some countries will allow adoption of a child without the prospective adoptive parents' physical presence. If a couple is adopting, the country may require only one member of the couple to be present to conclude the foreign adoption. Other countries' laws do not permit foreigners to adopt a child, but rather, grant you guardianship of the child with permission to remove the child to the United States for subsequent adoption. In order to accomplish the adoption or guardianship, you may have to give power of attorney to a foreign lawyer who will represent you in court during these proceedings. The fee for this is usually part of the foreign program fee. Your adoption agency and/or your foreign attorney also can assist you in securing a passport for the child to enable travel to the United States.
Foreign courts generally require information from prospective adoptive parents similar to that which is required to file a petition for the child. Usually there must be proof of the child's identity, proof that the child is an orphan or otherwise available for adoption or guardianship under the laws of that country, and proof to the court's satisfaction that the prospective foreign adopters would make acceptable adoptive parents. There also needs to be evidence that the government of the prospective adoptive parents has cleared them to adopt in that country.
Adoption/guardianship laws in foreign countries vary widely and do not always conform to the equivalent procedure in U.S. courts. It is wise to learn in as much detail as possible the steps and requirements of the foreign country for the adoption/guardianship process. It is essential that you ensure that the child you are adopting or gaining guardianship of in a foreign country will meet the INA definition of an "orphan." Since foreign adoption laws vary it is possible in some countries to adopt a child who does not qualify as an orphan under U.S. Law.
When you have legally adopted the child in a foreign court or a foreign court has given you guardianship of the child and permission for the child to emigrate to the United States, you must then file INS form I- 600, "Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative." You must file an individual I 600 petition for each child you plan to adopt. Your I- 600A approval should already be on file in the U.S. embassy or consulate in the country in which the child resides. This should be verified, and you should ensure that it is on file there prior to your filing an I 600 petition.
You may file your I 600 petition either in the United States with your local INS office or at the U.S. embassy or consulate in the country in which the child resides. If your guardianship or adoption process does not require your physical presence and you are not planning to escort the child to the United States yourself, you may find it more convenient to file the I 600 petition with your local INS office. If your physical presence is required overseas to process the adoption or guardianship or you wish to escort the child back to the United States yourself, it may be more convenient to file the petition with the U.S. embassy or consulate in the country where the child resides.
In both cases, no matter where you file the petition, you will need to present information similar to that which you presented to obtain the child's adoption or guardianship. You must present acceptable proof of the child's identity, such as a birth certificate, national identity card, or passport. Acceptable forms of identity may depend upon the state of civil documentation in the country and/or the child's age and circumstances of orphanhood. Next, you must present proof of the child's orphan status. In general, such proof can consist of (1) proof that both parents have died, such as their death certificates; (2) proof that a court of competent authority declared the child abandoned or severed the biological parent(s) ties by declaring the child a ward of the State; or (3) proof that the child has been irrevocably relinquished to an orphanage by biological parent(s). Finally, you must present proof that a court of competent authority has granted you guardianship of the child or that such a court finalized your adoption of the child.
Regardless of whether a petition is filed with your local INS office or at a U.S. embassy or consulate overseas, the Department of State Consular Officer who adjudicates the child's immigrant visa application is required to conduct an investigation, called the "I-604 Orphan Investigation," prior to issuing immigrant visa for the child. The purpose of this investigation is two-fold: (1) to verify the orphan status of the child and (2) to ensure that the child does not suffer from a medical condition of which the adoptive parents are not already aware and willing to accept. As a part of the immigrant visa application process and the I 604 Orphan Investigation, the child will be examined by a U.S.- approved foreign physician, the "panel physician" referred to under the Child Health Considerations section above.
There are two immigrant visa categories for foreign orphans. The IR-3 (IR stands for "immediate relative") denotes a child adopted overseas under the following two conditions: (1) the adoptive parent (if a single parent) or parents (if a married couple) saw and observed the child prior to the adoption and (2) the foreign adoption bestows upon both adoptive parents and child the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges as would an adoption in the United States. Children who are issued IR-3 immigrant visas do not, under federal laws, require readoption in the United States.
The other orphan immigrant visa category is the IR 4 category, which denotes a child coming to the United States for adoption. An IR-4 visa is issued to a child under the following circumstances: (1) the foreign country's laws only permit the adoptive parents to obtain guardianship of the child, not adopt the child in that country and (2) the prospective adoptive parent(s) did not see and observe the child prior to the adoption process. In this instance, for a married couple, both spouses must see and observe the child prior to the adoption. Also in this instance, the foreign adoption does not meet the U.S. equivalent requirements of severing biological parent(s) ties and/or ensuring that both the adoptive parents and child have the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges. Children who have been issued IR-4 immigrant visas must be adopted or readopted after they enter the United States. Your adoption agency should be able to tell you what kind of a visa your child will receive.
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