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Adoption
Intercountry adoption question & an intro
Hi ladies 
I'm a regular on the GP Nest Board, but I have some questions that I think would be better asked here.
Just a quick background- We tried to have children on our own, completed one IVF cycle, pregnant with twins. Lost one twin at 6 weeks and the other at 19w6d. We're now leaving the biological arena and moving forward with adoption.
We did find an agency local to us and began to save/fundraise and fill out paperwork for a domestic adoption. My husband and I spoke last night, and he expressed interest in seeking adoption abroad. I am a U.S. Citizen and he is not, and he would like to adopt from his home country. This sounds great, but I feel a bit...lost. His country does not have adoption agencies, we would have to hire a lawyer there to take care of the adoption for us.
Does anyone have experience with private intercountry adoptions? I've contacted the ministry there for assistance in pursuing this, and I *think* I've found the U.S. required forms to begin with-- but I wonder if someone else can provide information to help me get our ducks in a row.
Thanks in advance!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Intercountry adoption question & an intro
If you are currently living in the US and wish to raise the child in the US, the first step is to find out if the country you are adopting from is a party to the Hague Convention on International Adoptions, because if they are, you will have to follow a slightly different process than if they are not. (May I ask what country you are talking about?) The US Department of State website has information on the requirements to adopt from each country.
The second thing I would do is find out if there are any US agencies that facilitate adoptions from his country. If so, reach out to them and find out what it would entail if you adopted through them. If not, you'll need to have a homestudy conducted by an agency licensed in your state, but I'd first find out what requirements the country you are adopting from has for the homestudy (format, information included, etc.) and what the US government needs (may differ slightly for Hague and non-Hague countries.
From there, I'd let your agency (if you found one) or in-country lawyer guide you to meeting the countries requirements. Remember, before you travel, you'll have to get approval from the US (USCIS).
Good luck!
Thanks for your response! So, they are not a part of the Hague Convention. The country is Malawi. It is very rare for adoptions to take place there because of the requirements. In most recent history, at most, 4 children are placed outside out the country total.
We're hesitant to invest in an agency who won't have much more knowledge than we do. But also hesitant too because we have no idea what we're doing, obviously. :
Could I contact the embassy to ask about requirements? We're going to get a lawyer there, but it seems like it would be helpful to have someone here as well to field questions esp. with the time difference.
I found the I600 application and the biometrics processing, but I think we need more information before we spend 900 on something that may not be right.
Yeah, I wouldn't use an agency for an adoption from Malawi, either.
In case you don't have it yet, here's the link to the requirments for adopting from there on the USDOS website: https://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_info.php?country-select=malawi
For starters, I'd find out if the judicial strike is still going on and how long it's expected to continue/what kind of backlog it created/might create.
Before filing the I-600, you should get your homestudy done. You'll need it for your I-600 application, so just go ahead and do that first. There's some information on the website above that talks about what Malawi will be looking for, as well as what order you should do things.
I'd let the in-country representative lead you about what you need to include in the homestudy, dossier/application, etc., and once you are ready to go to the US for approval, then try to find someone here that can give you some insight about what they'll need. Honestly, I found it easiest to file with USCIS, wait until I got notice it was out of the lockbox and had been processed and sent to a caseworker, and then reaching out to discuss my case with someone familiar with adoptions from the particular country. I'm not sure, though, if non-Hague applications are entered and assigned in the same way, though.
I think the site is outdated the strike was in 2012.
I found a form that describes the basics/ guideline for home study requirements, so that should help. We found a private agency when we were thinking domestic, could we potentially use them to just do a homestudy? Or are there special places that do it? I don't know how "offensive" it is to an agency to just ask for the home study.
You've been super helpful! I've seen you around while lurking on PB. Thanks again :
Aww, you're making me blush!
I would strongly advise using an agency that's familiar with *international* adoptions, as there are differences in what they'll need to include/emphasize and possibly how the document needs to be formatted. That said, there are many agencies happy to just provide home study services; you just have to ask around.
I wish you good luck! I can't imagine how scary it is to go down such an uncharted path, but we are always here for support!
Thank you! I will definitely be looking into another agency then that can better help with an international homestudy. The agency we looked at previously only does domestic adoptions.
I'm definitely going to stick around here-- you ladies are smart
With the whole process or the homestudy? There isn't an agency I can find that has experience with Malawian adoptions. It appears they suggest finding a reputable lawyer? DH's cousin lives in and adopted in Malawi and we've contacted him to see if he can recommend his lawyer or perhaps a lawyer that has experience with international adoption. Only 1-4 children are adopted outside of Malawi a year-- so it's really uncharted territory.
Thank you so much
International adoption agencies typically only work with countries they have "programs" in. Having a "program" means that they have at least learned about the country's adoption laws and process, made initial contact with adoption authorities in that country, and plan to process enough adoptions from that country for it to be a draw for clients. Agencies typically do not want to process adoptions from countries that allow very few adoptions annually, because their effort getting to know the process doesn't pay off over time; that time could better be used focusing on a country that allows more adoptions. All this just means that there are countries that do allow adoptions but have no agencies working with/in them. Malawi seems to be one of those countries.
I would strongly advise you to use a lawyer with experience in international adoptions. Adoption laws are tricky and change over time (often the laws and policies change while families are in the process). They are subject to international scrutiny, political actions/decisions, and all sorts of other outside pressures, including from the UN and WHO. In short, you need to make sure that your adoption is processed within every letter of the law, and that no one can come forward in the future and contest it, argue that the child wasn't really free for adoption, was stolen from his biological family, was bought/trafficked, etc. The only way to safeguard yourself in this is by making sure you hire a lawyer who has processed adoptions before (or at the very least is actively engaged in family law and knows all there is to know about adoption issues), has a good reputation, and can steer you clear of any possible pitfalls.
Have you looked into the residency "requirement" for adopting from Malawi? I'm seeing some conflicting things about it. It used to be a 2 year residency or 18 months fostering the child, but then the supreme court allowed for that to be waived, I think, for people with a strong "interest in" the country. I'm not sure how they define "interest," and all this applies to "foreigners" (according to the USDOS website). I know your husband is from there, but I don't know if he's still a citizen and/or how they would consider your family, since you are not from there.
If you haven't already, I would advise you to read up on some adoption basics. This is most important because you won't have an agency to help you. There are a lot of scams and difficulties in the adoption wold. There are have been a lot of unscrupulous people literally selling babies, which is why there was/is a push for reform and why the Hague Convention was created. Reading a book like The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption can introduce you to some of these issues and give you an idea of what might signal a red flag that there are some unethical practices going on. Knowing what to look for and avoid will help you make sure that your adoption will be unquestionably legal.
Another great place to learn about these issues is from Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform (PEAR) (https://www.pear-reform.org/). Their website has a ton of information, including resources to find doctors specializing in adoption (for when you are at the referral part of the process) who will review files for you and help you assess the child's risk.
Wow-- thanks again for giving me all those resources (sorry I made you type so much!) !
The foster care requirement has been waived. My husband still is a citizen in Malawi (with no plans to ever become a U.S. Citizen) and without giving too much away about myself/his family-- they are extremely well connected in the country, politically. We do visit every few years, we have a strong community of Malawian people where we live and across the U.S., and everyone in his family owns land/homes there, so travel to the country is quite frequent. I hope that this works in our favor!
I'm very excited but also nervous about navigating this on our own. I will definitely check out that website and pick up that book!
Volunteer in Malawi and looked into adopting a child I knew there many moons ago, but dropped it when I discovered Their residency requirements. You may want to have your connections poke around in country and make sure you're going to be able to do what you want to do on that end before you get too deep into the process. Obviously requirements are sometimes waived ie Madonna and his citizenship there may change what rules govern it and how they would be applied. I'm guessing this is why there are no agencies active in the country now.
Obviously the other ladies have more experience with the nuts and bolts of how to do it legally, but I just thought I had to throw something in, since I get excited whenever anyone mentions Malawi since most people have never heard of it.
Aww! Yay! You're right-- most people have never heard of it! It's such an awesome place though (except for the spiders)-- and the people are great
We have confirmed that the residency/foster requirement has been dropped (so no more 18-24 months fostering there before bringing the child home).
We're definitely going to pump the breaks and get all the info we can before we sink even a dollar into it. We're still in the process of saving/fundraising, but would like to get things going this summer. Malawi moves a bit....slower...than the U.S. We've contacted the ministry there, so hopefully they can set us up with the right people!
The Madonna case was an anomaly, and not in any way representative of how to legally adopt from Malawi. In fact, she is currently in a huge fight in the press (and I'm not sure, but possibly also the courts), with the leaders of Malawi, as they are questioning her commitment to the country and her claims of building schools while she spoke out about what she viewed as graft/corruption (if I understood the article correctly). So that's just a mess I don't want to even suggest is worth looking at for information about whether or not it's possible to adopt from there legally and ethically.
Panderp, if you aren't familiar with the UN and more specifically UNICEF's take on international adoption, I recommend you look into it. It's highly relevant to your situation, because of the aid they provide to Malawi. In short, their opinion is that international adoptions should be discouraged, because children are deprived of their native culture. There are many other groups that share this opinion (many in Africa, including some Pan-African groups that I can't find right now), and on the surface, it seems reasonable enough, because they always phase it as international/intercountry adoption "should be a last resort." In practice, though, UNICEF has literally stepped in to block adoptions when it's had the chance.
Haiti's an extreme example, because everything was so crazy after the hurricane, but the UN made such a stink that all adoptions were stopped--including those that were processed legally and were all finalized (and many that were almost complete) before the hurricane, but the children were still in country. These adoptions were in-process for years, and all the proof in the world that these children were not being traffic was available, but because the UN cited concerns about unethical adoptions proceeding from Haiti, they were all stopped right in their tracks. This is only one example, and I bring it up to show you the tremendous impact they can have.
On the larger scale, I bring this all up to emphasize how important it is that everything in your case is done over-cautiously and is documented. It's not uncommon for officials to skip a step or "expedite" something, etc. There were times in our process (from Peru), where we decided to err on the side of caution, because our worst nightmare is someone contesting the adoption in the future (as happened with parents who adopted from Guatemala; years later the children had to be sent back to their native country).
There are a lot of interest groups that advocate against international adoptions, and it's important you know this and are completely prepared to battle your case if they try to get involved in yours. Without an agency and adopting from a country where there are so few (perhaps because of this mentality?), I think it's important you are aware of this. It may never impact you, but it's better to know and not have it be a factor than not know and be devastated.
The UN's official oppion on adoption (scroll down to C.): https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/41/a41r085.htm.
UNICEF's official position: https://www.unicef.org/media/media_41118.html
The African Child Policy Forum's position: https://www.africanchildforum.org/site/index.php/programmess/the-african-child-law-programme/intercountry-adoption-of-children-in-africa.html.
I know that these positions all look perfectly acceptable on paper, and I'm looking a bit crazy here, because they all say international adoption is okay if a suitable placement cannot be found in the child's home country. But the thing is, in practice, these policies keep children in orphanages or living on the streets indefinitely, because they stall or halt international adoptions. I am all for ethical adoption reform, but these agencies often go too far.
I wish I could find the article from last year that we discussed here. It was a pan-African organization calling for an end to international adoptions.
Anyway, I kind of got a bit off-topic here, and I'm sorry, but I think it's an important issue for you to be aware of.
I really do appreciate you gathering this information for me. I'm trying to not get discouraged before we start, but we definitely have quite a few hurdles to jump over.
I hope that our connections to the country will help us get through this process a bit smoother than most. Thanks again for your info!
And I'm not trying to discourage you! I just want you to know what the situation may be before you start. Adoption is difficult in the best of circumstances. I adopted from Peru (twice), which has a generally small program (only about 300-350 adoptions annually (including domestic), only 13 to the US in 2011), and it was even more tumultuous because of the small program. It's important to know all the factors going in, so you can monitor the situation and be proactive in how you handle things, advocate for yourselves, and see your case to the wonderful finish line.
I really do wish you the best, and that's why I keep checking back into this post. I think the fact that your husband is from there is a huge plus for you. I also think whatever connections you have may work in your favor, but advise you to still work your way through the regular process to be on the safe side. It may be difficult, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try if your hearts are set on it. I can't wait to follow your unusual story, and celebrate all the steps with you, until you bring your little one home!
No, seriously, I appreciate all of your advice. In fact, I super appreciate the advice of working through all of the "regular" steps. I think we will try to work our connections in getting set up with all of the right people and making sure that we're doing things 100% correct. His family is heavily involved in the orphanages there (especially those close to his village). And I forgot I had my blog in my siggie anyways, so I'll just say it-- we're closely related to the President.
We've been through a ton of heartbreak in the last year and so I really want to make sure we put things in place here to avoid that as much as possible. This feels much harder than the DIA, but it feels more right-- which sucks, lol. We're ready to be parents, no matter how it happens in the adoption process. And we were going to share the Malawian culture with our child, biological or adopted. I'm just impatient right now because I'm itching to get started (much like an annoying newb enamored with TTC, lol)-- I'm just ready to be mom.
I am going to go through all those links and check out the book you recommended this weekend. Thank you SO much for the time you spent in your responses. You're incredibly sweet.
You are very welcome. I want this to work out for you.
I haven't mentioned it yet, because I was so focused on getting that information out there, but I'm very sorry for all your loss.
This feels much harder than the DIA, but it feels more right-- which sucks, lol. We're ready to be parents, no matter how it happens in the adoption process.
I get that completely. I'm not Peruvian, but once you know where you're supposed to adopt from, nothing can sway you from trying to make it happen.
I also get just being ready. My husband and I never tried to conceive, but it took us 2.5 years to adopt M and a year to adopt J. I got to the point where I started to tell people asking for adoption advice to start even before they thought they were completely ready, because of how long the process could take. Waiting until I was ready to be a mother meant waiting much longer, and the ache was unbelievable.
I am so happy you have your sons home with you! I feel a release of the biological clock tick, but the parental one is still there.
You're my new adoption bff/expert, btw!
8-)
There are lots of knowledgeable posters here. I've just gone a less conventional international route, but nowhere near as limited as you will be. There will be lots of questions I can't answer, but I'm always happy to lend an ear.
I love Malawi and miss it terribly. I went back twice after my Peace Corps but it's now been almost 10 years. To be confident about an adoption there, though, I'd have to really know a child's story. But with your connections to the country, you may be able to do that with some degree of confidence and know that a child is truly in need of a family.
I hope you'll update here!