Trying to adopt Filipino relative(2nd cousin) can this happen?

"Pre-Adoption Review of Orphan Status" "Last year a number of American families were refused visas to bring their recently adopted Cam-bodian and Vietnamese children back to the U.S. when U.S. Embassy officials determined that the children did not meet the required orphanӔ definition. In an attempt to prevent similar situations, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) has announced an optional pilot program to give adopting parents a pre-travel determination of whether the child they plan to adopt will qualify as an orphan. The program is available only for adoptions from Haiti, Honduras, Philippines, Poland, and Sierra Leone.

Thank you Julianna and Linda for your responses to my question. You have provided us much needed encouragement. It sounds like our agency is correct and we can technically call this child an orphan. This helps us alot. Thanks again, Paul

Hi Paul My wife and I are going through the same process but maybe a few steps back (we haven't approached ICAB yet). We know that our child is 5th degree back so with that in mind I would like to know how ICAB treated you. Thank you

Hi Paul, There is a chance.... According to ICAB's web site they have placed children through relative adoptions and Independant Placements. My Brother-In-Law and his wife were able to complete the process and the child was not considered a relative. Thier daughter is home it took 2.5 years to complete. There is also another chance when the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 is implemented. It will allow for the immigration of a non-orphan child under the same rules as qualified orphans which is what you are attempting to do through your agency. So you are on the right track going through ICAB. If you get the I-600 then that qualifies the child as an orphan. As far as your budget is concerned you should figure on it costing $10,000 a year to be safe. It sounds like a lot of money but think what you would be spending if this was you bio-child. Our adoption was the domestic route because I had work in the Philippines for 7 years. Our office closed and I've been in the US now for over a year and we are just waiting for the I-130 approval. I have two children and my biggest expenses are school and medical. The legal bit is only a portion.

My wife and I are trying to adopt a relative beyond the 4th consanguinity. The child is in good hands, she's with my mother. We started the process in Dec 2003. So far we've maintained our sanity despite the slow process. Expect little to no communication from ICAB. Also expect lots of missteps from your agency and ICAB along the way. Here's the kicker, the DSWD caseworkers are baffled that it takes a long time. They submitted their report last June! Johnny is the only one at this forum who seems to know anything about relative adoptions.

Hi johnny, are you referring to legal, living and travel expenses as far as $10,000 a year? That amount kind of floored me. I know ICAB and immigration aren't asking for that kind of money.

When PAP's are adopting relatives as soon as they commit they take on the financial responsibility of raising the child. This means the care taker, food housing, medical bills, legal fees, ICAB etc. If the process were simple and you could complete the Adoption in just a years time then your cost could be as little as $10,000. For budget purposes use that figure $10,000 (more if you can afford it) per year and you will most likely be able to handle the costs. Try to figure what you would pay if the child were already living with you. This should put you out for quite a while...hehehe...Just do a quick google on the cost of raising a child.... Johnny

Johnny is right. It's not cheap to raise a child even in the Philippines. We pay for food and all medical bills. Clothing, diapers, and shoes is our biggest expense since children grow at a rapid rate. Babysitters aren't free. The cost to call the Philippines is outrageous. To send a 10 lbs shipment of toys, books, etc. is $50. It all adds up!

My wife and I have already committed to taking full care of her 6 months ago but all we really worry about is legal fees.I think this chat puts us in the picture, if we keep in mind 10,000 dollars for legal fees then this should keep us from worrying that the fees are spiralling out of control. Thanks

Do remember that you have two issues to contend with -- the adoption under the laws of the Philippines and the immigration of the child to the U.S. under U.S. immigration law. What has been addressed above concerns the Philippines aspect. But be very careful about the immigration aspect. Remember that, under U.S. immigration law, a child does NOT qualify for a visa if he/she has two married parents, or parents who are in a common-law relationship if their country recognizes that relationship as equivalent to marriage. You have indicated that the child in question had married parents. While you state that they "signed away" rights to the child, that may or may not be good enough for the USCIS. Many denials have been issued when the USCIS does not feel that total relinquishment has occurred -- for example, if the biological parents continue to visit the child and the relatives with whom the child lives. Before you continue with the Philippines side of the adoption, especially since there are some significant costs involved, be sure to check with a qualified American immigration/adoption attorney to be sure that the child will qualify for an adoption visa. Sharon

Gee Whizzz...What does it mean if you have an approved I-600? In most cases if the relation is beyond the 4th degree, the only way a child can be adopted is if ICAB qualifies the child for the Intercountry program. For that to happen, the child will have to be deemed freely adoptableӔ or in most cases abandoned by the court. e.g. "orphan". In addition the child must be matched by the board and be in the best interest of the child. Where many of the denials stories come from is when adoptions have been completed independent of ICAB and the adoptive parents fail to meet the rules, providing acceptable proof to BCIS and the State Department, for qualifying the child as an orphan. Other disappointments come from adoptions with in the forth degree of relation are allowed by Philippine Law without the adoptive parents being resident. The rules do not say the child must be an orphan. If the child is a non-orphan, the result being, the child will not be allowed to immigrate under the I-600 process and must then qualify under the I-130 process.In addition it is my hope that this situation is to be resolved once the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 is implemented, because non-orphans can be qualified using the I-600 process rules. Read the section "Changes in Current U.S. Immigration Law" [url]http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/factsheets/adoption.htm[/url]For those who are unfortunate to fall under this definition, due to the immigration issue, I have not been able to locate exactly when the Law will be implemented, however the last publication update I read said late 2006 or early 2007. The original date was suppose to be 24-36 months after it became public law but they messed it. Public Law 106-279Intercountry Adoption Act of 200010-6-2000 Signed by President William Clinton (Not implemented?)Related links:[url]http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/adopt.htm[/url][url]http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/implementation/implementation_470.html[/url]Even with this very complicated subject, ICAB boasts you don't need a Lawyer however as Sharon points out, seeking Legal counsel for immigration requirements is always a good suggestion. It looks like the ICARE Act; [url]http://www.jcics.org/Adoption_Legislation.htm[/url] will force the Intercountry Act of 2000 to be implemented. Once signed into Public Law it is not dependant on being published in the Federal Register and become immediately enforceable. It has the same provision, which will allow the immigration of a non-orphan to the US. Links to other info.[url]http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h108-3896[/url][url]http://www.passicare.com/[/url][url]http://adoptionblogs.typepad.com/adoption/[/url]There are other reform bills being developed to cut out the red tape, but ICARE is the closest.JohnnyJust a lonely dad and adoptive dad, waiting and trying to keep busy.

"In most cases if the relation is beyond the 4th degree, the only way a child can be adopted is if ICAB qualifies the child for the Intercountry program. For that to happen, the child will have to be deemed freely adoptableӔ or in most cases abandoned by the court. e.g. "orphan". In addition the child must be matched by the board and be in the best interest of the child." How long does ICAB wait to match a child with their international relatives? Is there an age requirement i.e. the child needs to be over 2, 3, 4, 5 years of age? What's considered acceptable proof that the child has been abandoned? If you request the DSWD homestudy will ICAB send a copy?

How long does ICAB wait to match a child with their international relatives? Depends on how busy they are, and if you've hit the rainy season there, don't expect them to even go in to the office! Is there an age requirement i.e. the child needs to be over 2, 3, 4, 5 years of age? Any child that has gone to court and deemed adoptable has to be between the ages of 6 months and 16 years. What's considered acceptable proof that the child has been abandoned? Their court papers saying they are an "orphan". The orphanage takes them to court to do this, and if all goes extremely smoothly it takes about 6-8 months. If you request the DSWD homestudy will ICAB send a copy? ?? Our only homestudy was done by a local agency. Hope this helps a little. Jen

Jen, thanks for your answers. Are you still in the loop with ICAB? If so, what happened to the process improvement you spoke of last year. Moreover, dDo you know what happened at ICAB that would cause them to ignore emails from US agencies? Right now, rather than addressing specific PAP cases, ICAB simply sends out blanket emails saying adoptions are taking longer.

i have read the posts here about the cost of phone calls to Philippines and cost of shipping items to Philippines.i want to adopt my Filipina Wife's first cousin. she is the oldest child of my wife's uncle and aunt. my wife is still Philippine Citizen and i am American who's ancestors came to America on the Mayflower! my wifes 2 uncles acted like a nanny to my wife until she reached 18 years of age. so my wife has been supporting their children since she got her first job when graduating collage. we still send them school supplies and money.now to address the phone call cost. before i moved to Philippines to marry my fiancee (now my wife) (i could not find a co sponsor so i moved there to marry my wife) any way i used a MAGIC JACK and the internet to make my calls to my Fiancee EVERY DAY ! we would talk for hours every time! it only cost me about $50 a month! your land line style phone plugs into the device which plugs into the usb port of my computer. when i moved to Philippines i used the same magic jack in my laptop to make and receive calls to and from the USA with my same phone number for the same price!!sending items to Philippines: i used the usa postal service to send 1 shoe box with school supplies to my fiancee to help with expenses. well i had placed $30 worth of stamps on the box and it cost me another $40 at the post office.later i learned about Balikbayan box's you go to a Philippine food store and pay about $5 for a box that is 24x24x18 inches (for ATLAS SHIPPERS). you fill it with your supplies and keep and inventory to fill out the customs form that comes with it. the box can be filled with concrete if you wish as there is NO WEIGHT LIMIT. take the box back to the store and pay the fee. in my case using atlas it costs $105 for shipping. ATLAS picks up the boxes 1 time a month and hauls them to California where they are loaded into a container and placed on a ship returning to the Philippines. it takes around 2 months traveling by ship to reach Manila and then customs looks at the forms and then ATLAS loads the boxes into trucks and delivers the boxes to the address you put on the label! each store may use a different shipping company . for instance here in south dakota the store uses a diffrent shipper and it cost us $135 to ship a box that was different dimensions but just as large.in fact i have NEVER had one of my boxes even opened, much less missing items! when i moved to Philippines i shipped 8 balikbayan box's to the address of the condo my wife rented for us to live in near her job. one contained an 8 inch thick queen size memory foam mattress. i opened the box it came in but did not un wrap it and placed it in a super large vacuum bag from walmart and used my shop vac off and on for 4 days to pack it down small enough to put in the balikbayan box!i left the boxes at the store in Desmoines Iowa on August 25, 2015 and Atlas delivery guy delivered them to our 3rd floor condo in November and all 8 were in perfect condition!i later inherited a bunch of money but it was just trickeling in slowly because my siblings were conspiring with the trustee to not go by the trust document like they agreed to do. (i was suppose to get their quarterly checks untill each one had paid me my 25% of the property value they received .so i was going to go to costa rica as my wife did NOT need a VISA to enter, and do volunteer work at places while traveling north to the border. she required a C1 transit visa to change planes in America to get to costa rica. at the Houston Texas Airport we had to go through immigration and Customs with ALL our luggage . our next flight was over 12 hours later so we went to a hotel with our luggage. at the hotel i checked my email and had one from my step dad who was the trustee , and he said he WAS NOT going to be giving me the money he was legally bound to give me by trust documents and the agreement THEY ALL had signed when i was in Philippines. (they thought i was still in Philippines!!).i got so mad i just called a friend and paid him $1000, to come pick us up with a truck and take us to IOWA. i was so MAD that i was going to take every dime of the money by killing them all!! my wife pleaded with me until i relented and just hired a lawyer! they had already stole over $35,000 from me!! well i got every dime that was owed me, which allowed me to hire an immigration atty for my wife, i now had money and did not need a co sponsor! because my wife had entered America on a C1 visa, her only win was because she did NOT arrive by ship or other, she had ARRIVED BY AIR with a TRANSIT VISA. only took 1 year and some lawyer fees and of course the regular filing fees. SHE received a 10 year permanent resident card!took less than 60 days to get the visa and arrive in AMERICA. DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF as it will make your wife an illegal immigrant until you file the paperwork with the government. also it helped us because im BAT SHIT CRAZY!! and the problems i had with the trustee! i actually told the immigration agent in Minneapolis that i intended to KILL THEM ALL but that MY WIFE HAD TALKED ME OUT OF IT!!!!but back to the adoption of my wife's first cousin. she can NOT stay with my wife's mother, who we support, because my wife's father attempted to molest her many times and only because her 2 brothers and mother helped her was she able to fend him off!!!! i do NOT need to go to PRISON in Philippines for KILLING A RAPIST!! if someone can give me a trail to follow to adopt the first cousin of my wife, the little girl is around 8 years of age,and it would be nice if we could give her a good home with American Comforts and an American Education.i have not even discussed it with the wife yet!