the basics of adoption from the philippines

My sister is a missionary in Papua New Guinnea. She has many friends from PNG and from Australia who have adopted from the Philippines (a topic of frequent conversation as we often talk of my adoption plans). She told me that adoptions between the US and the philippines are closed (I think) but are open with other countries (Australia). If you are interested,I can get some contact information from her friends that have adopted from there. BTW, glad to hear that you survived your trip back west! And that your BIL/SIL now (?) want to adopt!! Take Care

Lisa, The basic process is described on many websites but I'll give you a quick description. You will need to complete a home study at an agency that deals with Philippine adoption. This costs about $2-3000. Here are the recomended agencies from the Philippines inter country adoption board: [url]http://www.skyinet.net/~icaba/page7.html[/url] Once that's done, your agency will submit a dossier to the ICAB along with a check for $100. After that, you will be approved or denied by ICAB in a few months and then the wait begins. Right now the wait is 18 to 24 months to get a referral (a child from an orphanage is assigned to you). Once you accept the referral, the Visa process will be finalized and you will eventually be told, that you can travel to pick up your child. This can take many months as well. I know a lady who has waited 7 months for her approval to travel. Oncwe in the Philippines, you can expect to spend another couple thousand for Visa and orphanage fees. So the advantage of Philippines adoption is the cost is much less than other programs. The disadvantage is it's a slow, disorganzied process that is sometimes frustrating because of lack of information. It is not unreasonable to expect to wait 2 1/2 to 3 years from the time you apply to when you receive your child. Philippines only does about 200 inter country adoptions a year so it's not a huge program. My own recomendation is, unless you are dead set on the Philippines or don't have a lot of money for an adoption, look into China. It is a much faster and better organized program but it costs around $20,000. Chuck

Not true. Philippines adoption to the US is an open program. Difficult, but open.

Adoption from RP is very open with America. However, please realize that there could be as long as a two year wait for a girl, age 6months to 6yrs old. Adopting a boy would involve less of a wait. The cost varies from one US agency to another. So, you can visit the ICAB website, copy the list of agencies which they recognize, and contact each one on the list. Ask about parent requirements, total cost to adopt and the length of time they expect you to wait for the child you desire. ICAB--Intercountry Adoption Board (gov entity in Philippines which permits international adoptions) [url]http://www.skyinet.net/~icaba[/url] click on Foreign Adoption Agencies for the list

thanks guys. I think sil's interested in the philippines because she's filipino and has a young son who his filipino/aa. I'll forward the info to her. She may decide that she's want to go to a domestic adoption of a child of filipino descent. there are a couple of problems: neither family is pro adoption for them-not sure what that's about, but the family in the philippines says no, and her inlaws (my inlaws) are also saying no-even though we've had a great adoption. But then again, we didn't tell any of our relatives other than my sister, just because we didn't care what they thought. Sil tried to adopt her sister's child, but since sis is alive, the govt said no. thanks! Lisa

Lisa - There are biracial children available in the Philippines, so your bil & sil's quest is not impossible. It is true that the wait for very young girls can be quite long. The wait for boys is slightly less and older children adoption is usually even shorter. It's possible their wait could be relatively short because of their interest in a bi-racial child. I worked with Wide Horizons for Children - they have a well respected Philippines program and have offices in New Jersey. Your bil & sil should follow their hearts and see where it leads them! :D Jennifer