Independant Adoption?

I was told something very simaliar to that, the thing you have to be careful of is that the child you are adopting mets the actual INS requirments for being an "orphan" and being eligable to come to the US. Brazil also has a residency requirements..for infants you can usually pay a fee and have this waived...but for a child over 2 there is a 30 day period where you have to live in the Brazil with the child before the adoption can be finalized by the Brazilian courts. Also your homestudy has to be done by social worker who is approved by the Brazilian authorities...which from the stuff I have learned are very hard people to find... Just do your research and see what you turn up :D :D :D BEST of LUCK!!!

I have connections in Brazil and thought of this also. However, I just read something that said that when you complete your dossier for Brazil, they require a statement saying you have not contacted the family of the child or the guardian of the child prior to the child being placed with you by CEJA (gov't agency). It also appears that there is some prioritization that happens- a child goes into the system and is matched with families: first, from Brazil, second, foreigners living in Brazil, third, Europeans (because they have signed the Hague Treaty on Int'l adoption), and lastly North Americans (because we haven't signed the treaty. So it may not be possible to have an independent match made. I am very interested in this as well, if you find out more, please let me know!

I just adopted 2 siblings from Brasil it took us 1.5 years to have the adoption completed... We are both brazilians and we went through the whole process being aproved by Ceja, finding a match child in the orphanage,being there for 30 days required by law not one single day less and I never heard about a fee to waive!There was 3 other couples from France and they all been through the same...After that... American embassy where you have to take all CEJA's papers,then coming home... International adoption in Brasil is take very seriously,Ceja is the only legal way to do it...Your housekeeping probably doesnt know much about it;I was very surprised when I found out all the details on International adoption,because you see children in the orphanages,in the streets,woman giving up their children without papers,etc...But when it comes to do it legally is not that simple... But you can do it!We did it without an agency,we aplied for all the papers ourselves and only hired an attorney when was the time to go to court in Brasil... It was cheaper than the agency,but if you can afford the agency I would do it ,it is much less headache... It is very difficult to adopt infants,my boys were,4 and 2.5 and we love them very much.If anyone needs details or info email me at maetobe2004@yahoo.com Cristiane

Your cleaning lady is probably doing this with the best of intentions because I myself would know of some children back home whose moms would have given them up for adoption, etc but the adoption process in Brazil is more complicated than that. I'm not saying its impossible!! Its just that the question is not "are there children to adopt" but "which children are actually AVAILABLE to adopt". My mom fell in love with a little boy at an orphanage in Rio and was told he was not available for adoption because his parents still visit him every Sunday. Thats very nice of them and all to mind him for the parents who are unable to or who are not allowed to (who knows!) but can you imagine if you had no children, walked into the orphanage, fell in love with a child and were simply told, "Sorry he's not available." Because of this, I think its unfair to have children who are not at all available for adoption mixed in with real orphans who need families. There are the so called "Institutes" for these children and "orphanages" for the ones that can be adopted (orphans). But in Brasil they are pretty much all mixed up, which is why I think it is very wise to contact CEJA and have an attorney in hand. It is alot of paper work, but I think when its my turn, I would much rather do it legally with all the paperwork than have to later find out the child's mom has rights to him or has changed her mind! Good luck to all of you adopting in Brasil! I truly hope it all works out! Right now I'm helping a friend who is interested and even though it seems to be alot, in the end it will all be worth it =) Ana Paula

Hi ANa Paula,I am also Brazilian interested in adopting from Brazil. Do you have a site where I should go to do my own registration at ceja?I've been researching and didnt find itAny info would help!thank you so much!!!Sandra

Hi just thought that I would share my friends story. He tried to adopt from Brazil independently TWICE and each time it fell through. I really think it pays to have an experienced agency--with experienced facilitators in the country--working on your behalf. You pay a little more but its so worth it. My friend is now going thru an agency, commonwealth adoptions, and things are going well. But he lost close to 20k trying to do it on his own. He even had referrals of children but ultimately it just didn't work out. So all who are trying to go independently I wish you the best of luck, just do your research....