Adopting from Taiwan? Welcome to the Taiwan Adoption Forum

Thank you for opening the new Taiwan forum. It is well deserved seeing as the country is increasing in it's desireable spot in the adoption community. Sarah k

Adoption.com is a big site! Nice to be able to find new info here on Taiwan adoptions rather than stuff that is YEARS old and doesn't help so much. Here's another site for help started by a group of PAPs: [url=http://taiwanadoptions.blogspot.com]Taiwan Adoptions[/url] Sarah W.

[URL="http://taiwanadoptions.blogspot.com/"]Taiwan Adoptions[/URL] website is a great source of information!! I enjoy reading the list of blogs. :) Karen

So glad you started this. We also adopted from Guatemala and are looking into Taiwan Adoptions. Becky6/2/06 Home from GuatemalaTrying to choose an agency for Taiwan adoption

I stayed up until 1:30 Saturday night :coffee: reading blogs from the Taiwan Adoption website! What a wealth of information!

We also are in the beginning stages of the process. :) We're in Florida - any one else from FL? Yay Taiwan! Emelia

Great to see that the Taiwan forum is up and running! It looks like this forum is already providing some very valuable information and support to prospective adoptive parents. I had a look at the Taiwan Adoptions web site and I also have a few suggestions for prospective adoptive parents to perhaps consider when selecting an adoption agency or going via independent placement: 1. Where are the children being sourced from and how are they cared for prior to adoption placement? If you're concerned about HIV babies, please be aware that Taiwan's HIV rates have risen a lot lately. According to an article in the Taipei Times, April 7, 2007, titled, "CDC promotes condoms amid rising HIV rates", cites a Department of Health survey that showed that up to 70 percent of Taiwanese lose their virginity between the age of 15 and 24 and that only 30 percent of those used condoms the first time. The sourcing question is also very pertinent in the case of independent placements. Taiwan has become a primary destination for people trafficking, according to the American Institute in Taiwan (the USA 'embassy' there) report, "TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT - 2006 REPORT TAIWAN". It states, "Taiwan is primarily a destination for men, women, and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Women from the P.R.C. and Southeast Asian countries are trafficked to Taiwan for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children, primarily from Vietnam, are trafficked to Taiwan through the use of fraudulent marriages, deceptive employment offers, and illegal smuggling for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor." While I don't want to alarm prospective parents needlessly (I found Taiwan to be a very wonderful and friendly place), I do want to raise awareness of the necessity for due diligence and caution when selecting an independent adoption placement. If I was considering adopting a child, I would want to ensure that I'm not unwittingly at the receiving end of illegal activity. 2. How were the birth mothers treated? According to a newspaper article (I think it was in the China Post or the Taipei Times), May 10, 2007, titled, "Draft bill grants students full set of maternity rights", the Minister for Education Chen Yi-Hsing, said that Taiwan has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Asia. Assuming that this Chen's statement is true, in light of this relatively high proportion of pregnant teenagers, to what extent were the birth mothers fully informed of the full range of options available to them and provided with support (emotional, moral, etc before and after the relinquishment, as opposed to being heavily pressured or coerced, as sometimes happens in some countries)? If you're wondering what I'm referring to, have a look at the web site for the Association of Relinquishing MotherS (ARMS). 3. How much information can you obtain about the child's medical history, family background, other historical information about their lives before you adopted them (this will be extremely valuable to the adoptee when he/she starts wondering about their origins). 4. What sort of post-adoption support will the agency provide to the adoptee and the adoptive parents if the adoptee wishes to search for his or her birth family in future? There is also useful information and resources from the Child and Juvenille Adoption Information Center (it's run by the Taiwan government) [URL="http://www.adoptinfo.org.tw/EN/Service2.aspx"]Child and Juvenile Adoption Information Center[/URL] I also highly recommend the wealth of resources provided by The Community Services Center, it's in Taipei. Telephone: +886-(02) 2836-8134. It's run by (mainly American) ex-patriates for the foreign community in Taipei. They publish an excellent book called "Taipei Living", have tons of information, are bi-lingual and offer counselling services. I found them immensely helpful when I returned to Taiwan for a year. I hope this information helps!

My husband and I are ready to start the process to adopt a baby from Taiwan right now!!! I have been researching and seem to like Florida Home Studies and Adoptions program--Does anyone know if this is a good agency? thanks!

Here's what I was referring to about doing one's due diligence about where the babies were sourced and how the birth mothers were treated. Babies are worth about $440 - boys more pricey than girls, according to the following BBC article about a baby trafficking ring from Vietnam that has been smuggling babies into China. While I know that China and Taiwan are separate, I have heard of similar smuggling activities across the two shores. Here's an excerpt from the article:"The district police said the scale of the ring's activities was so large that they had to transfer the case to central police to follow up. It is believed that the smugglers had been scouring for babies and pregnant women from poor families in rural areas across the country." [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7338008.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7338008.stm[/URL]

Ripples, I certainly appreciate your perspective as a Taiwan adoptee. For those of us adopting through a US agency, which collaborates with a Taiwan agency, do you have any specific recommendations for doing your due diligence? Other than the usual things we would do before working with any agency - check references, check with BBB, speak to other families who have used them, etc. :thanks:jen

Hi, I am starting to do the research on adopting in Tiawan. We live in Florida and are looking for a good agency. All of my original search was for Vietnam:( Maybe God is pointing us in another direction for a reason. So if anyone has any suggestions on agencies I would be grateful.: Thanks! Patty

Hi Jetgirl,I think you've listed the items that I'd undertake in doing due diligence. I'd also ask the US agency the following questions point-blank: 1. Where are the children sourced from?2. Do you know how the birth parents were treated?3. What assurances can you and the Taiwan agency provide that the children were not sourced illegally via a baby trafficking network and that the child's documents were falsified? While I imagine that agencies would provide all kinds of reassurances that everything's fine, I think until we all start asking these questions, agencies will not know just how much of a concern it is and that agents, as intermediaries, need to do their due diligence in ensuring that they are not inadvertently supporting illegal activity. I'm in favour of legal adoptions that are done in the best interests of the child, not illegal baby trafficking. My poor adoptive parents basically ended up facing extortionsts when they had adopted my brother (not my biological one) from a very unscrupulous orphanage. I know that that was long ago, but I'd hate to think that today adoptive parents and their adopted children end up being accidentally part of unscrupulous networks. See my other post about China's Stolen Children - the docco that won the recent BAFTA award for current affairs.

I have been researching Taiwan for a little while too and we are about ready to get things rolling. We are on the fence for an agency and would appreciate knowing from anyone in process or with a completed adoption how they chose an agency and if they are satisfied. Please PM me with any information that can't be posted on the site. I am also in Florida.Thanks!MJNR

Hi, We are ready to get on the adoption roller coaster too. I've called a bunch of agencies and they are only able to do the adoptions from Tiawan in the state they are licensed in. With the age restrictions (I'm 47 and hubby will be 51 this year) it doesn't leave us with many options. I'm computer illiterate and don't know how to PM. In Florida and needing help/advice Patty

If someone sends you a PM, you should get a notice when you load a new page. You can also view your private messages in the upper right hand part of the screen. You'll see a box that says, Welcome, specialk4b.You last visited: Today at 09:14 AM Private Messages: Unread 0Click on the link for Private Messages to see any messages you have.