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Does anyone know if private adoption is possible in Panama? For example, if I know a birthmother who wishes for me to adopt her child, can I simply hire an attorney in Panama and complete the adoption, or do all adoptions need to go through licensed agencies in the U.S? Thanks for any info you may have. We have adopted from China and are now looking to adopt again.
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It's possible but I would advise you to tread very carefully! A friend of mine has been trying to adopt a baby girl from Panama privately for close to 2 1/2 years now. The "baby" just turned 4 years old & the case is still stuck in the courts. The girl's birth family has already relinquished custody & she's been in an orphanage since about 6 months of age (before that she lived with her maternal grandmother who tried twice to get the orphanage to take her). My friend & her husband have been able to visit the orphanage & spend time with their daughter-to-be (they're fortunate in that they have a lot of vacation time) but it's a very difficult situation which shows signs of dragging on indefinately at this point. I don't want to alarm you unduly, but I can see how this is tearing my friend apart & I really think you should be prepared for a lot of uncertainty & risk (even more than is usual in IA) if you decide to adopt from Panama.
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Thank you for the info! I think that is the case in alot of Latin American adoptions right now. We have already adopted from China, which is such a stable and trustworthy program, it makes me SO nervous to venture into the unknown! And also to trust an attorney in Panama......I don't know how I feel about it.
My friend is now on her THIRD attorney in Panama (and I don't know how many thousands of dollars they've shelled out -- not to mention that the child they're trying to adopt now considers them her parents & cries when they have to leave her at the orphanage after each visit). It's been a nightmare for her and her husband. Her husband is actually FROM Panama, so you'd think things would go a bit more smoothly but it's literally been 2 years since they filed the adoption request for the baby girl they are trying to adopt -- and this was already about 3 months after identifying a particular child. When I told her about your post she told me that I should warn you what the situation is regarding adoptions in Panama. Since she's been going back & forth for over 2 years now she's gotten to meet other prospective adoptive parents also & apparently her situation is not unique. The delays appear to be a combination of factors -- the courts and the adoption bureau (dept?) are very suspicious of people trying to adopt (more so with baby girls according to my friend), everything comes to a halt during the periodic political reshuffling, there's a lot of corruption (and where there isn't the courts assume there has been anyway), & there's an incredible amount of incompetence at every step of the process (stuff like papers that were supposed to be signed off on by a social worker in Panama months ago never being signed, children's files getting mixed up, etc.).
Sorry to be so pessimistic! The whole IA thing seems to be more difficult than ever. The country we adopted our son from, Vietnam, is closed, and we're still years away from our China referral (if it ever comes). Vietnam was enough of a rollercoaster for us, I wouldn't want to be emotionally (and financially) invested in adopting from a country that didn't seem like a "sure thing" personally, and Panama really seems to be one of the worst countries in terms of uncertainty & delays.