Senegal?

OK so the only reason I'm reviving this thread is b/c I semi-know how to go about a Senegalese adoption. My husband is Senegalese, and I thought of, and still do think of, adoption from there. The constitution of Senegal states that to adopt a child that is an official orphan with no living relatives or relatives willing to take in the child, you must first have no children of your own. If you have children already, you must get approval from the President himself(yikes!) Also be aware that there are different types of adoption in Senegal.....relative, and complete. From what I read, its a bigger pain if you're non-Senegalese adopting from there. Thats where the no others kids comes into play. I stopped my searching when I saw you had to go through the President to get a child's adoption finished :( simply b/c I nor my husband know how to do this.....go up some chain of power maybe? And there are alot of orphanages in Senegal....Dakar has the puponniere, and Kaolack has Sobo home for babies. I'm thinking that a Senegalese lawyer is the next step for both of us.

From the U.S. State Department website: RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS: One year. There may be exceptions which are not set out in the law but CI is unaware of the process for requesting or granting an exception.

AGE REQUIREMENTS: For couples applying to adopt jointly, one prospective adoptive parent must be at least 30 years old. Unmarried adoptive parents must be 35 years or older. Additionally, adoptive parents must be 15 years older than the child to be adopted. In the case of adoption of step-children, the required age difference is 10 years;

MARRIAGE REQUIREMENTS: The adoptive parents applying jointly have to be married more than five years and not be legally or voluntarily separated. The rules are the same for single men as for single women.

INCOME REQUIREMENTS: While the Code de la Famille does not specify any income requirements, it does require that the adoption benefit the child which may be understood by the court to the mean that prospective adoptive parents demonstrate the financial ability to care for the child.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Senegalese adoption law states that only individuals who are unable to have biological children may adopt a child. However, the President of the Republic can grant an exemption, which must be obtained before filing a request to adopt with the Regional Court of Dakar. If an individual is seeking to adopt his or her spouse’s children, the law requires that the couple not yet have any children from their union on the day they file their request. Couples who cannot have children due to medical reasons are given priority.

Thank you both for your thoughtful replies. It does make it sound quite difficult, but not completely impossible. The residency wouldn't be a problem for us since we'll be living there for 2 yrs. And we are unable to have biological children, but we do have 2 girls we've already adopted domestically in the US. Don't know if that makes us fall into the category of having it approved by the President first. I will do my research once we get settled there later this year and will post back to this thread when I have more information. You never know, it may be helpful to other people looking to adopt from Senegal in the future. :)