Adopting from Tonga

I had not been aware of adoptions from Tonga before reading your note, so I took a look at the State Department website. Did you have to live with your child in Tonga for 6 months, as the law technically requires, or were you able to get a waiver? How easy is it to get a waiver? Did you work with the Consulate before you committed to a particular child, to be sure that the child would be able to immigrate to the U.S.? Many Tongan adoptions involve direct relinquishment by birth families, and a large proportion of such children will not qualify for a visa because they do not meet the U.S. "orphan definition". As an example, a child who has been living with both biological parents does NOT qualify, under any circumstances, for an adoption visa; you would have to live overseas with him/her for two years and then apply for a different sort of visa if you wanted to bring him/her home. And the USCIS will often deny a visa to a child who has been living with his/her birthmother and a man other than his/her biological father, since it will consider that man to be a stepfather. Did you work with a U.S. agency, or did you go independent? If you worked with an agency, would you be willing to receive PMs from others who want to know its name and what you thought of it? If you went independent, how did you identify a child? Tonga does not have a system where it makes the referral; you have to find a child on your own or through an agency. Many people find their child only during the course of a trip to the country. Did you find any evidence that birthmothers were being misinformed about the finality of adoption? In countries like the Marshall Islands, there were significant numbers of illiterate women who thought that the papers they were signing simply let the kids go to the U.S. for an education and medical care; they thought that the children would return home at some point. Overall, how was your process? How long was it, and how expensive? Did things go fairly smoothly? I hope that we can get a good discussion going about this little-known nation. Sharon

Hello! My husband and I have just returned from Tonga. The child is the baby of my husband's 18 year old 1st cousin. She is unmarried, and is not with the father of the child. She wants to give us her baby for adoption to give her a better life in the U.S. She has no job, no money, and since the baby was born we have been financially supporting her sending her formula, diapers, clothes, etc.... While we were in Tonga the birth mother signed an affidavit relinquishing her rights and had it sworn in at the Supreme Court of Tonga, we also filled out our own affidavit and had it sworn in. Now, to adopt the child under Tongan Law, we would have to live in Tonga with the child for 3-6 months, but we would rather do it in the U.S. so we are starting the process of filing the I-600 form with the USCIS. I know it's going to be a long process :(