Dominican Republic

Here is the U.S. State Department's information on adopting from the Dominican Republic. [url=http://adoption.state.gov/country/dominican%20republic.html]Country Specific Information for dominican_republic.htm[/url]. There are very few adoptions from the D.R., mainly because few American parents can afford the time and cost of spending two months overseas, living with a child, as required by D.R. law. Sharon

We did follow through with our adoption from the DR! We came home as a family of six in May of 2017! We spent about 5 months in country to complete the adoption process and we used Lifeline as our placing agency here in the US. I would highly recommend them if you are still interested in adopting from the DR.Our general timeline in country was this:-Week 1: Socialization week (we spent 2 hours Monday-Thursday meeting and getting to know our children, including one day going to the orphanage.) Friday of this week they were signed into our physical care and we became their physical guardians. That Friday is they day they moved into our care 24/7.-After socialization week we continued our 60 day cohabitation period. We were able petition to reduce ours to 30 days due to medical special needs and it was granted, but expect 60 days because you cannot petition a reduction until they are in your physical custody.-At the end of the cohabitation period we then waited for an appointment to meet with the judge where she interviewed us to be sure we understood adoption children receive the same rights and privileges of biological children and once the adoption was finalized it is irrevocable. She also asked how cohabitation went and how we felt the children were doing, etc.-After meeting with the judge, she then set a court date to sign and approve the adoption decree. At this point the adoption was finalized, we became their legal parents and they gained our last name. However, we could not return to the US until we had all of the documents needed to an immigrant Visa. After this meeting, my husband was allowed to return to the US for work while I stayed in the DR with the children until the remaining steps were completed.-Once the decree was signed there was a 30 day "no contest" period to ensure there were no errors and before we could apply for their new birth certificates with our names as the parents and their new last names.-Birth certificates have to go through La Junta and they are notorious for long timelines. In our case it took 7 weeks from applying for the birth certificates after the 30 day no contest period of the adoption decree and being granted permission to pick up the birth certificates (our lawyer did the application and all of the steps in the birth certificates, including picking them up and getting them apostled.) We were told this was faster than expected, as the last family took much longer.-Once we had the birth certificates, the last steps were very quickly (less than two weeks). The remaining steps were:-Apply for passports - thanks to a connection our attorney had with someone in the Migration office, we were able to get them same day, but usually it takes 2-4 days from applying to picking them up for minors.-Once we had passports and birth certificates in hand, we were able to go to the US Embassy Medical physical. This is actually two appointments 2 days apart because they have to test for TB. Sometimes they can give you the results at your second appointment if you are willing to stick around to wait and other times you pick them up a few days later.-As soon as you have the results you can then do your Embassy Interview. In our case it was an open appointment, meaning we could go any morning Monday-Thursday. In other cases, they will give you an actual date and time.-After the Embassy interview they can issue the immigrant Visas. This could be same day or could be a few days later.-Obtaining the immigrant Visa was the last thing we needed before we could travel home to the USA with our children. Just anFYI, be sure to have birth certificates, VISA and passports readily available at the airport in the DR and upon entering the USA. You will have to go through immigration agents at both ends.Hope that helps! We were in the DR for exactly 5 months from the day we met our children to the day we flew home.