Adopting from Haiti

Haiti Adoption Alert

Notice: Haiti deposits its instrument of ratification for the Hague Adoption Convention (January 16, 2014)

The Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) will enter into force for Haiti on April 1, 2014. Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), deposited its instrument of ratification with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on December 16, 2013.

The Department is also currently assessing whether consular officers will be able to verify that the requirements of the Convention and the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 will have been met with respect to individual adoption cases by the date that the Convention enters into force for Haiti. This decision includes determining if Haiti has designated a central authority and key competent authorities to undertake specific responsibilities outlined in the Convention as well as determining if those authorities have the capacity to fulfill their stated functions. The Department must also review Haiti’s adoption laws, procedures, practices, and infrastructure to ensure that key Convention principles will be implemented. Those principles include consideration of subsidiarity, adoptability of the child, effective consent, determination of habitual residence, prevention of improper financial gain, and prohibition against prior contact with a child’s legal guardian(s) until the appropriate time in the adoption process.

The Department of State expects to inform the public by April 1, 2014 whether the United States will be able to certify Convention adoptions from Haiti. The Department of State will provide updated information on adoption.state.gov.

USCIS will continue to accept I-600A applications specifying Haiti until March 31, 2014. However, we encourage adoption service providers and prospective adoptive parents to contact IBESR prior to initiating a new adoption from Haiti. If you have questions about the status of your adoption case, please work closely with your adoption agency or facilitator.

Please refer to our website and to USCIS’ website at uscis.gov for updates on the status of the U.S. adoption program from Haiti as we approach Haiti’s entry into force date. If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the Office of Children’s Issues via email at Haitiadoptions@state.gov.

Alert: Haiti authorizes U.S. adoption service providers (February 8, 2013)

Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), has authorized a limited number of U.S. adoption service providers (ASPs) to provide adoption services in Haiti pursuant to its new administrative adoption procedures, which became effective on November 5, 2012. Although these new procedures are part of the Government of Haiti’s efforts to become a Hague Adoption Convention partner with the United States, at this time Haiti is not party to the Convention. The U.S. government will continue to process adoptions under the non-Hague system until the Convention enters into force for Haiti.

In order to complete an intercountry adoption from Haiti, the adoption must comply with all of Haiti’s laws and regulations. These include the eligibility of the prospective adoptive parents to adopt, the eligibility of the child for intercountry adoption, and the matching of prospective adoptive parents with a specific child. The child must also meet the definition of an orphan under U.S. immigration law. All adoptions filed with the Haitian government on or after November 5, 2012 must comply with the new procedures.

The Department strongly urges all U.S. prospective adoptive parents interested in pursuing an adoption in Haiti to work with an ASP authorized by IBESR. The Department emphasizes that Haiti’s new procedures prohibit adoptions in which arrangements are made directly between the biological parents or custodians and the prospective adoptive parents (i.e. private adoptions). The new procedures also prohibit adoptions in which prospective adoptive parents seek a match with a child without the assistance of IBESR or an ASP authorized by the Haitian government (i.e. independent/individual adoptions). Similarly, Haiti will not approve adoptions where the child’s biological parents or legal representatives expressly decide who will adopt their child, unless the adoption is of a spouse’s child, is an intra-family adoption, is by a child’s foster family, or the child is the sibling of a child who has already been adopted.

The procedures (paras. 37-40) also specifically require ASPs authorized by IBESR to conduct post-adoption reporting on the child every six months for the first two years and annually for three additional years after the child is placed with the adoptive family. These reports must include a medical evaluation of the child, a school report, a psychological evaluation, and a social evaluation. The director of the authorized ASP must author the first four reports and forward them directly and solely to IBESR, whereas an independent expert may author the final three reports and the parents can submit them to IBESR.

According to IBESR, the following 20 U.S. ASPs have been authorized to provide adoption services in Haiti. The Department will publish the names of any additional authorized ASPs upon receipt of official notification. Publication of this list of ASPs does not constitute the Department’s endorsement of them:

• A Love Beyond Borders
• Adoption-LinkAll Blessings International/Kentucky Adoption Services
• All God’s Children International
• America World Adoption
• Bethany Christian Services
• Building Arizona Families
• Carolina Adoption Services, Inc.
• Children of All Nations
• Children’s House International
• Chinese Children Adoption International
• Dillon International, Inc.
• European Adoption Consultants, Inc.
• Holt International Children’s Services, Inc.
• Lifeline Children’s Services
• Love Basket
• MLJ Adoptions, Inc.
• Nightlight Christian Adoptions
• Sunny Ridge Family Center, Inc.
• Wasatch International Adoptions

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince will continue to clarify the new procedures as they are updated by IBESR, and the information in this update is subject to change. Please refer to our website adoption.state.gov for updates on adoptions in Haiti.

Hague Convention Information

Colombia is party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). Therefore, all adoptions between Colombia and the United States must meet the requirements of the Convention and U.S. law and regulations implementing the Convention.

Colombia's Central Authority for adoptions, the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF), is the only means of adopting a Colombian child; Colombian law prohibits private adoptions. Please note ICBF does not allow for a Colombian child to travel to the United States to be adopted. Therefore, prospective adoptive parents must obtain a full and final adoption under Colombian law before the child can immigrate to the United States. Adopting parents are required to be physically present before a "family judge" at the time of adoption. No exceptions are made to this requirement.

NOTE Special transition provisions apply to adoptions initiated before April 1, 2008. Learn more.

Who Can Adopt

Adoption between the United States and Colombia is governed by the Hague Adoption Convention. Therefore to adopt from Colombia, you must first be found eligible to adopt by the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government agency responsible for making this determination is the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Learn more.

In addition to these U.S. requirements for prospective adoptive parents, Colombia also has the following eligibility requirements for prospective adoptive parents:

Residency

There are no residency requirements for intercountry adoptions from Colombia.

Age of Adopting Parents

Both parents are required to be 25 years old. In practice, newborns are assigned to younger couples and older children to older couples.

Marriage

Colombian law allows adoptions by a married man and woman and common law spouses of more than three years. Single men and women are only allowed to adopt children over the age of seven on a case-by-case basis.

Income

Prospective adoptive parents are required to submit documentation confirming their ability to provide for the adopted child. This requirement may be met by only one parent.

Other

Gay or Lesbian individual or couple prospective adoptive parents are advised that they should consult with the ICBF regarding Colombia’s legal requirements prior to pursuing an adoption there. In addition, according to Colombian law, both parents must be found "physically and emotionally capable" to adopt.

After Adoption

SOURCE

Intercountry Adoption, Bureau of Consular Affairs. U.S. Department of State Country Information