International Adoption

Introduction

Adoption involves the process of transfer of parental legal rights and responsibility from an adopted individual's birth parents. International adoption involves adopting an indivdual from another country.

Reasons to adopt

The reasons towards going through domestic adoption and international adoption differ. The main reasons why someone would prefer one over another is that domestic adoption is the only way to adopt a newborn child. International adoption enables you to adopt an older infant/toddler/child, basically anyone that is older than a newborn.

Timeframe of adopting- both domestic and international are unpredictable. For domestic adoptions, you have to get in contact with the birthmother and see how far along the pregnancy she is. For international adoptions, even once you are in the process of adopting a child, things can change due to economics, laws, politics and safety concerns that can fluctuate. As to the health and wellbeing of families, more information will be provided for domestic adoption such as whether the adopted child’s birthmother has any illnesses. Whereas for international adoption, there is rarely any medical information on the family history.

Some concerns and fears people have with domestic adoption is the closeness and accessibility of the birthmother. Most domestic adoptions now are semi-open which means that birthmothers have access to your first names and will be in contact via phone. Birthmothers have no right to the baby once her legal rights are terminated.

The different types of adoption

There consists of many different types of adoption, but the two main ones are public and private. In terms of international adoption, this can only be done so through agencies. Another term for public agencies is foster care, child welfare, and/or social services. The terms closed adoption and open adoption are also widely used. A closed adoption is one in which families from both sides do not have contact with each other. This is mostly the case in international adoptions. An open adoption allows families to keep in contact whether that is writing letters or engaging in phone calls. This is a preferred option for adoptions of older children or teenagers too as it allows them to be given information about their birth family.

Eligibility

In Canada, whether you are eligible to adopt a child or not is regulated provincially. Therefore, the rules and regulations for each province differs. However, for all provinces and territories, all require a homestudy conducted by a social worker first. A homestudy is a application and interview process conducted by your social worker to see if you will be quantifiable to adopt someone into your family. The age restrictions for someone wanting to adopt depends on each agency and country. For example, on Open Door Adoption, in order to adopt a child from China, parents must be 30-55 years of age. In Latvia, you must be at least 25 and there is no older age limit. You must also be at least 18 years older than the child. There are no restrictions to adopting if you are single and same-sex couples are allowed to adopt too. However, this rule may differ depending on which country you adopt from.

Countries

The list of countries for people to adopt from are endless. The most popular destination amongst Canadians are China, Russia, Vietnam and Korea.

On the Government of Canada website, there is a list of countries that do not allow international adoptions. The list is separated by countries with provincial specific restrictions and restrictions internationally.

This is the list of Canadian provinces and territories that do not allow adoption from these countries: Cambodia (All PTs except Quebec), Georgia (All PTs), Guetamala (All PTs), Haiti (Nova Scotia), Liberia (All PTs), Nepal (All PTs),

This is the list of countries who do not allow international adoptions: Argentina, Benin, Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (except relative adoptions), Ghana (except relative adoptions and children with special medical needs), Granada Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Maldives, Mozambique, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania.

Finances

Domestic adoption- the approximate costs are $20,000 to $35,000.

International adoption- the approximate costs are $15,000 to $50,000.

Under line 313 of the Canada Revenue Agency, the maximum claim for an adopted child under the age of 18 is $15,255.

How to plan

Before:

The government of Canada website advises you to contact the adoption central authority in your province or territory. Or in general, contact the adoption central authority where you live.

There are many steps in adopting a child internationally. Firstly, you will have to complete an application from an agency. Once you are approved, much paperwork is to be done to determine variants such as whether you have had any instances of child abuse. A home study report is completed next and once that step is passed, your information is assigned and matched up to a country. Finally, you may fly to meet your adopted child in their home country.

The after steps include meeting up with a caseworker and in which you are under supervision to determine if you are capable of becoming the new parent to your child.