PROGRAM UPDATE: The Ghana program definitely continues to progress well but it is still in the “pilot program” stage.  By that we mean that we continue to experience new events in the various regions of Ghana.   It appears that while most regions follow the same procedures, each region has its own particularities.  That mainly [...]]]>

PROGRAM UPDATE: The Ghana program definitely continues to progress well but it is still in the “pilot program” stage.  By that we mean that we continue to experience new events in the various regions of Ghana.   It appears that while most regions follow the same procedures, each region has its own particularities.  That mainly involves timelines once a child has been referred.  As such it is difficult to provide a “general” time frame for each adoption. There are currently 12 families in our Ghana program.  Three families recently returned home with their children and all are doing extremely well. One family recently made their 1st trip to meet their daughter and looks forward to traveling to bring her home over the next few months.

HOW LONG WILL I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE REFERRAL OF A CHILD?
A family’s wait for a referral officially begins after they have completed their dossier which includes receiving their I-171(H) Approval Notice from USCIS. In many cases there are waiting children that each family can consider. In that case a referral happens very quickly.  But what if waiting child list does not include a child that the family wishes to adopt? In that case we contact the various regional offices of the Ministry of Social Welfare and inquire if they have a child available that meets the requirements of the prospective adoptive family (PAP). In some cases a child may be readily available but in other cases it may take some time to receive a referral. We have not yet had a family have to wait for a referral so it is hard to estimate what the timeframe will be.

We are seeing that it appears that more boys are available than girls. We are told that this is due to the fact that Ghana is a matriarchal society where inheritance is passed down the matriarchal line as opposed to the patriarchal line. We advise you to prepare to wait 9-12 months or longer for a referral. It is much better to emotionally prepare yourself for a long wait and be pleasantly surprised if things move faster than expected than to anticipate a short wait and be disappointed when delays arise. In all cases where there is not a waiting child immediately available we will advocate for your referral with the Ministry of Social Welfare.

WAITING CHILDREN:Please remember we still have waiting children from Ghana. Please check in with us if you would like information on any of the waiting children.

APRIL WAITING CHILD
“Kaden” is a handsome 8 year old boy with a great smile and a charming personality. He is healthy and has been waiting for a family since 2009. We would love to see him find the family that is meant to be his. If you know of a family who might be a great fit for this young boy, or any other waiting children, please refer them to our agency. We’d love to speak with them about the Ghanaian adoption process and would be happy to share the files of waiting children with them.

Please feel free to view and share Kaden’s attached photos. In addition, we currently have waiting children listed on Rainbowkids under our agency name. You will need to create a username if you do not already have one.

With each and every adoption program around the world, one’s patience is tried over and over again. So much of the inter-country adoption process is out of our control. That includes the processing in the foreign country as well as the processing with the USCIS. Time frames can vary from one family to the next. So patience, while hard to maintain at times, is critically important to each of us. “The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen.”

Faith Team

faith@faithadopt.org

 With the introduction of CARINGS, all new families must be registered in this website. [...]]]> It is almost 3 months since India started accepting new applications on 1/20/2012. We have finally had some movements in the new process with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), and I want to provide an update on our program.

 With the introduction of CARINGS, all new families must be registered in this website. And then, a photocopy of homestudy needs to be mailed to CARA to complete the registration. There are just 100 applications allowed in each month for healthy (normal) referrals, and the registration starts at 10AM (Indian Central Time) on the first Monday of the month. This quota is for all countries, not just the U.S. That means if I cannot register a family in this month because the quota is already met or their homestudy is not ready, I have to wait for another registration opening in next month. However, this quota is not applied for special needs adoptions, and I can register a family applying for a child with special needs at anytime as soon as their homestudy is complete.

There have been a lot of conversations between adoption agencies about the new CARINGS website and Indian adoption system. Many find that the CARINGS website does not function well and CARA does not response to any inquiry. This creates stress and difficulties for agencies to process the adoption appropriately. Adoption professionals come together and share their experiences and advices at the India adoption forum of Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS). While successful stories are a few, many errors and complaints are reported. Dean Hale, JCICS Co-Chair, has gathering comments from all agencies and will forward them to CARA and the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi at the next meeting.

CARA will hold a meeting with RIPAs at the end of March. We hope that RIPAs will receive adequate training from CARA on the new CARINGS website as well as the new adoption system. This may help adoptions be processed more effectively.

There is no issue from the U.S. Government. The I-800A is still expected to be reviewed and approved by USCIS within 90 days. The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi continues to be responsive and corporate to process adoption cases in timely manner.

Please remember that timelines for referrals, processing of the approvals by CARA, and particular court proceedings are very inconsistent and unpredictable. The processing at each stage is much longer than what we are told by CARA and other Indian organizations.

Warmly regards,

Faith Team
faith@faithadopt.org

I hope this message finds that you are doing well. We are doing our best to provide monthly updates for all of our adoption programs, as we feel this is helpful for waiting families. If there are any questions or concerns you have, please do not hesitate to contact us. If [...]]]> Dear Faith Families,

I hope this message finds that you are doing well. We are doing our best to provide monthly updates for all of our adoption programs, as we feel this is helpful for waiting families. If there are any questions or concerns you have, please do not hesitate to contact us. If anything is unclear, we would be happy to clarify.

FAMILIES: We had one family return home from Ghana with their son in the past month. We were excited to see that the Embassy issued their son’s visa and printed it the same day following their appointment. We are hopeful that the Embassy will continue to move quickly in this regard. We currently have one family who are returning TODAY with their son Their visa interview took place on Monday, with a visa print date of Friday.

We have three families who have received their I-600 approvals. One family is currently in-country and one will be making the second trip over the next two weeks to bring their children home. We also have one family who will be making their first trip in March. In addition, one family has recently submitted their dossier and we currently have 9 others working on their dossiers.

There are many children still in need of permanent and loving families. If you know of anyone who is interested in learning more about our Ghana program, please direct them to our agency and/or website. We are also advocating for a few Ghanaian children on Rainbowkids.com, so feel free to share that website as well.

REMINDERS: ALL original paperwork, such as adoption decrees, child records from the orphanage, etc. MUST remain in Ghana. None of these original documents should be removed from the country at anytime, as it will result in delays in the adoption process. Families will receive certified copies of the adoption decree, which they are welcome to take home. In addition, any medical, court, and immigration records can also be copied.

All requests for interviews and appointments during your trip to Ghana should be reviewed and cleared by our agency prior to submitting them to the Embassy or Consulate. We must arrange for airport pick-up and drop-off, as well as for Boat to accompany your family while in-country, so these arrangements should be approved before requesting them. In addition, some appointment requests require specific wordage and/or a specific format. We are happy to work with you in an effort to request all appointments as quickly as possible, so please abide by this policy.

We have recently learned that the Regional Director in Volta will be resigning, which is why it has been difficult to communicate within this region. He will be transitioning out of the position in March and the current Assistant Director will be taking over. The new Director is eager to assist our adoptive families in the completion of their processes.

We are hopeful that 2012 will continue to be a successful year for our Ghana program. We are very eager to see many children united with their forever families. We are thankful that you have allowed us to take part in such a special journey and look forward to working with you throughout the remainder of your process.

Sincerely yours,

Faith Team
faith@faithadopt.org

February 1, 2012

The United States has determined that it will not resume intercountry adoptions in Vietnam on February 1, 2012, when the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption will enter into force there.

Despite Vietnam’s [...]]]> Notice from the U.S. Department of State on status of Vietnam Adoptions:

February 1, 2012

The United States has determined that it will not resume intercountry adoptions in Vietnam on February 1, 2012, when the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption will enter into force there.

Despite Vietnam’s initiatives to strengthen its child welfare system and ensure the integrity of its domestic and international adoption process, it does not yet have a fully Hague compliant process in place. We continue to caution adoption service providers and prospective adoptive parents that, to ensure that adoptions from Vietnam will be compliant with the Convention, important steps must still take place before intercountry adoptions between the United States and Vietnam resume. Adoption Service Providers should not initiate or claim to initiate, adoption programs in Vietnam until they receive notification from the Department of State that it has resumed adoptions in Vietnam.

Source: United States Department of State

Message from Tom Dililipo, President and CEO of JCICS, commenting on the notice from U.S. Department of States:

February 2, 2012

It is our understanding that a primary issue is that specific Vietnamese provinces are not supporting the principle of subsidiarity. While this is an issue with Hague compliance, we encourage both the U.S. and Vietnamese government to resolve outstanding issues and resume intercountry adoption in those provinces that are in compliance.

We encourage potential adoptive parents and adoption service providers to use caution as no timeline has been stated by either government regarding the resumption of intercountry adoption between the U.S. and Vietnam.

Click here for related posts on Vietnam adoption.

Meet Mia – this sweet little 6 year old was adopted through our agency from Vietnam! This kind-hearted little girl recently joined Girl Scouts in her home state of Mississippi. Each Girl Scout troop is responsible for choosing a cause or organization that they can gift cookies to. Well, sweet Mia has chosen [...]]]>

Meet Mia – this sweet little 6 year old was adopted through our agency from Vietnam! This kind-hearted little girl recently joined Girl Scouts in her home state of Mississippi. Each Girl Scout troop is responsible for choosing a cause or organization that they can gift cookies to. Well, sweet Mia has chosen our agency, Faith International Adoptions, for this. Mia’s dream is to send these cookies to orphaned children.

We will be partnering with Mia and her Girl Scout troop to send cookies to orphanages overseas. If you are interested in donating any cookies or funds for shipping them, please contact Kelsey Melvin at kelsey@faithadopt.org. Cookies are $3.50 a box, and all funds must be received by Wednesday, February 1^st.

Thank you in advance for helping Mia’s dream come true!

Kelsey Melvin
kelsey@faithadopt.org

I hope this message finds that you are all happy and healthy! We’ve had quite a bit of crazy weather in western Washington, so we are hoping for some sunshine soon.  Things are continuing to go well in China despite the continuous slow movement.

Waiting Family Program
The CCCWA has currently matched [...]]]> Dear families,

I hope this message finds that you are all happy and healthy! We’ve had quite a bit of crazy weather in western Washington, so we are hoping for some sunshine soon.  Things are continuing to go well in China despite the continuous slow movement.

Waiting Family Program
The CCCWA has currently matched families with log-in dates through August 15th, 2006.  This means families who received referrals in this group waited about 64-65 months from submitting their dossier to receiving a referral. The matching trends from the last few months are listed below:

• August 2011: 2 days
• September 2011: 14 days
• October 2011: 5 days
• November 2011: 5 days
• December 2011: 3 days
• January 2012: 5 days

We received one referral for a waiting family whose dossier was logged-in on 08/08/2006. They were matched with a beautiful baby girl who is currently 10 months old. We look forward to receiving their travel approval within the next few weeks and can’t wait to finally see them on their way!

Waiting Child Program
We are continuously advocating for special needs children on Rainbowkids.com. All of the children listed by our agency are available for immediate matching. The CCCWA recently released an announcement which prohibits agencies from posting photographs of children on the Shared List. While this has placed somewhat of a hindrance on our advocacy, we are continuing to do our best to match waiting children with their forever families!

If you wish to explore the gender, age range, and any special needs that you might be open to, you may be interested in reviewing our China Special Needs Questionnaire.  There are nearly 2,500 children who are waiting to be matched at this time and we would be happy to chat with any families who may be considering whether the special needs route might be a good fit for their family. Please feel free to visit our website to learn more about the various special needs.

We’ve had several families return home with their children over the past few months, one of which just returned last week. We are currently waiting to receive 4 Travel Approvals and 1 Letter of Confirmation (LOC) for other families. We are hopeful the CCCWA will clear their desks before Chinese New Year and get these out as soon as possible.

Other News
Chinese New Year is Monday, January 23, 2012. Many communities offer activities and celebrations in honor of this date – please feel free to check throughout your local community. We’d love to hear about your experiences – share your photos and stories with us at our Facebook page!

A Faith family picnic is currently in the works for Summer 2012 – please keep your eye out for a save-the-date, which we hope to send out shortly!! If you are interested, please sign up to receive notification email from us about the picnic.

We’d like to remind families to keep an eye on their I-171H and I-797C approvals and the expiration dates. Approvals are typically valid for 18 months, while fingerprints are valid for 15 or 18 months, depending on your approval. While we’re always more than happy to provide a courtesy reminder, it is the personal responsibility of each family to ensure that their approvals remain valid. If you have a current I-171 or I-797C, please feel free to check with us to see if we have a copy on file. If you have recently received an updated approval, please e-mail or fax a copy to our office. We’re happy to send reminders, but must have a copy of the approval in order to do so. Thank you for your understanding.

On a fun note, please feel free to find us on Facebook if you have not done so already. You can do so simply by searching ‘Faith International Adoptions.’ We always love to keep in touch with our Faith families!

Take Care!

Faith Team

“On August 6, 2010, the U. S. Department of State and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suspended processing of new adoption cases from Nepal involving children claimed to have been found abandoned, because documents presented in support of the abandonment of these children [...]]]> Update from the U.S. Department of State on Nepal adoptions

“On August 6, 2010, the U. S. Department of State and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) suspended processing of new adoption cases from Nepal involving children claimed to have been found abandoned, because documents presented in support of the abandonment of these children in Nepal were unreliable. Cases involving relinquishment by known birth parent(s) were not affected by the suspension.

Recently, the Government of Nepal informed the U.S. Department of State that there may be a small number of children who will be found eligible for intercountry adoption by the Government of Nepal as relinquishment cases in 2012. The U.S. Department of State continues to strongly recommend that prospective adoptive parents refrain from adopting children from Nepal due to grave concerns about the reliability of Nepal’s adoption system and credible reports that children have been stolen from birth parents, who did not intend to irrevocably relinquish parental rights as required by INA 101(b)(1)(F). We also strongly urge adoption service providers not to accept new applications for adoption from Nepal.

Due to the concerns regarding reliability of Nepal’s adoption system, any future relinquishment cases received by the Embassy in Kathmandu will require complex investigations which may include birth parent interviews and DNA testing. Although we have not yet received these cases, and cannot estimate the amount of time for any investigation, we caution that they may require significant time and expenses that would likely raise the overall costs for prospective adoptive parents.

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu continues to encourage the Government of Nepal to work with the international community, including the Hague Permanent Bureau, to implement the Hague Adoption Convention and reform its adoption process to protect children and families.

We will continue to keep you updated through adoption.state.gov as additional information is received. This link will also provide additional information and past adoption notices and alerts on the detailed concerns found in Nepal adoptions.”

Original article can be found at the official website of the U.S. Department of State.

Happy New Year! We hope this update finds you all in good health. We would like to start the year off with this update and continue to provide you with an update on a monthly basis.

GHANA
As you are all aware, Ghana is a developing nation on the West Coast [...]]]> Dear Ghana Families,

Happy New Year! We hope this update finds you all in good health. We would like to start the year off with this update and continue to provide you with an update on a monthly basis.

GHANA
As you are all aware, Ghana is a developing nation on the West Coast of Africa. It is known for being one of the most peaceful, if not the most peaceful, of all African nations. As a developing country, Ghana is in need of improving its infrastructure especially with roads, schools, public water, and communications. Often times it is very difficult to make telephone or email contacts with people in Ghana, so information is often delayed. That applies to communications with the U.S. Embassy in Ghana as well. We are appreciative that you all keep this in mind and continue to be patient as we wait for updated information.

More and more people are adopting in Africa since the slowdown of adoptions in Asia. We are very happy to see this increased interest, as the need for permanency options in Africa is greater than any other regions of the world. It is important that each prospective adoptive family familiarize themselves with the history and culture of Ghana. This will allow you to have a better understanding of how your child has been raised and the customs that your child is used to. Additionally, it is vitally important that each family review the programs on adopting an African child and raising an African child offered by Adoption Learning Partners.

ORPHAN CHILDREN
Children in Ghana become available for adoption for several reasons. Some children are found abandoned or deserted and then placed in an orphanage. Some children are placed in the orphanage by their biological families due to severe economic reasons,  the death of one or both parents, or for protective reasons. When the biological parents or grandparents are known, the court will require their consent for the adoption. Generally speaking, we are provided with a limited amount of information on the social history of the child. We try our best to gather as much information as we can from police reports, orphanage records and Ministry of Social Affairs. In many cases, the information is extremely limited.

Please keep in mind that every child has a distinct and individual personality. While this is pretty obvious, we must keep in mind that each child will have experienced distinct events in his/her life that have led up to the child’s placement in an orphanage. Some of those events can be startling like physical harm, both unintentional and intentional. Examples of this could be hot water falling on the infant accidentally, death of parents or a child left in the bush for several days. These events at a young age do not necessarily mean that there will be a life time of adverse affects on the emotions of the child or any adverse affects on the child at all. This is why adopting a child is a “leap of faith.” If any of you have any questions about this or would like reference material on this topic, please let us know and we can provide that to you. It is a topic commonly addressed during you pre-adoption training course.

ADOPTION PROCESS
As you are all aware, once you have been referred a child and your dossier is complete, your petition to adopt will be filed in the regional court where the child resides. Once the court accepts the petition, it will assign a court date to grant the petition. The courts have two options at this point: one is to issue a final adoption decree, which is the most common; and the other option is to issue a two-year interim adoption order. This is similar to a guardianship pending adoption order that is commonly used in India and South Korea. All of our cases so far have been final adoption decrees. The court takes 2-3 days after the adoption hearing to issue the Decree. Once the Decree is issued, Boat (our in-country liaison) will run it to Accra for attestation at the Supreme Court and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will take 3-4 days to complete that. At the same time, if the child does not have a Birth Certificate (abandoned children) you will file for the Ghanian Birth Certificate. Once you have the fully attested Decree, you can submit your Form I-600 to the U.S. Embassy in Accra. The Embassy will take approximately 60 days to process the I-600 petition.

In dealing with the US Embassy, you will find this to be a rather difficult matter. In order to come into the Embassy to file any documents, you must first request for an appointment by email . Sometimes the Embassy will have a prompt response but more commonly they take at least a few days. It is very frustrating, but the Embassy has limited staff that has to deal with multiple matters, in addition to adoption matters. Your patience with our Embassy is greatly appreciated.

After the Embassy approves your I-600 petition, you will receive an email advising you that your file has been transferred to the Consular Section of the Embassy. Then approximately 2-3 weeks later your will receive an email from the Consular Section notifying your visa interview packet is ready to be picked up. Once that packet is picked up by our staff in Ghana, your child’s medical exam and TB test can be taken and a visa interview date requested. The Embassy will assign you a date to come into to submit your child’s visa application (DS-230). You will be in Ghana for approximately one week on the second, or final, trip.

Please note that sometimes when you have filed the I-600, the US Embassy will send you an email a few days later giving you a date to come to receive your child’s visa. THIS IS A CLERICAL ERROR. A visa cannot be issued until the I-600 has been processed and this includes, in all cases in Ghana, an I-604 field investigation. This takes approximately 60 days to complete. When the investigation is completed and the I-600 is approved, USCIS Accra will transfer your file to DOS Accra (Consular Section). It will take Consular Section 2-4 weeks to issue you an email advising you to pick up your visa information packet. After the packet has been picked up and all the steps followed as listed in the packet, then and only then, can you submit the OF-169 form requesting a visa interview date. As you can see, it will take up to three (3) months after you filed the I-600 to receive your confirmed visa interview date.

FOR YOUR ADOPTED CHILD
While you are in Ghana on your first trip, you are presented with a difficult choice. The choice is whether to have your child spend time with you at your hotel or to keep your child in the orphanage and visit him/her on a daily basis. It is very natural to want to have your child with you and out of the orphanage while you are there, but we ask that you keep in mind that you will have to return your child to the orphanage once you are ready to come back to the States. That can create confusion and grief for the child. If you decide to have your child with you in the hotel, we recommend that you spend the first three days visiting with your child at the orphanage so that he/she has some connection to you before taking him/her to your hotel. You should expect your child to show some concern and fear about being taken from the orphanage and being with you in the hotel. That concern can manifest itself in the form of crying, being despondent and being inconsolable. That is a normal response and should minimize after a few days of being with you. Your other option is to keep your child in the environment he/she is familiar with and visit a few hours in the morning and then in the afternoon each day.

CURRENT FAMILIES
We have one family traveling to Ghana this month to bring their son home. We have two families waiting for their I-600 petition to be approved. We have two families getting ready to travel for their first trip and approximately (7) families working on their dossiers.

YAHOO & FACEBOOK GHANA GROUP
We understand that there is a Yahoo chat group, as well as a Facebook group on adopting in Ghana. While chat groups like this can give prospective adoptive families the opportunity to meet each other and discuss issues, it can also be a place where misinformation is given. We have seen many families get upset due to misinformation being listed on this site and request that if you are on this site that you contact us directly with any questions regarding alarming or questionable posts.

There are many children in Ghana in need of permanent loving families so we encourage you to recommend our program to any families you know who may have an interest in adopting in Ghana. Thank you for your continued patience. Please feel free to call us anytime if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely yours,

Faith Team
faith@faithadopt.org