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

Dear Faith Families, Friends, and Partners,

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Richard Powers (Dick). Dick passed aways peacefully in the presence of his children on December 19, 2011.

He was an integral and vital part of Faith International since its inception. His love for the [...]]]>

Dear Faith Families, Friends, and Partners,

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Richard Powers (Dick). Dick passed aways peacefully in the presence of his children on December 19, 2011.

Dear India families,

I hope each of you are doing well and gearing up for the holidays. As the year 2011 is close to end, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on the next things that will be happening for India adoptions in 2012.

I have received no word [...]]]>  

Dear India families,

I hope each of you are doing well and gearing up for the holidays. As the year 2011 is close to end, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on the next things that will be happening for India adoptions in 2012.

I have received no word from CARA since their last notice, so I am expecting them to re-open in January of 2012. However, please understand that there is a chance that on or before December 31st CARA could send an email as they did in October, informing us of another delay. Let’s hope that it won’t happen this time. So, you may ask what will happen to your case after the re-opening. It depends on where you are at in the adoption process.

If you have a complete homestudy, I will send them to CARA for review. Based on the request stated in your homestudy, CARA will try to find an authorized orphanage (RIPA) that has children meeting your request. That RIPA is required to confirm whether or not they want to proceed with your adoption. If the RIPA agree, I will send your complete adoption dossier to them to get your adoption moving forward. In case that the RIPA refuse your case with a clear explanation, CARA will refer you to another one. CARA will play an important role to facilitate the child searching and matching, which can potentially reduce the matching time.

If you have already been matched, your case will continue to move forward. The RIPA director will submit your dossier to CARA and then the Indian Court for review and approval. I do not find any stated difference for this step in the new system comparing to the old one, so I expect to see the same time frame for it, which is about 6-8 months. Although your dossier has already been sent to India, CARA might ask for additional documents. I will let you know and assist you to complete these as quickly as we can.

If you haven’t started or are working on your homestudy, you should continue to move forward. I will provide you with instructions on any changes from the new system. If you are planning to adopt from India, I suggest you to wait until CARA confirm that they have officially re-opened. You should contact our office sometime in February of 2012 to discuss on the opportunities for your adoption. At that time, I will be able to provide you with more details on the new adoption system of India.

Please understand that even if CARA will be ready to re-open in January of 2012, it might take them some time to be familiar with the new system and have everything well organized. So, be prepared for some delays and unexpected changes. It will not be a big difference in time frame for cases submitted right after the reopening compared to the ones submitted in several months after. So, there is no need to rush your dossier to India in January of February of 2012.

Thank you so much for your effort and cooperation! It is always my pleasure to work with all of you. I am continuingly inspired by your love for children in India. I hope things will get better in 2012 and more children will be able to find their loving families.

Happy holidays!

HAI DOAN
India Adoption Coordinator
hai@faithadopt.org

We receive many inquiries from families on status of the Vietnam adoption and time frame for the re-opening. From the lastest news that we received, Vietnam sent its letter of ratification to Hague Administrative on November 1, 2011, and the Convention will enter into force for Vietnam on February 1, 2012. This [...]]]>

We receive many inquiries from families on status of the Vietnam adoption and time frame for the re-opening. From the lastest news that we received, Vietnam sent its letter of ratification to Hague Administrative on November 1, 2011, and the Convention will enter into force for Vietnam on February 1, 2012. This is a good sign that the adoption from Vietnam is on the right track to soon become available for American families. However, it may take several months after that for American agencies to apply and receive the license from Vietnamese government. We hope to be able to send the first adoption case to Vietnam in late Summer or early Fall of 2012.

We at Faith are very excited to see the love of our families continues growing strong for Vietnamese children, and many have expressed their interest in an adoption from Vietnam when it is available. If you are one them, here are what we suggested you to do to get ready:

1. Documents for adoption dossier: Have a spare copy of the following documents for adoptive parents (if it is applicable): birth certificate , marriage certificate, divorce decree/certificate, valid U.S. passport, federal income tax return of the last 3 years (2009, 2010, 2011), adoption decrees for all adopted children in home. There will be more documents needed for your adoption dossier, but those are the commonly required ones.
2. Adoption Homestudy: When Vietnam reopens, all adoptions will be proceeded under the Hague process (I-800). So, you should start searching for a local homestudy agency who can assist you with the Hague pre-adoption homestudy report. I always suggest families to contact more than one agency to compare their services and cost efficiency. Each State has its own set of requirements for intercountry adoption, and your local homestudy agency should know them well. It is a good idea to start talking to homestudy agencies about your State’s requirements, what you need to prepare, and how the homestudy process should be handled.
3. Preferences and Guardians: As part of your adoption dossier, you will be asked to provide declarations from at least 3 people as preferences and 2 people as guardians for your adopted children. To make it objective, you should ask someone that is not your relative to be your preferences. The guardians for your adopted child should be in similar condition with your family in term of background, financial resources, marital status, etc.
4. Research: Start searching around for information and advices on intercountry adoption in general, and Vietnam adoption in specific. Learn about the country profile of Vietnam, culture, society, history, traveling, and start building strong knowledge and connection with the country. Be born and grow up in Vietnam, I will be more than happy to share with you my experiences and knowledge of the country. So, please feel free to call my office for a quick chat.
5. Get updates: If you want to receive emails from Faith with updates on Vietnam adoption status, sign up today!

Yes, it is very excited that Vietnam adoption will be soon resume and many orphans in Vietnam will be able to find a permanent loving family. May you have questions about the program, please contact our office today.

Hai Doan
Vietnam Adoption Program Coordinator
hai@faithadopt.org | Phone: (253) 383.1928

Related Articles:

• Vietnam Joins Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention
• Vietnam Ratified The Hague Adoption Convention
• Vietnam Adoption Reform
• Positive Changes in Vietnam Adoptions

I have been asked quite often by families in the India program about where they are now in the process, and what the timeline should be. So, this report is aimed to provide you with an overview on the India adoption process and how everyone is doing.

From my experience, the adoption process [...]]]>

I have been asked quite often by families in the India program about where they are now in the process, and what the timeline should be. So, this report is aimed to provide you with an overview on the India adoption process and how everyone is doing.

From my experience, the adoption process for the India program can be divided into 10 different stages from start to finish:

1. Family starts the adoption process by submitting application and completing adoption contract and agreements paperwork.
2. Work on homestudy, prepare documents for I-800A, and prepare documents for adoption dossier.
3. Homestudy complete, file I-800A with USCIS, and send adoption dossier to India.
4. Receive official referral from India, prepare acceptance documents and documents for India State Court. Send acceptance documents and documents for India State Court to India.
5. I-800A approved, file the I-800
6. I-800 approved. File the Immigration Visa Application (DS-230) for the adopted child with the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. Article 5 Letter is granted by the Embassy.
7. CARA approves the adoption. NOC is granted.
8. India State Court approves the adoption. Court Order is issued. Guardianship is granted. Family prepares for travelling to India.
9. Family travels to India to meet the child.
10. Family comes home with the child. Provide post-placement reports at the 3rd, 6th, and 12th months.

There are 9 families in our India program now, and they are at different stages of the process:

• 2 families are in stage 1
• 3 families are in stage 2
• 2 families are in stage 3
• 1 family is in stage 6
• 1 family is in stage 9

The 5 families in stage 2 and 3 are working quickly on completing their homestudy, documents for I-800A and adoption dossier. I really appreciate their effort, commitment, and corporation to get things done quickly. I am very happy to work closely with families to provide them with instructions, advices, and assistance to complete necessary forms and documents.  I encourage families to contact me for any questions they might have. I am available by both email and phone calls. I keep all the families inform on what documents that I will need and what I received from them.

Due to the working habit, things can move pretty slowly in India when it comes to processing and approving the cases. Therefore, the best way to save time for your adoption is to move fast in stages 1 through 6 where we have more control in the processing time. I have seen family can move through the first 6 stages within just 7-8 months. At stage 7 and 8, the time is really depended on the India authorities. And please be prepared for a longer wait than it is stated. A period of 4 -5 months can be expected. As soon as you receive the Court Order and your guardianship is granted, you should start to prepare for your travel to India right away. Faith International Adoptions will provide you with detail instructions on travelling to India.

Thank you for opening your heart to children from India. I look forward to learning more about you and assisting you through this adoption journey.

Hai Doan
Adoption Program Coordinator