What is Oversees Adoption?
Oversees adoption is the act of permanently and legally adopting a child from another country. The legal transfer of parental rights from the birthparents/person with custody over the child, to the adoptive parents takes place.
Is anybody eligible to adopt a child?
No. There are a number of general qualifications one has to fulfill if one wants to adopt, according to United States law. Among the requirements that the adopter must satisfy are:
1) They must be a U.S. citizen
2) If married, they must adopt jointly with their spouse, while if unmarried they must be at least 25 years old.
3) They must pass a criminal background check which includes fingerprinting.
4) They may have to pass the adoption requirements of their home state.
5) They must be sure to fulfill the adoption requirements of the country that they are adopting the child from.
Once I have determined my eligibility how do I adopt?
Adoption often is a long and expensive process. Since the adopter must follow both United States law and the law of the country from which their child is coming from, there is no one process that describes international adoption. There are however a few important distinctions to be aware of. The United States is part of a treaty called The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. Many countries have signed this convention and for those who have, certain minimal adoption procedures and eligibility requirements must be met. One example of the effect of the convention is that it stipulates that for signatory countries the adoption agency being used must be certified on a national level. In the United States they previously only had to be certified by the state they were operating in. It is possible to adopt children from countries that are either signatories or from countries which are not signatories of the convention and as a general outline the processes are the same.
Once somebody has decided to adopt a number of steps are normally taken in this order 1) selection of an adoption agency or a facilitator to work with. 2) Relevant information about the prospective adopter will be prepared and a determination of the eligibility of that individual as an adopter will be made. 3) The countries that the person wants to adopt a child from will be selected. 4) Once this process is complete, information about individual children may or may not be available, depending on the country of origin of the child. The potential adopter will then have to work with that country’s laws pertaining to the selecting of a child. Legal paperwork and additional requirements that the adopter has to fulfill must also be completed. 5) If everything works out and the adoption becomes finalized, the child becomes the legal child of the adopter and will be granted citizenship rights as long as at least one adoptive parent is a U.S. citizen. Finally in order to complete gaining citizenship for the child a few steps have to be taken. First you must apply for a birth certificate for your child in order to get a passport. After obtaining a birth certificate and a passport, a U.S. Immigrant Visa can be issued to your child and they can travel home with you.
