DOS Adoption Notice: Haiti Announces New Adoption Procedures

Haiti

September 14, 2012 

Notice: Haiti Announces New Adoption Procedures

 

Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Sociale et de Recherches (IBESR), announced new administrative adoption procedures, which will take effect on October 1, 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, and the U.S. government will continue to process adoptions under the non-Hague system until the Convention enters into force for Haiti.

The Department of State’s understanding of the new adoption procedures is as follows:  IBESR plans to regulate orphanages, crèches, and children’s homes in Haiti through an authorization process.  In addition, IBESR plans to implement an authorization process for certified adoption service providers (ASPs) or their agents to facilitate adoptions and to begin requiring families to use the services of an authorized ASP.  Children will be eligible for adoption only if they reside in an authorized facility. We continue to seek further clarification and will update this notice as information becomes available.

IBESR informed the U.S. government that beginning September 2012, they will accept applications from ASPs wishing to facilitate adoptions in Haiti under the new procedures.

New procedures may prohibit prospective adoptive parents from establishing contact with the child they are seeking to adopt before they are officially matched to that child by IBESR in coordination with the ASP and orphanage, crèche, or children’s home.  Some exceptions, such as intra-family adoptions may be allowed, even with prior contact.  IBESR may consider exceptions to this policy for new cases in which prospective adoptive parents have already had contact with the child on a case-by-case basis.

IBESR has informed the U.S. government that it will process adoption cases submitted prior to May 7, 2012 under pre-existing adoption procedures.  IBESR has also informed the U.S. government that they will review new cases submitted up to and including September 15, 2012 to determine if they can be processed under the old procedures.

If you have questions about the status of your adoption case, please work closely with your adoption agency or facilitator.  The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince is continuing to seek clarification on the new procedures.  Please continue to refer to our website at www.adoption.state.gov for updates on adoptions in Haiti.

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=haiti_3

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