DOS Adoption Notice: Taiwan implements a Pre-Adoption Immigration Review requirement for all adoptions by U.S. citizens of children residing in Taiwan

Taiwan  

February 27, 2013

Notice: Taiwan implements a Pre-Adoption Immigration Review requirement for all adoptions by U.S. citizens of children residing in Taiwan

The Department of State shares the follow web alert posted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on February 26, 2013.

In January, the Taiwan Child Welfare Bureau issued an administrative order that requires all adoption cases filed on behalf of U.S. prospective adoptive parents with the Taiwan courts to undergo the U.S. PAIR process. The order applies to all currently licensed Taiwan adoption services providers (ASP), and any ASPs which may be licensed in the future. The administrative order instructs Taiwan ASPs to include a letter issued by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) located in Taipei, confirming that USCIS successfully completed the PAIR process with each court filing initiated after April 1, 2013. The new requirement will not affect pending adoption cases filed with Taiwan courts before April 1, 2013.

To enable prospective parents adopting from Taiwan to comply with Taiwan's new requirement, USCIS issued a policy memorandum, effective immediately, that allows prospective adoptive parents to file a Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, before Taiwan courts finalize an adoption in Taiwan. These new procedures allow USCIS to assess the child's eligibility for U.S. immigration benefits and make a preliminary determination before Taiwan courts finalize the adoption decree. A copy of the policy memorandum is available at uscis.gov.

After USCIS issues a preliminary determination of the child's immigration eligibility, AIT will issue a letter to prospective adoptive parents confirming completion of the PAIR process.  Prospective adoptive parents, through their ASPs, must include the letter from AIT when filing a case with the Taiwan courts.

To begin the PAIR process, petitioners adopting children from Taiwan should file the Form I-600 petition and supporting documents with the USCIS National Benefits Center (NBC) before filing an adoption case with the Taiwan courts. Please refer to the Form I-600 instructions for filing instructions for the NBC. USCIS overseas offices and the AIT will continue to accept Form I-600 petitions, but such petitions will be forwarded to the NBC for PAIR review.
Prospective adoptive parents filing their Form I-600 petition should include all available required documentation when filing a Form I-600 petition, except the adoption decree or grant of legal custody. In addition, the following PAIR-specific documentation must be submitted when the child's country of origin is Taiwan:

1. Evidence of availability for intercountry adoption generated by the Taiwan island-wide database;
2. Signed adoption agreement between birth parents and prospective adoptive parents for use in Taiwan District Family Courts; and
3. Power of attorney appointing the Taiwan ASP to represent the prospective adoptive parents.

The Taiwan District Family Court will make its own determination regarding the child's adoptability. After completing the adoption and receiving the adoption decree from the Taiwan District Family Court, U.S. adoptive parents will submit their adoption decree and all necessary documents to AIT for final Form I-600 petition approval and immigrant visa processing.

You may refer to adoption.state.gov for additional information about adopting from Taiwan.
 http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=taiwan_2

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

DOS Adoption Alert: Haiti authorizes U.S. adoption service providers

Haiti  

February 8, 2013

Alert: Haiti authorizes U.S. adoption service providers

Haiti’s adoption authority, Institut du Bien-Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), has authorized a limited number of U.S. adoption service providers (ASPs) to provide adoption services in Haiti pursuant to its new administrative adoption procedures, which became effective on November 5, 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.  The U.S. government will continue to process adoptions under the non-Hague system until the Convention enters into force for Haiti.

In order to complete an intercountry adoption from Haiti, the adoption must comply with all of Haiti’s laws and regulations.  These include the eligibility of the prospective adoptive parents to adopt, the eligibility of the child for intercountry adoption, and the matching of prospective adoptive parents with a specific child.  The child must also meet the definition of an orphan under U.S. immigration law.  All adoptions filed with the Haitian government on or after November 5, 2012 must comply with the new procedures.

The Department strongly urges all U.S. prospective adoptive parents interested in pursuing an adoption in Haiti to work with an ASP authorized by IBESR.  The Department emphasizes that Haiti’s new procedures prohibit adoptions in which arrangements are made directly between the biological parents or custodians and the prospective adoptive parents (i.e. private adoptions).  The new procedures also prohibit adoptions in which prospective adoptive parents seek a match with a child without the assistance of IBESR or an ASP authorized by the Haitian government (i.e. independent/individual adoptions).  Similarly, Haiti will not approve adoptions where the child’s biological parents or legal representatives expressly decide who will adopt their child, unless the adoption is of a spouse’s child, is an intra-family adoption, is by a child’s foster family, or the child is the sibling of a child who has already been adopted.  

The procedures (paras. 37-40) also specifically require ASPs authorized by IBESR to conduct post-adoption reporting on the child every six months for the first two years and annually for three additional years after the child is placed with the adoptive family.  These reports must include a medical evaluation of the child, a school report, a psychological evaluation, and a social evaluation.  The director of the authorized ASP must author the first four reports and forward them directly and solely to IBESR, whereas an independent expert may author the final three reports and the parents can submit them to IBESR.

According to IBESR, the following 19 U.S. ASPs have been authorized to provide adoption services in Haiti.  The Department will publish the names of any additional authorized ASPs upon receipt of official notification.  Publication of this list of ASPs does not constitute the Department’s endorsement of them:

• A Love Beyond Borders
• Adoption-LinkAll Blessings International/Kentucky Adoption Services
• All God’s Children International
• America World Adoption
• Bethany Christian Services
• Building Arizona Families
• Carolina Adoption Services, Inc.
• Children’s House International
• Chinese Children Adoption International
• Dillon International, Inc.
• European Adoption Consultants, Inc.Holt International Children’s Services, Inc.
• Lifeline Children’s Services
• Love Basket
• MLJ Adoptions, Inc.
• Nightlight Christian Adoptions
• Sunny Ridge Family Center, Inc.
• Wasatch International Adoptions

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince will continue to clarify the new procedures as they are updated by IBESR, and the information in this update is subject to change.  Please refer to our website adoption.state.gov for updates on adoptions in Haiti.

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=alerts&alert_notice_file=haiti_5

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

DOS Adoption Notice: DRC Changes at Embassy Kinshasa for adoption-related immigrant visa processing

Democratic Republic of Congo 

February 7, 2013

Notice: Changes at Embassy Kinshasa for adoption-related immigrant visa processing

Due to the increase in the volume of intercountry adoptions from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by U.S. citizen families, U.S. Embassy Kinshasa announces several changes to its procedures for adoption related immigrant visa processing.  On January 31, 2013, Embassy Kinshasa held a teleconference with U.S. offices of adoption service providers (ASPs) operating in the DRC, to announce these changes.  A meeting will take place February 7 at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa with local ASP representatives to share the same information.  This notice summarizes the information shared in those meetings.

Embassy Kinshasa will now conduct the required field investigation after the approved I-600 petition is electronically received from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or, for petitions filed in the DRC, upon receipt of the petition.  The Embassy will notify the petitioner, their ASP, and their designated representative to schedule a visa interview only once the field investigation is complete.  The Embassy will not schedule the interview until the field investigation is complete.  Adoptive families should be advised that field investigations may take approximately 3-6 months to complete, possibly longer if the case originates from an area experiencing civil unrest.  This change is effective immediately, but does not affect any appointments already scheduled.

Because of the security situation in the country, Embassy Kinshasa discourages U.S. citizens from traveling to the DRC solely for the purpose of filing the I-600 petition, and recommends that anyone considering travel to the DRC first review the Department of State’s travel warning for the DRC.  The option of filing the I-600 petition at Embassy Kinshasa is intended primarily for U.S. citizens resident in the DRC.  Residents of the United States should file their I-600 petition directly with USCIS National Benefits Center.  Petitions filed at Embassy Kinshasa may be filed by either spouse listed on the petition.  The absent spouse must sign the I-600 petition before it is submitted, but the petition does not need to be notarized.  The child’s Congolese passport is no longer required by Embassy Kinshasa to file the I-600 petition.  It must, however, be ready before the immigrant visa application and interview.

As a courtesy, the Embassy has gathered information about processing passport and exit visa paperwork with the Congolese government; however, please be advised that these processes are solely administered by the Congolese government and are subject to change.  The processing time for an application with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) for a Congolese passport for an adopted child is approximately 2 weeks.  The fee for the Congolese passport is$170.  The processing time for an exit permit with the Direction Generale de Migration (DGM) is approximately 1 week.  There is no fee for the exit permit.  The MFA and DGM conduct their own investigations to ensure Congolese procedures have been followed.  Embassy Kinshasa will not make calls to expedite processing of either the passport or the exit permit.

Embassy Kinshasa received reports that some individuals have paid “expediting fees” to various Congolese offices in order to receive services related to adoption more quickly.  The Embassy strongly discourages this practice, as these “fees” can be seen as bribes that encourage corruption.

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=democratic_republic_of_congo_4

****As a reminder, PEAR issued an Ethics Alert and Cautionary Statement in December 2012 recommending that PAPs do not initiate new adoption cases from DRC : http://pear-now.blogspot.com/2012/12/pear-ethics-alert-and-cautionary.html

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/