The Mexican Central Authority (MCA) recently informed the Office of
Children's Issues that it is unable to issue the required Convention
Article 23 certification for any out-of-order adoptions, and that
prospective adoptive parents will need to redo such adoptions in
accordance with Mexican law. The "How to Adopt" section of our Mexico
adoption flyer, which will be updated soon, summarizes the process for
adopting a child from Mexico.
The MCA emphasized that ALL Convention adoption cases from Mexico must meet the following requirements:
- All prospective adoptive parents must work with a U.S. accredited
or approved adoption service provider (ASP) that is also authorized in
Mexico. For up to date information on U.S. agencies authorized to
provide adoption services in Mexico, prospective adoptive parents may
refer to the website of the national Desarollo Integral de la Familia
(DIF).
- Before commencing adoption processing at the state level (and prior
to matching), the authorized ASP acting on behalf of the prospective
adoptive parents must first file the adoption application (also known as
dossier) with the Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE). The SRE
forwards the adoption application to the national and state offices of
the DIF. The application must include an approved I-800A.
- Prospective adoptive parents and the children who are to be adopted
must meet the Mexican intercountry adoption eligibility requirements.
These requirements, as provided by the MCA, are summarized on our Mexico
adoption flyer under the "Who can be Adopted" and "Who can Adopt."
The MCA advised that that if a family already completed an adoption
without following all Convention steps in order, then the family may go
to a Mexican federal court and petition the court for an amparo ordering
the lower/state court that issued the adoption decree to open, or
vacate, the adoption.. Once the family has been granted a federal
amparo ordering the lower/state court to vacate the previous adoption,
the family would redo the entire adoption in compliance with Mexico's
Convention intercountry adoption process.
Mexico's stated policy means that an I-800 petition based on an
adoption completed out of order in Mexico must be denied pursuant to 8
CFR 204.309(b)(1). For some out-of-order Convention adoptions, the
cited regulation allows for provisional approval of an I-800 if the
petitioner can demonstrate that the adoption cannot be voided, vacated
or annulled. With this announcement, provisional approval for out of
order Mexican intercountry adoptions is unavailable because the MCA
indicated that adoptions can be vacated, voided, or annulled in Mexico
through a federal amparo process. Furthermore, the MCA has stated that
it will not issue the required Convention Article 23 certification for
cases that do not follow the Mexico's Convention process. Without the
MCA's certification, the U.S. Embassy cannot issue a Convention
immigrant visa.
We will publish additional updated information related to
intercountry adoption in Mexico as we receive it. If you have any
further questions please write to us at adoptionUSCA@state.gov or call
us at 1-888-407-4747.
http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=mexico_6
Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
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