International Adoption: Philippines

Overview
Children Available
Family Characteristics
Process
Travel
Post Placement

Crossroads is approved by the government of the Philippines to place Filipino children. The Inter-Country Adoption Board has the sole authority to refer and place children internationally.

OVERVIEW: The Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) accepts dossiers from adoptive families, reviews the dossiers, approves the adoptive family and refers a child. Dossiers are reviewed and approved within one month of receipt. The child’s facility reviews dossiers and chooses the family who can best meet the child’s needs. ICAB has many families waiting for children under 3 and will hold the dossier in abeyance for about a year before releasing it for possible consideration by a child facility. Children can be as young as 8 months of age and many will be close to 2 years old when referred. Families are required to travel to meet and take custody of the child – about 3 - 5 months after acceptance of the referral. Adoptive families must be less than 46 years old to adopt an infant. The length of stay in the Philippines is one week. Please click through the tabs across the top of this page for further information.

WAITING CHILD

Kierby, an 11-month-old child from the Philippines, has been diagnosed with hemiparesis (partial paralysis) due to congenital brain malformation. At present, he shows some degree of motor delay and is undergoing physical therapy to improve his motor strength and development. Other possible outcomes of this condition include seizures and mental retardation, although none of these have been determined to date. He is described as a happy and contented little boy, who smiles and giggles, and is easily comforted when upset about something. He has been referred to Crossroads by the InterCountry Adoption Board (ICAB) to locate a forever family for this child. Please contact Joan Clarkson (952-831-5707; joan@crossroadsadoption.com) if you would like more information on Kierby.

The children available for adoption reflect the many and varied ethnic groups which make up the Philippines from the traditional Filipino face to those with a hint of Spanish, Asian or Polynesian. There are more boys than girls available. Often children are 12 – 18 months before they are cleared for international adoption.

The Philippines has a social service system much like that in the United States. When a birth family is unable to care for their child, a social worker of a public or private facility becomes involved. Counseling is given to the birth family over a 6-month period to assure that adoption is the best plan for the child and family.

Priority is given to recruiting citizens of the Philippines who reside in the Philippines. When such a family cannot be identified, the child is ready to be referred to an adoptive family from another country. A staff member from the child’s facility travels to Manila to review the dossiers of potential families. The Matching Committee of ICAB meets to review and approve a match. The referral is then sent by courier to the adoptive family’s agency.

The Inter-Country Adoption Board welcomes married couples for children of all ages.

Guidelines for adoptive parent(s) are as follows:

Married couples must be married a minimum of 3 years. If there has been a divorce, the couple must be married a minimum of 5 years.
One previous divorce per person is allowed.
There must be a minimum of 16 years between the adopting parent and the child to be adopted.
Families with 3 or more children are not usually referred children under the age of 6 years, unless it is a sibling group with older and younger children.

Adoptive mothers less than 43 years of age may adopt an infant.

The Inter-Country Adoption Board is the government office that handles all aspects of the adoption process. A dossier is required to begin the process. The documents in the dossier need only to be notarized which is a time-saver.

Crossroads submits the dossier to ICAB. The adoption committee reviews the dossier and send Crossroads notice that the family has been approved. This process takes approximately 1 - 4 months.

A family, approved for an infant, will wait a minimum of 1 year before the child-caring agencies are given an opportunity to review their dossier as a choice.

The child-care facility has worked with the birth family for a minimum of 6 months so that the family has enough time to make a sound decision about the future of the child. Once the birth parents have legally relinquished the child, the facility searched for a Filipino adoptive family who are residents of the Philippines. If no Filipino family can be identified, the child is considered for international adoption.

A staff person from the child facility will review the dossiers of waiting families who are requesting a child like the child in need of adoptive parents. Two potential adoptive families are chosen. The request for the child to be linked with one of these adoptive families is submitted to the matching committee.

The child’s information, photo, medical report, general information is sent to the agency of the potential first adoptive family.

Upon acceptance of the child, the family will prepare various documents which are sent, along with the family’s acceptance to ICAB. In approximately 1 - 2 months, ICAB will send a document called the Placement Authority. This document is accepted as a legal document by the local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) and is sent along with the I-600 petition to that local office.

The local CIS office reviews and approves the petition and sends the approval and supporting documents to the National Visa Center. The National Visa Center forwards the file to the U.S. Embassy in Manila. This process can take 6 - 10 weeks. When the U.S. Embassy in Manila receives the approval, the ICAB office is contacted. Arrangements are then made for the child to be brought to Metro Manila (some are on other islands or a good distance from Metro Manila) to complete the visa steps.

The visa process takes approximately 1 - 3 weeks. The child is first examined by an US Embassy approved clinic as required for all immigrants. As part of the medical exam, the child is given a Mantoux test which is read three days later. If the test is negative, the child is scheduled for the visa interview at the U.S. Embassy and the visa is issued within a few days.

The adoptive family is then invited to come to the Philippines to meet their child.

The graciousness of the East greets you at every turn. The prevalence of English adds comfort to everyday needs. You may be enjoying the hustle and bustle of Manila with its streets filled with cars, busses, jeepneys, motorcycles, bicycles and three-wheelers or traveling to one of the many islands where the pace will be a little slower.

Your travel and stay in the Philippines will be a memorable and exciting one. The time zone in the Philippines is approximately 14 hours ahead of CST. Families from Minnesota and Wisconsin will usually leave on a Saturday, flying from Minneapolis to Manila via Tokyo, a 20-hour trip that spans two days as you cross over the date line. Most travelers will land and exit through immigration by midnight on the next day (Sunday).

Most families will stay at a hotel close to the international airport for the first night, especially if they are traveling to another island. Monday morning each family will call the ICAB office to “check in”. Crossroads has already sent your itinerary, so the social worker who will be assisting you will be expecting your call. She will have arranged for your visit to your child’s facility if your child is in Manila. If your child is on another island, she will have made the arrangements for you to be met when you arrive there. Families will go to the child facility that day.

Families meet their child upon arriving at the child facility. Depending upon the age of the child, the family may gradually get to know their child for a day or two before taking custody. This will be a bittersweet time for your child’s caretakers as they have become very attached to your child. They will do all that they can do to make this transition as easy as possible.

Families are invited to spend an hour or two with the ICAB staff on the day before they depart. Meeting with adoptive parents is a pleasurable task and one that never gets old. They are eager to hear about your child and your trip.

Departure flights are usually early morning. Because of the date line, you will arrive home on the same day that you leave Manila.

The Government of the Philippines requires that the placement is supervised by the home study agency for 6 months, preparing 3 reports during that period. The Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) sends consent for the family to complete the legal adoption in their state of residence.

Your adoption counselor will visit you within the first few weeks after you return home. Your adoption counselor will gather a copy of your child’s legal documents which includes a copy of his/her Filipino passport showing the photo page and the US visa page. Hearing about your travel experience and the happy moments when your child was first placed in your arms is always a priority. Your adoption counselor will also help you with the adjustment and bonding of your newly adopted child. Your adoption counselor will collect photos to send with the first post placement report.

Crossroads will visit with you again at between 2 and 3 months and again between 5 and 6 months. Crossroads wants to make sure that your adjustment continues to be smooth. Because ICAB retains guardianship of your child, you will need their written approval so that you can finalize the adoption in your juvenile county court. Crossroads will provide a folder of information and forms which are needed to finalize the adoption of your child in your county juvenile court. Different states may have different finalization procedures. If you live in a different state, your home study agency will assist you with finalization.

Crossroads will notify you when your file is complete at your country juvenile court so that you can call to schedule a court date. The adoption finalization hearing will take less than 15 minutes. You will receive an adoption decree and a state birth certificate for your child. Crossroads requests that you send a copy of these documents to our office. They are required by ICAB.