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How do I adopt intercountry?
What is intercountry adoption?
The term intercountry adoption applies to the adoption of children in one country by people living in another country. When children are unable to be cared for by their immediate or extended family, or a family in their country of origin, intercountry adoption can provide an alternative opportunity for a healthy and supportive family life.
What kind of families do these children need?
Children who are adopted across borders are usually infants or children who may have experienced neglect or abuse resulting in delayed physical and emotional development. To meet these special needs they require a family that is flexible, patient, capable and understanding.
Some individual countries have set criteria about the nature of adoptive parents they feel best suit the children in that nation. These criteria may relate to age, marital status, ethnicity or current family composition for example.
How do I make an application to adopt from overseas?
If you wish to adopt, you can make an application at your nearest Adoption Services office of Child, Youth and Family. Not all countries have adoption laws that allow the adoption to have effect under New Zealand law. Your local Adoption Services office will have the current list of the countries to which this option applies.
If the child you wish to adopt is known to you already eg. a family member, also contact your local Adoption Services office to discuss what options and procedures would be involved.
An application form needs to be completed, giving basic details about yourself. You are also asked to give permission for medical and police checks to be obtained and to supply names of people who know you well who are prepared to provide references which are relevant to your intercountry adoption proposal. Some countries require additional supporting documents, for example psychological reports or financial records.
What else is required of me?
As well as completing the documentary assessment, you will be invited to attend an education and preparation programme. This programme provides an opportunity for you to explore issues surrounding adoption, your own circumstances, and time to examine attitudes and beliefs about adoption. The programme includes a seminar focusing specifically on the issues of intercountry adoption and parenting a child with special needs.
When am I assessed?
A number of interviews with social workers are held during and after the programme. This social work assessment also provides you with an opportunity to raise any matters with social workers.
How am I matched to a child?
There are a number of steps that help in determining the best match of a child and a family. Your family’s circumstances and your ability to support a child with special needs are detailed in a Home Study Assessment Report written by your adoption social worker, once your social work assessment has been completed. This report is sent to the designated authority in the country you have chosen. After considering this document, the authority will determine if there is a child in their care that may benefit from the abilities you demonstrate. Should a match be found, they will complete a child study report that profiles the particular child’s needs and background and forward this to New Zealand.
How do I know the child I am matched with is legally available for adoption?
Children available for intercountry adoption will usually have an official certificate indicating their status and their profiles will be presented via a designated authority in that country. Countries which have agreed to the Hague Convention or countries which have agreements with New Zealand based on this convention's principles, are committed to promoting only adoption practices which are approved under that Convention.
Who decides if I have the ability to meet a particular child’s needs?
The process of decision making involves the authority in the child’s country of birth, Adoption Services, the children themselves if old enough to understand and of course you, the prospective adoptive parent.
Where does the adoption occur?
Every country individually determines whether the adoption will occur in its Court or in the New Zealand Family Court. Similarly, countries have different expectations around visiting the country and meeting the child before the placement and how long the prospective adoptive parents are required to stay in the country. This orientation period can be days or weeks. The length of time from application to placement is also country dependent and may range from three months to two years or more. Completion of the documentation, assessment and matching process does not guarantee the adoption will take place. It is the Court’s responsibility to make an adoption.
What happens after the child joins my family?
Most countries expect a number of reports over a specific period of time on how the child is fitting in to your family and how his/her needs are being met. As soon as possible after your family’s return to New Zealand, you should inform your adoption social worker that the adoption has occurred in order for the interviews for this post placement reporting can begin. These interviews are also an opportunity for you to discuss anything that may have arisen since the placement.
What support is available when I bring the child home?
The social workers at your local Adoption Services office will continue to be accessible and there are also intercountry adoptive parent support groups established in many centres. In addition, the school or health centre in your local area may offer special needs services.
How much will an intercountry adoption cost?
There are costs incurred in arranging an intercountry adoption and the amounts vary according to the child’s country of origin and may include for example, fees for administration time, lawyers, authentication of documents or caregiver costs. These charges should all be receipted and individually documented. The Adoption Services office does not charge for any of the services it provides.
What information will I have about the child’s life experiences prior to the adoption?
It is important for an adopted person’s identity formation to have as much information as possible about their beginnings in life. The information on the Child Study may be quite limited as some children available for intercountry adoption have been orphaned or are abandoned. Intercountry adoptive parents have found it invaluable to meet the child’s caregivers and spend time getting to know the area or institution in which the child may have spent some years.
Can you have an ‘open’ intercountry adoption?
An open adoption is a process by which the birth parents and the adoptive parents exchange identifying information and may meet. Due to the circumstances of many of the children available for intercountry adoption, or the regulations of the child’s country of origin, an open adoption is rarely a possibility.
However, although the birth parents may not be known, having a 'spirit of openness' is achievable in an intercountry adoption by acknowledging and readily discussing the place of the birth family in the adopted person’s life.
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I am a foreigner living overseas, can I adopt a New Zealand child?
Only when children are unable to be cared for by their immediate or extended family, or an alternative family in New Zealand, would intercountry adoption be considered. Adoption of New Zealand children by foreigners overseas therefore rarely occurs, as all New Zealand born children can be readily placed with New Zealand families.
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I am a New Zealander living overseas, can I adopt in New Zealand?
New Zealand has acceded to an international agreement, the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (‘the Hague Convention’). Under this Convention, adoptions are only facilitated for people habitually resident in the facilitating countries.
If you live in a Hague Convention country you would need to apply to the central authority in your current country of residence and this country would then assess you and forward your documentation to the New Zealand Central Authority(NZCA). The NZCA would then determine if there was a NZ child in need of intercountry adoption that would benefit from the capability and skills that are described in the home study assessment report provided on you.
It is however highly unlikely that a NZ child would be matched to you as only when children are unable to be cared for by their immediate or extended family, or an alternative family in New Zealand, would intercountry adoption be considered. Adoption of New Zealand children by people overseas therefore rarely occurs, as all New Zealand born children can be readily placed with families permanently resident in New Zealand.
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I am a New Zealander living overseas and need information from the New Zealand authorities.
I am a New Zealander living overseas and need information from the New Zealand authorities in order to adopt in the country in which I currently reside. What can Child, Youth and Family provide me?
There is only limited information that can be provided if you do not live in New Zealand. Child, Youth and Family can not assess your suitability and provide confirmation of this, or confirm its support of your adoption proposal, if you are not resident in New Zealand.
An assessment needs to consider any applicant’s capacity and ability to care for a child in the context of their permanent living environment. Whilst you may be able to describe the living arrangements you intend to have upon a return to New Zealand, the physical situation, support network, employment and care arrangements you would be describing would be hypothetical and not therefore a suitable basis on which to determine if the needs of a child were able to be met.
Adoption Services may be able to provide confirmation that you would be eligible to make an application to adopt in New Zealand if you match the criteria of the Adoption Act 1955.
You are able to request from the Department of Internal Affairs confirmation as to whether an adoption in the overseas country would enable your child to gain New Zealand citizenship, please email DIA for confirmation.
You are able to contact the New Zealand Immigration Service to get advice on whether or not your overseas adopted children would be entitled to enter New Zealand with your family http://www.immigration.govt.nz/.
You are also able to contact the New Zealand Police to obtain a copy of your NZ Police record http://www.police.govt.nz/service/vetting/
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How do I contact Adoption Services for more information?
You can contact an Adoption Services office directly - click here to see a full list of details.
Alternatively, you may email Adoption Services. Remember to give as much detail as possible in your message, and state your location and contact details so that the appropriate team can help you.
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