How To Adopt A Child From The Philippines To the USA?

This is your one stop guide on how to adopt a child from the Philippines to the USA. We will discuss all th necessary details that you need to understand to get this done.

Adopting a child is a great way to contribute to society. You are giving the child a vast pool of opportunities and an excellent chance to live a better quality of life. 

If you wish to adopt someone from the Philippines to America, this article will discuss about the processes involved, the time frame, the costs and everything else you need to know.

Who Can Adopt?

Can an American adopt a Filipino child? 

Yes, an American can adopt a Filipino kid. This is possible because of the inter-country rules, laws, and regulations of the inter-country adoption board. A good relationship between countries also helps in making this possible. 

Since America and the Philippines have a cordial relationship, due to which plenty of Americans adopt Filipino kids each year. Thailand also ranks very high among the best countries to adopt from as they can provide a lot of information about the child, such as their medical history. Their adoption program is also much quicker, less than two years. 

If you want to adopt and bring a child from the Philippines to the U.S., you must check and meet some mandatory requirements. These requirements come from both countries, the U.S. and the Philippines. The purpose of these requirements is to check the person’s scope of sustainability and eligibility. 

Requirements By The American Authorities

The USCIS overlooks all these requirements and eligibility criteria. It is up to these authorities to decide whether a person is fit enough to bring a child to the U.S. from a foreign land under immigration laws. Some of the paperwork you will need to submit are as follows:-

• The adoptive parent looking to adopt a child from a foreign should be a U.S. citizen. 
• It is preferred if they are married. If they are not, they should be at least 25 years old. 
• If the couple is married, they must take the child’s adoption jointly. 
• Then there are some mandatory checks such as a health checkup, criminal background check, home study check, fingerprinting, etc. These checks are made to check the sustainability of the adoptive parents. 

Requirements By The Philippines Authorities

Apart from the requirements made by the U.S., some additional requirements are made by the Philippines. Some of the essential requirements are:

Residency Related Eligibility Requirements

• If any U.S. citizens live in the Philippines and wish to adopt a Filipino child, they should be citizens of the Philippines for at least three years. After completing their three years of residence, a person can file their adoption application. 
• Such applicants should also be able to keep their homes throughout the application process. 
• American citizens will not require a legal capacity certificate for adoption. This certificate is mandatory for domestic adoptions in the Philippines. 
• Instead, the American citizens will need a letter from the U.S. embassy in Manila, and this letter will state that the U.S. does not issue a certificate of legal capacity. 

Age Related Requirements

• Then there are also some requirements relating to the age of the parents. The Philippines requires the adoptive parent (male) to be at least 27 and female to be 16 years older than the child they want to adopt. 
• Further, the maximum age gap between the child and the parents should also not exceed 45. These conditions should be true at the time of application.
• The prospective couple or parents should have a good source of income and livelihood, and they must earn at least $40,000 per annum. 
• The court suggests that it is better if the couple is married before the child’s adoption. It also states that the couple should be married for three years before filing for adoption. 

You might also like to read: How To Adopt A Child From Mexico

Who Can Get Adopted? 

To qualify as an orphan, the child should be between 2 to 15. For instance, if an American citizen wants to adopt a Filipino child, that child must also qualify as an orphan according to U.S. standards. 

Generally, there are more boys up for adoption rather than girls. In some cases, there are also siblings available for adoption. 

Adoption Agencies in the Philippines

There are plenty of good adoption agencies in the Philippines, and the main effort of the adoption service provider is to try and first place every child in domestic households. 

The Philippines is a country that tries its best to place every child waiting for adoption in domestic households. It only looks toward international families who want to adopt a Filipino child when this is impossible, 

If that’s not possible, they then look forward to inter-country adoption. The Inter-country adoption board looks over adoption to international parents. It is up to the adoption board to approve or reject inter-country adoption cases. 

What Are The Steps For Adoption? 

There are different steps for adoption depending on the type of adoption. Domestic adoption is the process when the parents and the child both belong to the same country. International adoption is a process when the parents and the child both belong to different countries. The few basic steps for adoption of a child are:-

• The first step is the filing of the petition for adoption. The prospective parents need to file an application. This application will decide the sustainability of the parents to adopt a child. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is the government agency that looks over these applications. 
• The prospective parents should fill the Form I-800A along with some supplementary forms. On an average the cost of filing this form is about $720. There is also an additional fee of about $85 it is for scanning the biometrics. It should be paid for each resident of the household. 
• Then in the next step the adoption agency tries to match the prospective parents to a child. Their main motive is to find a good home for the children. It is up to the central authority for preparing a report on whether the child is adoptable or not. The central authority also checks whether the birth or the legal parents consent to this adoption or not. 
• After the checking of all the paperwork the adoption agencies forward all the documents to the embassies for verification and checking. 
• After that the child and the parents meet in front of a consultation officer. During the same time the application also reaches the visa center for sanctioning of all the documents. 
• The officers then grant the parents temporary legal custody. This is done to check whether the parents and the child can live together or not. 

• If everything goes well then the Hague officer grants the adoption decree and the child is now legally yours. The child will attain US citizenship based on the date of this adoption decree. You can also get a birth certificate made based on this.
• For a period of seven months, you can expect a home study social worker to visit you and the child to see if proper care is being given to them.

What is the Child Citizenship Act? 

The child citizenship act was passed in 2000. This act mainly has two provisions; both are meant for foreign-born kids. It allows foreign-born kids citizenship if adopted by U.S. citizens. This act focuses on children that were not born in the U.S. All the child needs to do is meet a particular set of requirements before turning 18.

You might also like to read: How To Adopt A Child In Texas

What is the Estimated Time Frame for Philippine Adoptions? 

Most of these children available for adoption are in the age bracket of two to fifteen years. On average, the waiting time frame for matching with a Filipino kid is 9.4 months. The waiting time can be extended if you want to adopt a kid from the Philippines to America. 

Your waiting time for adopting a kid will start after you have given the application and after it has received approval from the authorities. If you want to consider the whole time, from providing the application right to getting a kid, it can take about 21 months. 

Do You Have To Travel to the Host Country? 

Yes, you have to travel to the host country of adoption frequently. One of the significant reasons for doing so is to get familiar with the kid and their culture so that the entire adoption process pans out smoothly. 

What Is The Cost Of Adoption? 

International adoption is very different from domestic adoption. The cost of adopting a child from a foreign country depends on which country you are assuming the child from. 

On average, adoption can be somewhere between $32,000 and 66,000 dollars. You will need to travel to the host country to adopt the kid. In almost every adoption case, the parents need to visit the host nation regularly.

There are plenty of good adoption agencies that will help you figure out this budget. You should also consider that infants are not up for international adoption. Different countries have set other limits on the minimum age of a kid for being eligible for international adoption. In America, this minimum age is eight months. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrap Up

The Philippines is not an easy country to adopt a child. It needs you to cover a complete process which can be overwhelming. However, if you are determined to adopt a child from the Philippines, make sure you abide by all the legalizations. 

Adoption is a great deed, and it can transform the lives of multiple people at the same time. Sometimes adoption is an excellent thing for both the adults and the kids as they are looking for someone to love. 

This article covers every significant aspect of the process of adoption of a Filipino kid by a U.S. citizen. You can follow and study the information given in the above article to proceed with your application for the adoption of a kid.