[lsworan]

We are in the process of finalizing our adoption from Panama. I can give you our experience; however, everyone seems to have a little different experience with Panama. Panama has a Director of National Adoptions that all paperwork must go through. You submit your dossier and there is no exact wait time for a child placement. Children are to have their parental rights terminated (TPR) prior to referral and the DNA takes care of that. Sometimes, you will be shown a child to see if you are interested prior to TPR being complete (however, I don't know if that is a standard process.) Once the TPR is complete and referral is accepted, a court date is scheduled. Again there is not a specific timeline, you do not always have to appear in court; however, some judges require you to appear. You will be given either temporary custody or permanent custody. With temporary custody, you can travel back to the US. Permanent custody will then happen around 1 year later and you might have to travel back for permanent custody court appearance. Embassy takes anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks. During our trip last year, the Embassy was a 10 day process. We did not travel for court and we waited until all the documents were complete from the court prior to traveling. We were granted temporary custody and are still waiting for the final court information on whether we have to travel back to Panama or not. But we got to bring our son home, so the waiting is worth it. Everything in Panama is done with the best interest of the child in mind, but the processes can take along time to terminate parental rights and get court dates set up. Our process from referral to court date was 5 months with 2 weeks in Panama. The time for a referral varies greatly depending upon availability of children and how many dossier's are ahead of yours. Age of the children also vary and of course older children have sometimes shorter wait times. We were told expect 2 years and be surprised if it is shorter. We used Faith International for our adoption. Our son was 16 months are referral and 20 months when we brought him home.

The orphanges in Panama are more like houses and do not have hundreds of children. The children seem to be well loved and cared for. Our son's orphange held around 30 children with alot of caregivers. He is very well adjusted and received alot of love and affection from the caregivers. That is a very strong point for Panama.

I believe that everything above is the correct process, but things sometimes change. It is best to talk to an agency or attorney that has completed more than 1 adoption through Panama for current details. Be careful on what you are told. The process is not a short one and you probably won't receive a child under 1 year (TPRs and court dates take time). But the process was definitely worth it.
If you want more information, let me know.