[johnny]

I'm sorry that you took my post the wrong way... please re-read my post so that you might better understand it more completely.

Rick should be able to complete thier adoption process correctly with the assistance of ICAB because you have given him good advise.

It sounds like your case and our case are similar, with one exception. You appear in your post not to be a resident of the Philippines. As I posted, our son is not quailified for International adoption so the only way we could adopt "legally" is to use the domestic process. This does not involve ICAB as a facilitator for home study requirements but involves the DSWD. (I wish it did, then our son would have been qualified.)

To adopt locally the rules say you have to be resident in the Philippines for 3 years before you can file an adoption petition. It should take anywhere from 6 months to 3 years to get through the local courts depending on your processing and the court's schedule. Once you have a final decree from the court and have met the two-year co-residency requirement then your child will be reconized as such. Your child and you can file the I-130 petition or under the new Child Act of 2000 simply apply for US Citizenship. This does not apply to Rick's case because they can get the residency requirement waved.

If your case was approved by the local court without the above 3 year residency requirement having been met, (assuming you are not resident) then I can understand why it was deemed "Illegal". because ICAB was not involved to coordinate the home study between the DSWD and your home state.

I think the Hague rules are there to protect the children. I can't argrue against those rules. I can argue my feelings that the US Embassy seems to have a past policy of discourgement and this does not appear to always reflect the best intrest of the child being adopted and I think it actually encourges mis-information.

In my opinion the childs intrest would be better served if they worked on better informing adoptive parents rather than a stone wall approach. At least this is the attitude we have received from the embassy.

I pray that God will open a door for you and your husband the way God has done for us and it looks like with ICAB's help you may have a way.

It has been a stressful journey for us and is currently becoming more so because we are still not finished.


Johnny.....