[bankyvon]

Please help us with information about how to adopt our Grandchild from Sierra Leone. our unmarried son died during the Sierra Leone civil war. His girlfriend gave birth to a baby Boy soon after (the boy now 4yrs old). Due to the condition in country,
the mother of the child is not able to care for him. My wife (the Grandmother) had gone to Sierra Leone to Adopt this child through the country legal system.
Now we learn that we must still adopt or home study in U. S. to get a Visa for this child.
We are both U.S. citizen, living in Virginia


Note. Please give us the list of inexpensive Home study group or agency.

[sak9645]

... whether domestically or internationally, whether a relative or a non-relative, must have a homestudy. You will also need the permission of the USCIS to bring the child to the country on an adoption visa.

As far as a homestudy, call some of the following agencies, which are licensed in Virginia. You can find their phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and so on at www.jcics. Click on "membership", then on "membership directory", and then scroll down to the alphabetical listing.

Adoption Service Information Agency
Adoption Center of Washington
Barker Foundation
Bethany Christian Services
Carolina Adoption Services
Commonwealth Catholic Charities
Coordinators/2
Cradle of Hope
Datz Foundation
World Child International

Do be aware that the fees for a homestudy are affected by the cost of living in a particular area (since the social worker has to get paid at a prevailing standard for that area), by the distance the social worker will have to travel to your home for the home visit, by state laws (some states require more visits, more classes, etc.), and so on. Across the United States, fees range from well under $1,000 to over $3,000, but don't expect the full range of fees in your state.

USCIS approval has two parts. First, the USCIS must approve you as eligible to bring an orphan to the U.S. It needs your homestudy report, some documents about you (such as marriage certificate), and the I-600A or I-600 form, which you can download on the Internet. It also needs your fingerprints for an FBI records check to ensure that you do not have a criminal history.

Second, the USCIS needs to determine that the child you are adopting is eligible for an adoption visa, under the terms of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. Usually, the biggest problem is if a child does not meet the definition of an "eligible orphan", but this would seem not to be a problem in your case, based on what you have said in your post. You will need to file the I-600 for this.

I hope that this is helpful. Let me know if you have other questions.

Sharon

[mom2jazzygirl]

Have you had no more luck getting through the red tape? I tried to help you on Rainbowkids and hadn't heard back from you since then.

Was Cindy at MAPS able to help you at all? If not, I can give you the names of a few other people who work in the process. You can also try calling your Senator and seeing if they can help at all. I know you said before that you are both US citizens now, so you are eligible for assistance from your Federal Senator.

The only thing that might be a roadblock, that I can think of, is that Sierra Leone doesn't recognize a change of citizenship. As far as the government of Sierra Leone is concerned, you are both still SL citizens and I know that the US Consulate has cautions issued that they have trouble advocating for SL citizens naturalized to US citizens. But, the immigration process on this side should still be the same for any other adoption.

OR, if you can talk to someone who knows the immigration laws, its possible your grandson/child could travel as a blood relative without the normal immigration paperwork. Have you tried contacting an Immigration lawyer? They might be able to help you on this one.

[bankyvon]

Mom2jazzygirl.

Thanks for you help. I did talk to Cindy at MAPS, she advice us to do Home study and file 1-600. Then we got another advice from USCIS. Who said, that since only my wife that travel to sierra leone to adopt the child, we may have to re-adopt the child again in U.S.Because both married couple had to be present at time of adoption. We have not call our Senator yet, but we will if every thing else fail.
Again thanks

[mom2jazzygirl]

First before you go through this process, try talking to an Immigration lawyer. Its possible for relatives to sponsor their own relatives for immigration. If you can use that option, you might be able to skip the adoption process entirely. Only an immigration lawyer can answer that question. And, most lawyers will give a free consult. IF you cannot go that route, then you'll have to go through the normal adoption route.

Internationally adopted children enter the US on one of 2 visas. Those are the IR3 or the IR4 visa. The difference in the visas is in regards to the type of adoption that occured overseas. If both parents saw the child during the adoption process, then the child enters the country in an IR3 visa. These visas are fully recognized adoptions and as soon as the child enters the US they are granted full citizenship automatically. For children adopted overseas without both adoptive parents seeing them during the process, an IR4 visa is issued.

In order for these children to recieve their citizenship, something must be done towards the adoption once you bring the child into the US. What action must be taken depends entirely upon the state you are bringing the child into. Some states require you merely register the adoption, others that you re-affirm and others that you re-adopt. The information for Virginia is correct. You must re-adopt when you get the child into Virginia.

I feel your pain on this one, as our home state requires the same things. But, this does not change how you approach the immigration of the child. Why CIS implied that it does is beyond me. Regardless of whether you have to re-adopt when you bring the child into the US, you do the SAME process to get the child here. Its merely a technicality which you can clear up when you get your grandchild home, though you will most likely need a lawyer to handle the re-adoption process at that point. Its not necessary at this point in the game.

What I would suggest you do is to call your local agencies and explain the situation to them. You need an agency that is acredited for International adoptions. http://www.jcics.org/ That is the acreditation organization and they have a state by state registry. See if someone will be willing to expediate your homestudy. Some agencies will also offer a reduced rate on the homestudy for a relative adoption. But, I don't know if that remains true when you are doing international. Also, you can try your department of Child Welfare. They may or may not offer homestudy services for international adoptions. This would be at a significantly reduced rate but it will also take much longer. State offices are incredibly busy and aren't as likely to be willing to expediate the homestudy process for you.

At the same time, you can fill out your I-600 form with CIS. They aren't going to process it until they get your homestudy but at least you can have it on file. Since the adoption has already occured in Sierra Leone, you can skip the I-600A and just do the I-600. When CIS gets your homestudy, then they will schedule you to be fingerprinted. You and your wife are going to have to show up for the appointment. You'll have to take your court documents from Sierra Leone and they will get copies for the file. ***Keep in mind, our local CIS office said they did not make copies. So, I showed up with notaried copies. You do NOT want to hand over your original documents if you can help it. If you must, then give them a self-addressed, stamped envelope and make it VERY clear that you want those documents returned to you immediately.*** It will cost $406 for the application fee and $50 for each adult being fingerprinted. How long it will take depends on the local CIS office. Ours took 3 weeks to process.

At that point, your file is forwarded to Senegal. The Consulate in Senegal sends the file to Sierra Leone to verify the validity of the documents and then schedules a visa interview for the child in Dakar. I've heard of this taking 3 months or more. For us, it took 6 weeks. But, the visa interview is the last step on the international side. You take the child to Dakar and get a medical exam by a doctor contracted with the embassy. You get a picture taken per the instructions of the embassy and show up to get the stamp in their Sierra Leone passport. After that, you can board a plane for NYC from Dakar. You have to take the non-stop as it will be hard to get a transient visa for a layover in any European city for the child on the Sierra Leone passport post 9/11. But, South African Airways offers a non-stop from Dakar to JFK. And, if you call SAA and tell them this is in regards to an adoption, they offer a deeply discounted airfare for both the adult and the child.

Is your wife still in Sierra Leone with your grandchild? In order to complete the homestudy and the fingerprints, she needs to be present in Virginia. Is there someone you can trust temporarily to take care of your grandchild while she gets that done? If there is no one then perhaps you could contact one of the US run orphanages and ask if you could pay boarding to let your grandchild stay there while you get the redtape fixed on the US side.

The only other loophole that I know is this. If you wife lives with the child in her custody for 2 years in Sierra Leone, then you can immigrate the child without the paperwork and adoption issues settled. CIS hasn't closed that loophole but its a terrible hardship to go that route. It is however a possibility.

If you want, I can give you the name and contact information for the 2 US run orphanages that I know of in Freetown. Also, you might consider joining the SierraLeoneAdoption yahoo group. There are 77 members and some of them are way more experienced than I am there.

I hope this helps you some. I know this must be a very difficult time for you and your wife. Hang in there this child is worth fighting for and redtape, while annoying, can be survived.