[LEJ8]

I am looking into adoption, and am beginning to look at Africa. I have a question that may seem dumb, but have patience please! Are there a lot of mixed race (white/black) children up for adoption? I am wondering because of the mixed population there, I would think there would be. Also, are children of mixed race put up for adoption more because they do not "belong" to any one particular group?

[sak9645]

Actually, very few African countries are open for adoption. The only African country with a truly stable adoption program is Ethiopia. It is becoming easier to adopt from Liberia, and some people have been able to adopt from Sierra Leone, although the system is not terribly stable there. South Africa may be open, but it is generally difficult to adopt in that country.

Most of the children who are available for adoption are Black, not biracial. They are usually placed for adoption either because of the dire poverty of their families, or because family members have died as a result of war, famine, or disease.

Sharon

[kiara_12345]

I adopted a BEAUTIFUL little girl from Libera. The follwoing countries have stable adoption programs

*South Africa(You CAN adopt a mixed race baby there as the population is half black half white)

*Sierra Leone, Liberia(),Mali, Egypt

* Tanzania

*Uganda will be openeing new laws by july 2005 for internatinol adoption.

Again some of the countries I have not listed are because of un stability. My friend adopted threw nambia and it went fine, it just you don't know if you will be ok or not.

My little girl from Liberia

[teranga]

Ethiopia has an extremely stable program. We travel in 2 weeks to pick up our baby. it has been running smoothly for years, with no hiccups.

Except for S.Africa, sub-saharan Africa is largely black, with few mixed children. Keep in mind that if you are looking for a mixed child b/c you think s/he will be lighter-skinned, you might be better off adopting from a country w/a largely caucasian population. Mixed children come in all shades, including very dark.

[teranga]

Also, just FYI, we also looked into Mali and found that the gov't there prefers the children who are available to go to France (Mali's official language is French and they have strong post-colonial ties w/France). It is almost impossible to adopt a child from Mali if you are not French/living in France (or other French-speaking nation).

Uganda's current law requires a 6 month stay in Uganda to adopt. Hopefully this will change in July as Kiara said.

BTW Kiara, your daughter is beautiful!!

[lovingHim]

Sierra Leone is not stable right now. There are many families who have been wiating for 2 + years to bring their children home. Hopefully, the laws will be ironed out and it will be opened up, but for now I would urge you to PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

[teranga]

I don't mean to just bash everything Kiara wrote, but...I thought it seemed strange that Egypt would have a stable adoption program. First of all, Islamic law generally does not recognize adoption as we think of it (it grants custody but not full adoption). Anyway, I looked it up on the state dept. website and here are a few direct quotes from the state dept international adoption website:

"According to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, securing custody of Egyptian orphans is extremely difficult, as adoption is essentially illegal in Egypt."

Note # 5 of the requirements below:

"1. Proof that the Egyptian Ministry of Social Affairs recognizes the orphanage.
2. A copy of the police report of how the child was found.
3. A statement from the orphanage about how the child was released to them.
4. A contract between the orphanage and the adoptive parent(s) showing that it is officially releasing the child to the adoptive parent(s).
5. (a) American citizens who are not also Egyptian nationals need an Egyptian court order granting them custody or guardianship of the abandoned child. Be aware that this approval is rarely granted. "

"NOTE: Obtaining the above documents and permission from the Egyptian government to adopt an Egyptian orphan is a difficult process and, often, an impossible one unless one of the adoptive parents is originally an Egyptian citizen. "

[teranga]

ps--Tanzania is not on the State Dept's website at all for international adoption which would make me seriously question whether it has a stable program either.

[Colorbind love]

Actually, there are quite a few countries in Africa that do allow for international adoptions. But, most of them have agreements with only one or two countries for such adoptions. For instance, Burkina Faso allows adoptions...to France. Madagascar allows adoptions...to Europe (not sure which country is preferred). And, the list goes on and on and on. Mali does allow adoptions, but again only accepts applications from French citizens. There are countries in Africa that only work with Spain, only work with Belgium, etc, etc.

Right now, there are 3 strong (or in some cases semi-strong) programs that work with the US. Hands down, the best and most stable is Ethiopia. The other two are Liberia and Sierra Leone. As someone said, proceed with great caution in Sierra Leone.

However, given what I know about what has happened in Sierra Leone, I would extend that caution just as strongly to Liberia as well. In fact, I believe the US embassy in Liberia is not currently processing adoption claims (and hasn't in several months) due to corruption claims.

Given the instability of the Liberian government still (its very freshly post-war remember), I expect it will follow the same pattern that Sierra Leone has followed since they obtained peace--a lot of stop and start stuff to the adoption process.

As for bi-racial children? Well, I'm not sure what you are asking for specifically.

I can tell you that the children of Ethiopia are everything from very dark to Arab. But, expect more on the dark side. I was surprised to see my son for the first time in person and realize that he was a very obvious milk chocolate versus the expresso I was prepared for. But, then I remembered that both Sierra Leone and Liberia were populated with ex-patriated slaves from the Americas, who probably brought some lighter coloration genes back with them.

In S. Africa, which does have an adoption program, there are 3 color classifications: Afrikan, Colored (their word and not mine) and Black/tribal. Its only the black children that are available for international adoption. Afrikan and colored children are pretty easy to find adoptive families for within S. Africa.

And, frankly, the issues which have forced African nations to place children for adoption are not really about the color of the child's skin. Quite the contrary, traditionally African nations didn't allow for adoption because children were always cared for within the family, or at least the community, structure. In recent times, war, famine and HIV have completely overwhelmed the traditional structure for caring for orphans. And, its only been from that which even considering adoption has been brought forth. In all of my studies and grasping to understand the complex situations which are occuring in the African nations, I haven't ONCE heard anything about bi-racial children being rejected by their families, where they might even exist.

Africa is not the US. The issues there are not ours. And, quite frankly, in most African nations child abandonment by healthy parents is rare. Unfortunately, as the numbers of sick parents rises, the numbers of child abandonment rise as well, not because the children are the wrong color, but because of dispair and distruction.

If you are looking to adopt from Africa, I would be open and accepting of a child of Africa. Most likely, that child is going to be some variation of chocolate and not a light vanilla. But, its impossible to say what variation of chocolate you might find.

[mariette_589]

I added in both egypt and Tanzania cause I know people who have adopted from there.

I think what you said aboyut the islamic thing in egypt is rite as my friends are islamic,,and from egypt...but for Tanzania I have 2 friends adopt from there one friend a 10 years old boy and another a 3 year old girl...

[MkMw]

I believe South Africa is closed to international adoptions. It used to be open, but closed - gosh sometime in 2003. We did an adoption there in 2002, but it was "not the norm". Definately worth double checking on the country status - I know it had to do with hague.

I know that a few families from this board adopted from orphanges there - once parental rights have been terminated (60 days from signing or abandoning and not reclaiming) , so often they are babies 4 months and younger.

There are also alot of HIV+ babies there, the owner of the B&B we stayed at made each of the HIV+ orphans their own blanket complete with their name. It was the only that belonged to them, and they remained theirs permanently, as many of them die young...(well, obviously not EVERY baby, but the ones in this particular orphanage) which brings me to another question - is it legal to adopt a foreign born baby with HIV+???


Colorblind - I never heard them referred to as colored. Black, white, Indian, and Afrikaans yes, but never colored! And, most of the time they referred to the blacks by their tribe (the domestic at our first B&B was Zulu - and let me tell, it's an interesting language but she could get our boys quiet when noone else could). I do know that bi-racial babies are not prevalent, but becoming more common. From what I was told until recently you had to register your race, and apply for a change of race to marry outside of yours. Anyway - this couple (from the B&B) thougth it was strange because they were from Swaziland, where you are either a Swazi or Not - so registering their race was a foreign idea to them when they moved. (o.k. - so THAT was off topic).

Anyway - do be cautious and check the State Deptarment often for travel warnings. DH's office staff travel internationally on regular basis and Africa is known for being very unstable!

[Colorbind love]

Well, I get the term 'colored' from the Au Pair from S. Africa that lived with my family for a year. She was colored, called herself that and was very, very insistent that there is Afrikkan, Colored and Tribal in S. Africa, with the colored people being the bi-racial group. Her family went back 'colored' a pretty far way. And, tbh especially given apartheid, I can't tell you how large the colored population of S. Africa was nor is. But, it did and does exist. And, from what she described, they seem to be on the fringes of Afrikkan and don't associate with tribal but still aren't *quite* accepted by the white/Afrikkans. I'm also not sure if such a social class exists outside the cities. She was born and raised in Cape Town, and had never been out of the cities until she traveled to America for a year.

[MkMw]

Could be a regional difference too - I was in Durban, the majority of the time (4months), visited CapeTown, but only briefly and didn't really get an opportunity to get into the culture much there. And, even in Durban didn't venture too far out of my comfort zone geography wise (tough enough with 2 babies driving on the wrong side of the road). And, like I said, just because I didn't hear it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[najia274]

Truthfully, I do not know enough about many of the countries everyone is discussing to comment beyond Liberia. In Liberia, very few children are biracial in the sense one might imagine from the US. Children are often from different tribal backgrounds. Unsoliticited advice from a mom to three biracial children. PLEASE do not get caught into becoming "color-struck" (focusing on shade of skin color v. child).

Liberia's adoption program is going strong and have been quite inexpensive and quick comparatively speaking. They are taking approximately 4-6 months from the time you receive your child referral. My own adoption is expected to be completed by the end of May.(..I cannot wait!!!!) and I actually began the whole process in January.

I thought I would show off the picture of my baby girl, too. Isn't she beautiful??

[kandali]

namibia and south africa are your best bets for mixed kids. though there you should use the term basters or coloured. it is not an insult there. You will find black parents with a blond haird, blued eyed baby or a blond haird blue eyed couple with a black child. the genes have been so mixed up, since uropeans invaded that part of the continent. trust me i know I am from there.
There is a ban on south african doption right now to the us but am not sure about namibia.
you should also try out botswana for mixed babies.

in namibia if you find an adoption agency, ask if they are cituated in or near rehoboth about 60 kilometers south of the capital city which is whindhoek, you are more likely to get your biracial/white/black child.

good luck