[Archive]

Originally Posted By Zuzu

I have heard that Sierra Leone adoptions are now closed. Has anyone else heard this?

[Archive]

Originally Posted By LG

I have heard that adoptions were closed but several agencies have approval now for adoptions. The best way to find out would be to contact some agecnies that have done SL adoptions and ask.
www.mapsadopt.org
www.all-as-one.org

[Archive]

Originally Posted By Sheku Momoh

I am inquiring about information about adopting a child from Sierra Leone. My Fiancee is from there.
Any information you can furnish would be greatly a appreciated. I am a US citizen. My Fiancee is planning to go back home in December. I need to know the procedures.

[Archive]

Originally Posted By Linda

There are two good agencies that work with SL. I would suggest contacting either one. They both have pictures on their websites of waiting children for adoption. You do not have to live in the agencies state to work with them.

Maine Adoptions www.mapsadopt.org
All As One adoptions www.all-as-one.org

[Elaine DePrince]

www.mapsadopt.org has "waiting children" from Sierra Leone. This is a relatively easy adoption agency to work with. Our three girls came from Sierra Leone after the ??? posting date.

[lied2]

If you don't mind me asking, what does your child's offical document look like? The papers from the High Court and everything else for that matter. Please respond A.S.A.P! This is very important (please read my post).

[Elaine DePrince]

My daughters official documents looked bogus, but were accepted by the U.S. embassy in Ghana as official. They consisted of a court order, listing several children from the orphanage as being placed for "foster care"; a birth certificate on white paper that was filed when the girls were several years old, a termination of parental rights from a so-called guardian because the children were orphans. The guardian's relationsip to the children was not clear. Everything had a raised seal on it. I will go into my files and try to find anything else that might help you if this answer doesn't.

[lied2]

Thanks for responding. Upon looking at our documents, from the the child's birth certificate to the parents death certificate plus the paper by the High Court, etc. , they do not have the offical raised seal.

Is your seal on the lower left hand side of the documents? Do you have the paper from the High Court? Is that the one that is on an old looking piece of paper? How long ago did you complete your adoption process?

Thanks.

[lied2]

You stated about the court order paper that listed several children's name on it which included your daughters as well.....does it have your name as the person being granted guardianship? Is this the one that is from the High Court and if it is, does it have the offical seal and on which side is it placed?

I'm so sorry to ask all these questions. I really need to know.

[Elaine DePrince]

No, neither my name, nor my husband's name appears on this document. The guardian that is listed as
"In the matter between. . ." is the name of the agency in Sierra Leone that had a contract with the U.S. adoption agency. Also I must correct my previous statement. The documents says on page 1.
"In the matter of an application for the adoption of (not foster care, which is stated in another document) . . . and then names five children. On the second page is an oval stamp (not raised) which says, "Master's Office High Court Freetown. That is stamped over a typed statement, "Certified true copy with a signature and date followed by the words "Master and Registrar". On page 4 is another stpam of the "Ministry of Foreighn Affairs, Freetown, Sierra Leone". Their is a certification by a consular office, inculding a date and signature. None of these stamps are raised because the original remained with the adoption agency, and the copy that travels with the adoptive parents to Africa is then notarized on the back of the last page with a gold seal. The typing on the document is uneven and there are typeovers, probably because the attorney in S.L. who produced this document for the Court didn't have access to a computer. If you want to contact me directly and privately you may do so by writing to: Elaine DePrince,P.O. Box 4380, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034. You may also email me edeprinc@ix.netcom.com. If you are adopting from S.L. I am assuming that you are adopting through MAPS. If so, then be reassured that they have placed at least 27 children from S.L. that I know of, and they have all gone smoothly through the U.S. Embassy in Ghana. As for the old paper - remember that S.L. has been involved in a civil war for most of the last 13 years. Materials were often scarce. Some of the documents were carried from place to place in rather old and worn briefcases. They were often rained on and dried out again. To us in the U.S. who are used to neat tidy legal documents produced by state of the art computers and printers these documents from Africa look alien. However, the U.S. Embassy in Ghana is used to seeing documents like this and take them in stride. I hope that this was reassuring.