[Joy79]

I have a friend who is interested in adopting from the US. They are both from Canada and are in the US on work visas. They plan on staying in the US permenantly and are working on getting their greencard (they are about 6 months to a year away). Can they adopt from the US right now? I know they really want to and I would love to see this work out for them. I was just wondering if they can do this?

[Sohmakun]

Sorry but one of the spouses must be a US citizen in order to adopt a newborn infant from here. The reason behind that is because the USA has implemented in Hague Convention on Inter country Adoption. According to Hague, the private placement of infants and children abroad is not allowed and sadly, this is how many Americans adopt newborns. However, your friends could adopt from our foster care system with possibly little hassle. Unfortunately, the youngest child you could get is a 6 year old and maybe even younger if he/she has siblings. The reason behind that is because Americans love to adopt infant, toddler and preschool-aged children and because adopting from foster care cost practically nothing, many Americans flock to foster care to adopt and therefore, a very long wait time (about 5-8 years) for infants occur. Many families foster infants then adopt them after the birth parents rights have been terminated. This route is very difficult for non-citizens because most states try to keep the foster families near the birth parents so visitations can be easier for both parties.

I would highly suggest that your friend work through a Canadian adoption agency that work in developing/third world countries where your chances of getting an infant are much greater.

[bevy]

We are a canadian family and have adopted twice from the US in the past. We are currently working on a third US adoption despite the hague! The agency we are with are again taking Canadian families and working within hague legislation. Not sure exactly how this works, but it is!