[kniseleynook]

Is any one interested in reviving this forum? We are presently adopting from Taiwan and are part of the Yahoo group (Adopting_From_Taiwan). I'd like to see this group up and going too! The more the merrier. If not here than join us at Yahoo!

Hannah
"In love with a baby I don't even know!!!"

[cabbage patch]

Hi everyone,

Have anyone adopted from St. Lucy??? How was the process and how long did it take?? My agency said it takes about 3-4 weeks stay is this correct. Can you choose the sex?

[Katiesmommy]

What agency are you using? We are currently with New Hope and will be adopting from St. Lucy. One of the appeals of the program for us was the short trip - 3 to 5 days, not weeks.

Amanda

[mgummere]

Has anyone adopted from Cathwell? Did you get
to see the orphanage? What did it look like? How many
children? Did you get to see the rooms or just the reception area?

My husband and I are adopting a waiting child from Florida
Home studies and are just now finishing up our dossier (very little compared to China!)

We hope to travel as early as February 2004 to get him.

Mary

[Katiesmommy]

Oh, share details about your newest son! We may be adopting a waiting child (age 13 mos.) from St. Lucy - we are waiting for more medical information and confirmation she is being placed for adoption.

Best Wishes for a speedy court date! Do you have BCIS approval? We just got fingerprinted Saturday here in Charlotte, NC.

Amanda

[kniseleynook]

Hi Amanda,
Any decisions about the referral? Do you already have your I171H?

The other groups seem quiet???

Hannah
"In love with a baby I don't even know!!!"

[Katiesmommy]

The other groups do seem quiet. Since I have no idea what Hague is or how it could affect me, I am just not going to worry over it. I get confused by all that stuff (that was on the other list)

Anyway, no news yet, still waiting. Gotta finish my photopages though. I noticed all of our pictures are of Katie, not me, Scott or the 3 of us. Guess she just the cute one!

Hey, send me your email addy and I will send you a pic of our referral - don't want to post it publicly.

My email is
boschfam @ bellsouth . net - leave out the spaces

[cjnosack]

I am new to the forum process- but have been doing the adoption process since Jan 2003. We are waiting for our final decree and the date that we can go pick our son up. I want to talk to others and have a group to share experiences - a group to grow with! Please email me and we can get chatting

Please email me at my personal email

cjnosack@msn.com

Carissa

[hoogs]

Hello! My husband & I in the process of adopting a baby from Taiwan. We would love to chat with others who have already adopted from Taiwan and others who are in the process like us.
Our agency is New Hope and all our paperwork was sent in December. What a relief to be finished with all the requirements and paperwork! Where are you in the adoption process?

[warnkenmindy]

HELLO,
I'M NEW TO THE FORUM AND AM HOPING SOME OF YOU CAN SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE ADOPTION PROCESS IN TAIWAN. I'VE 'DISCOVERED' CATHWEL, CSS, AND ST. LUCY'S, BUT HAVEN'T GOTTEN RESPONSES YET. ARE THERE OTHER ORPHANAGES IN TAIWAN? WE ARE LIVING IN TAIWAN, HOPING TO ADOPT A LITTLE GIRL BETWEEN THE AGES OF 3 AND 5. ALSO, CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHO TO CONTACT TO GET A HOMESTUDY? WHAT KIND OF COSTS (APPROXIMATELY) ARE INVOLVED IN A TAIWAN ADOPTION OF AN OLDER CHILD/SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD? IS NEWHOPE AN AGENCY OR AN ORPHANAGE? LOTS OF QUESTIONS! THANKS! MINDY

[mgummere]

There are many orphanage in Taiwan but not all allow independent adoptions. A good place to start is google.com and just search for taiwan orphanages.

I found one you didn't mention - Home of Gods love. I believe the link is homeofgodslove.org

I met the people who run the orphanage last time I was in Taiwan adopting my son - they have lots of children at the orphanage, not sure if they have older children or not. They are located somewhere near the center of the island.

New Hope is an agency. I believe you can find it under
New Hope Kids. Also there is Florida Home studies and Adoption (has a great Taiwan program).

Costs - agency fee (if you use one) between $4000-$5000
Travel expenses (as you are in Taiwan should be minimal).
Foreign fee - infants usually $10,000 , s/n kids from Cathwell anywhere between $4000-$7000 (we adopted an older
healthy boy and foreign fee was $6000). Visa/passport/
medical - about $600-$700 (estimate). So you can save
$ if you don't use an agency.

Home Study Worker in Taiwan - I got this off my Taiwan
adoption group about a year ago - worth checking out -
Charlene Aspinall - based at the Community Services Centre
886-2-28368134.
http://www.community.com.tw/Adoption...me%20Study.php


Have you tried calling Cathwell directly and asking for
Sr. Rosa? I have heard that once you have a home study
on file with them they can start working with you.

The only orphanage I know that you can adopt independently from (besides Home of God's Love) is Cathwell. ST Lucy's requires an agency. As Sr. Rosa and Penny (her assistant) are the ones who answer the mail - it might take a while.

The only age requirements I know of is that you have to be 20 years older than the child you adopt. A lot of agencies put other requirements on ages of parents (especially parents who want infants). Due to our age (both myself and my husband are
over 40) we adopted from Cathwell using Florida Home studies.

The process is like this - you submit your dossier (very simple) to the orphanage. It gets submitted to the Supreme Court who reviews your case then sends it to the local District court (where the orphanage is located). They make the decision, and sign the adoption order. Then you travel to get your child and do the visa/passport thing. Takes about 8 weeks to get a court date #1, 8 more weeks for court date #2, 6-8 weeks to travel. Can take some time to get a referral of a child. I have heard from start to finish about 8-9 months.

AS we adopted a 5 yr old on a waiting list it didn't take very long at all (submitted paperwork in October, traveled in February to pick up our son).

There is a group called Adopting_From_Taiwan on yahoo groups that you can join to get more details. I have a ton of links, databases, etc to get you started.

Hope some of this helps. (Also, I have a ton of info you might
find helpful on my webpage myadoptionlinks.com/Taiwan -
basically a stripped down version of what's on the yahoo group without the chat.

Mary

[mel71]

Mindy,
I posted this elsewhere too.
Foreigners living in Taiwan get their homestudy done at the Community Services Center in Tienmou. There is an American social worker who does them there. She only works part-time you may need to wait a while before getting an appointment with her. Cost runs around TWD 35,000-40,000 for a Taipei homestudy.
If you live in Tienmou you might be able to become involved with CSS as a volunteer, they are always looking for people to go play with the babies or to provide foster care.
I talked to Home of Gods Love last year & they said they were not doing any more adoptions. They did one to a US family in Guam early last year and it ran into major problems in the court process. Most of their children are not available for adoption but if you go to Hualien, look them up, they are near Ilan.
Cathwel's orphanage is halfway between Tienmou and Danshui but their baby home is downtown.
St Lucy is in Tainan.
Where do you live?