[Umaasang_mom]

We are hoping to adopt my sister's step son in the Philippines . Dont know how & where to start. We live in Alaska and there is no agency with the Philippines program here. Do you know of any attorney /agencies out of state that would take us ? Would love to hear your adoption journey.
Any input is appreciated !

[mgummere]

I haven't adopted from the Philippines but I have a page on my webpage for it - there are quite a few agencies listed, I'm sure you can find one to assist ou in your adoption . http://www.myadoptionlinks.com/Philippines.html

There's sure to be someone on the group that can help you as well. Good luck, Mary

[Umaasang_mom]

Thank you Mary !

[Umaasang_mom]

I have emailed 10 agencies accredited by the Inter-Country Adoption Board -Philippines and so far got 2 responses.


First one said that because the child is not directly related to us it is not considered a relative adoption. “ Identified adoptions are not legal in the Philippines and they could not be involved in such a case” of course I wouldn’t want them to do it legally !

The second one was almost the same but much more encouraging. They gave me two options :

1) One is through ICAB . They told me to ask the ICAB’s advice if this is feasible . If it is then DSWD could initiate an orphan investigation. In the event that the orphan investigation finds the child eligible, they could assist us in the adoption process .

2) If you are a Filipino citizen, there may be an option to adopt in the Philippine courts. The risk : Sometimes the court will approve the adoption, but then US Immigration will deny the visa for the child and require you live with the child for two years in the Philippines before he can immigrate. This is not gonna work for us so we are going for the # 1.

Hoping for a response from the ICAB !

[Sampaguita]

Hi, I just answered your PM. I went through a similar thing with ICAB this spring & was told by the director that they will NOT facilitate the adoption of a pre-identified child. As your sister's step-son is not a blood relation to you, he would be categorized as "pre-identified".

We even had a judge in Manila who would have helped push paper through...but was unaware of the ICAB policy.

The best the director could tell me was to have the baby boy we were told about put in an orphanage and take our chances going through "normal" channels. I was really appalled that putting a child into an orphanage was preferable to investigating a good couple as potential parents.

Regardless of the US Visa issue, it's my understanding that if you are an American citizen of Filipino descent, you will need to live in the Philippines for 3 years with the child. That is the Philippine government's & ICAB's official stand. That doesn't work for us either.

PLEASE let me know if you hear of anything new...but it has been an on-going issue for those of us who are Filipino and wanting to adopt "known" children.

[Umaasang_mom]

Now I am really confuse! I just heard back from the agencies that I contacted about the possible adoption of my sister's step son ( not legally adopted) and they are saying that we can adopt him using our lawyer. Im assuming that a Philippine lawyer . The adoption agency would present the paperwork to ICAB and we would do the immigration clearance.

Not exactly sure how that works!