[heart4kids]

Anyone else out there adopted in malaysia? Would love to chat about the experience of it all.

[sak9645]

According to the U.S. State Department:

Muslim children can be adopted only by Muslims. The Muslim prospective parents must have lived in Malaysia with the child for at least two years after the birthparents formally relinquished the child, before an adoption will be finalized.

Non-Muslim children can be adopted by non-Muslims. The non-Muslim prospective parent must have lived in Malaysia for two years prior to applying to adopt. And the non-Muslim prospective parent must live with the child in Malysia before the adoption will be finalized.

As always, even if you manage to adopt a Malaysian child (whether Muslim or non-Muslim), you will not be able to bring him/her to the U.S. on an adoption visa unless he/she qualifies as an "eligible orphan" according to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. Basically, adopting a child from married parents is not allowed, according to this definition. If you complete the adoption of a child who does not qualify for an adoption visa, you must live overseas with the child for two years before you can apply for a regular visa to bring him/her to the U.S.

In short, it is extremely unlikely that an American will be able to adopt from Malaysia unless he/she has been a long term resident of that country. There have been very, very few adoptions of Malaysian children by Americans, and most of those are relative adoptions.

Be very cautious if someone approaches you, offering to help you adopt a Malaysian child. The opportunity is probably not legitimate. Contact the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia, which can help you determine whether what you are being told is factual.

Sharon

[heart4kids]

Thanks Sharon for your informtion regarding adoption in Malaysia.

You are right adoption in Malaysia from a foreigner does require that you live in the country prior to adoption. And as a a non-muslim foreigner you may oly adopt a non-muslim child. As my family are Australian expatriates living here on assignment it was actually relatively easy to adopt, as long as we could prove that we had been here for at least a year with the purpose not being that we came to adopt. All that is required of us is to identify a child that needs a family, and then apply to adopt that child through a court order, as long as the child has a statutory declaration from the birth parents relinquishing their parental rights we are able to adopt said child within a minimum of six months. This is a legitamate process and follows all laws in Malaysia in regards to the process of adopting a child in Malaysia. All embassies I know of recognize this as a valid adoption. I know of a few american families that have adopted this way. I have read the same information as you have talked about, however as always in Malaysia what is written and how it is actually done is definately not always the same.

Living in Malaysia has been a great opportunity for us to extend our family the way we had always planned, but never actually thought possible.