[Wonderingwhat2do]

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my thread.

I have read a lot online about how hard it is to adopt a Venezuelan child if you are from the United States but I wanted to hear first hand if anyone here knows anything about it.

My husband and I have been married for three years. I am Caucasian, from the United States and my husband is Hispanic, from Venezuela. We currently reside in the state of Florida. I believe it would be easier for us to adopt with him being Venezuelan, but I'm wondering if there are certain restrictions for us to adopt from the country of Venezuela.

If anyone knows anything at all, I would be very very thankful for any information. Thank you.

[sak9645]

You can read all about adoption from Venezuela on the website of the U.S. State Department. The web address is Venezuelan adoption?.

Like most South American countries, Venezuela is Hague-compliant. Therefore, you will have to follow Hague requirements to adopt. You will be required to use a U.S. agency that is accredited by the State Department to do Hague adoptions, and will have a good deal of paperwork to complete. But the good news is that the Hague process helps to ensure that the adoption process is ethical and protects the child, the birth family, and you, the adoptive family.

Besides the fairly complex Hague requirements, another reason for the difficulty of adopting from Venezuela is that the country makes every effort to find domestic homes for children, and sets priorities regarding who can adopt. Where possible, children are placed with birth relatives. Friends of the birth family are given second priority. The third priority is Venezuelans who LIVE IN VENEZUELA. Venezuelans or non-Venezuelans living abroad get the lowest priority. Given these priorities, do not expect to find your process easier because your spouse is of Venezuelan origin.

At this time, very few American agencies actually have Venezuelan programs, because of the complexity of the process. However, some Hague-accredited agencies will help you, even if they don't have a formal program in the country. Shop around, being careful to consider only Hague-accredited agencies.

Sharon

[floridacpl]

I am from Venezuela myself and considered a Venezuelan child but unfortunately you will not get much help from the government. To do legal things in that country is a nightmare and even their "adoption" website works less than half the time...and dont expect much else by phone. The system is so corrupt you can openly see ads online for people selling babies (priced by their race) which is a shame. One plus side if you can spend all the time you want in Venezuela is that single women can adopt and as a Venezuelan you could do it that way but I am not sure of what implications that will have here in the U.S. I will suggest to opt for a Colombian child though the wait is quite long and discouranging sometimes...good luck!

[Nancycs]

I'm Venezuelan too, and we looked to adopt there. One of the biggest issues is to declare a child as adoptable. There are several orphanages, but if the child has one relative who visits once in a blue moon, he/she is not eligible for adoption (we checked directly with them)
On the other hand, the process is not clear either the timeline. I called a couple of times the Ministry responsible for adoptions. It was so frustrating trying to get a hold of somebody, and when I finally talked to lawyer for international adoptions, she made this clear:
1. There are not babies available and that is what everybody wants (really???)
2. How long does the process take? Who knows!!!
3. In average, how long should we stay in the country during the adoption process? Not real answer, it should take as long as bonding occurs. Days, weeks, months...


There are many illegal practices down there to give babies away, don't be fool by any of them, as the US Embassy wont be! (they can even require DNA test to proof is your child).

We decided to adopt from Colombia which have a similar culture. We are currently waiting!!!

[floridacpl]

Thanks for that reply nancy, you really did your research. I gave up after a few days looking into it and found the "unclear" requirements to adopt. It is a shame, is almost like they do not want you to adopt from them at all. We are thinking Costa Rica now since the wait is a lot shorter than colombia but we havent made our minds yet! Even for Venezuelans like us the legal systems is broken dowen there