[guatachance]

hi ladies,
i know this has been posted before but i can't find it. first of all we came home on an ir4.
i have talked to two attorneys and one says we can just register in pa vital records to obtain citiz., and get b.c. and then s.security. the other says i need to hire her to do a readoption at 1000.00. something specific about the country of guatemala she says will cause problems in the future if we do not readopt.
also, when i went to the courthouse to file with vital records they had no idea how to do a name change.
can you help or am i just too confused.
(agency is not in pa)
tia for all your help,
sissy

[wannahave3]

In PA regardless of the visa your baby came home on, you have to do a recognition of foreign adoption instead of a readoption.

Each county may differ on whether or not you need a lawyer for the RFA. Of course, each lawyer will also differ on the price.

You can change the name through the RFA process. There will be a place in your paperwork asking what the child's new name will be.

After the RFA is complete you can get your child a PA BC. The BC will have a line at the bottom about "This BC does not confer citizenship...". The woman at PA Vital Records will only remove this once you have your C of C (aside from the obvious fact that in PA once the RFA is complete your child is a citizen. The C of C is just proving it!)

You can get a SS# any time although it is wise to wait until after the RFA is complete so the SS# will be in the child's new name. Again you have to show the Social Security Administration the C of C when you get it so that they can change your child's alien status.

You need to file for the C of C after your readoption is complete. Our took several months (we were also an IR4 visa).

Good luck!
Shannon
PS - The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse has lots of great information on this topic

[msdice]

Shannon, so did you get new BCs without this "This BC does not confer citizenship..." line at the bottom?

We got a lawyer to do the entire RFA process including new BCs, but ours still have this line on them, even though we already had his COC. We also just got his SS# and now need to re-file for a new COC now that his name change is official.

Originally Posted by wannahave3

The BC will have a line at the bottom about "This BC does not confer citizenship...". The woman at PA Vital Records will only remove this once you have your C of C (aside from the obvious fact that in PA once the RFA is complete your child is a citizen. The C of C is just proving it!)

[smr67]

Unless things have changed since 2002, in our county we either had to re-adopt or do a legal name change. We could not do the name change through registering the foreiegn adoption or requesting the new birth certificate.

[wannahave3]

M & S
The woman at the PA Vital Records told DH ( he's an attorney) that she would remove it once we got the C of C. We haven't attempted to get that removed yet as it took us almost 4 months after our RFA was complete to even get the BC (after numerous phone calls they kept asking us to fax the same information over and over again!!)

Does your BC list Guatemala as the birth place? The PA statute on this states that the township in which you live is what is supposed to be listed there but this seems to be ignored

I guess I shouldn't be too hopeful that this clause will be removed. Let me know if you have any success with this and I will do the same

[guatachance]

is recognition of foreign adoption the same as registering at vital records??
you are all so helpful,
thank you,
in Him, sissy

[wannahave3]

No, they are two separate processes.

You do the RFA and then you request a PA BC from Vital Records. Often when you hire an attorney to do your RFA for you it is included in their fee that they will take care of this final phase for you.

I hope I answered your question

Shannon
PS - there is a courier service that will also do RFAs in certain states (PA is one of them) for around $500. I think shelbydog on this forum was considering using them. PM me if you want their website. We did not personally use them for the RFA(it's nice having a lawyer in the family ) but were happy with their courier service.

[JMA2007]

Wannahave3...

Can you confirm whterh you were able to register the foreign adoption under rue 15.8. What county did you do this in? Did they deem the foreign adoption as full and final (assuming you submitted PRotocolio and Birth Cert)?

I'm having trouble understanding if we are eligible for this process since neither of us visted and our daughter is not yet citizen with a COC. I though we had to do regular adoption. There are propsed rules 15.9 and 15.91 for those looking to readopt as result of an IR-4 visa. Not yet adopted yet though

Please advise.

[JMA2007]

I just noted that i replied to a posting from 2005.

Can anyone let me know if they were able to Register the Foreighn adoption in accordance with rule 15.8 if they brought their child home on an IR-4 visa. I'm not clear since we had not visited and our child is not a current citizen (IR-3) we are excluded from filing for registration of the foreign adoption under rule 15.8 and therefore must go through the full adoption process..

We are looking to complete the process in Delaware County, PA.

[wannahave3]

No worries, adoption.com sent me an email about the response.

We did not do our RFA in Delaware County. For PA the statutes states (paraphrasing here) that if a foreign government recognizes the adoption then so does the Commonwealth of PA. However, the statute also states that each county may impose its own requirements.

Where we live there was no SW visit, no court appointment, etc. We dropped off the necessary info (the county will tell you what you need) along with $110 and had the signed decree in our hands three days later.

I have absolutely no idea what 15.8 is. I know that we did not visit my son, thus he came home on an IR4 visa. We did a RFA at our county courthouse and then applied for a COC as well as a PA birth certifictae once the RFA was done. After both of those were completed we got him a SS#.

I would contact your county courthouse and they can tell you exactly what documents need to be filed, how long it takes and what else is required.

[JMA2007]

I did request forms from county clerk and we rec'd documents that appear to pertain to an adoption of baby born in US (Domestic). Rule 15.8 & related forms were created in 2006 for the process of registering a foreign adoption. It was probabaly not in effect when you completed yours.

[beejay]

I don't know if this will help but --- We brought our DS home in Sept. 06 -- In Nov I went to VITAL RECORDS at the courthouse and asked for the paperwork for international adoptions and name change. She gave me the forms and I filled them out and returned them with a 60 dollar fee, they did the rest with in 3 weeks I picked it up and everything was done. I sent in for the BC -- which states the birth country as GC -- and went for the SS card once I received the BC. I did not visit my son while he was in GC.

I live in Indiana PA -- 30 minutes northeast of Pittsburgh

They changed this law in Sept 2006 shortly before we came home, some people that work at the courthouse don't want the extra work or don't know how to do it so they tell you to get an attorney. But in reality you CAN complete it yourself.

All I have left too do is get his COC -- and that is me being lazy i guess!!! LOL

[beejay]

You CAN get the SS# BEFORE the COC -- once you get the COC you have to go and change his immigration statis.

[pjkay720]

I'm just now starting the readoption process again for our son who just came home. I'm using an attorney. It's so confusing and I want to make sure I do it all correctly. We came home on an IR4. With our first readoption the attorney did everything. We just showed up for the court date and then a few weeks later received a new BC. Then I applied for the COC. When I got that I went back to SS and had his name and citizenship changed. We are just going to do the same this time around. It was more costly than I was hoping for, but it was so easy and took pressure off me.