[akelseyfamily]

We are trying to adopt a disabled little girl in Poland. we have an approved home study (domestic) but during the begining of the adoption for our little girl in Poland, we found out that we did not make enough last year for an international adoption. This little girl has spent her entire life in a crib and is in desperate need of medical care. we have a child with the same disability, so we know what we're doing. We are not poor, we own our home, cars ect, but on paper it says we didn't have enough income.
Is there anyway around the financial requirements, and anyway to get a waiver or something? We are desperate to get her to the USA and get her medical treatment.
Amber

[randloar]

So sorry to hear that you are having problems getting to that little girl!! I don't have any good answers for you, but am curious, does Poland have the financial requirement or the agency you are working with? We are adopting in Kaz, and from what our social worker told us, there is a county recommendation of income, but your home and other assets can count toward helping in some ways. Is there any way to creatively put something like that to work in your favor?

Have you checked out the Polish embassy site, it doesn't mention anything about income.......just thinking...(http://www.polandembassy.org/Links/c...r/adoption.htm)

Hope you find a solution to this!!
C

[akelseyfamily]

the agency was the one who told us this, I think we need to prove to ins (bcis) that we have enough money to care for the child. we actually have alot of equity in our home and my husband's business, and cars, boats, ect. We just have several children. Do you know if there is an agency that helps answer these kinds of questions, or do we just have to find a different international agency.
Amber

[bluedaisy]

It can't hurt to call another agency or two. Sometimes the agencies set requirements that the countries don't. I can't speak for BCIS... you might do a search of their website, but they say to have to make some percentage over the poverty line, if I recall correctly.

Good luck!

[sfagal6713]

if you don't have enough income according to the ins, you can find a co-sponser that is willing to fill out another affidavit of support (I-864) to "help" financially support the adopted child. if you call the customer service line, they can tell you what the income requirements are and where you can find them on the internet.

[caestes]

Amber,

We're at the very beginning of our adoption journey, but I've asked about income requirements at a lot of different agencies. It sounds like we're in a similar situation - limited present income but healthy assets. I was told without exception that our assets would balance out our income. Also, if you expect your income situation to increase - be sure to make that argument. My DH is a student, but will most likely finish next spring. I was told that makes a difference, too.

That said, it did seem that the attitude about this varies from agency to agency. Some agencies add layers of requirements on top of the countries' requirements - probably in an effort to ensure a good situation for akids. Other agencies seemed to have a simpler approach. I'd definitely encourage you to shop around.

If all else fails, you could always try to adopt via a lawyer instead of an agency. I don't know anything about that, but have seen posts about that sort of thing in some of the forums here. I know you would have to be very careful in selecting an ethical lawyer - so do your homework well.

Blessings!

Christine

[sak9645]

The question is, "Who said you don't make enough?" When you adopt internationally, you have to satisfy a variety of different entities -- your state and homestudy agency, the USCIS, your placement agency, and the foreign government. Each has its own rules, and some are "set in stone", while others aren't.

As an example, the USCIS says that you must make at least 125% of poverty line income for a family the size of yours. In other words, if you are a family of two, all you need to earn is $16,500. This is non-negotiable but, frankly, if you can't satisfy this requirement, you probably can't afford to do an adoption and support a child in most parts of the U.S.

Some homestudy and placement agencies may have higher requirements. If a homestudy agency's requirements are based on the laws of your state, they are non-negotiable. However, if they are purely a matter of agency policy, you can either try to negotiate or find a different agency that is more flexible.

Some countries may also have higher requirements. However, most do not, since most countries don't want to get into the business of figuring out the cost of living in various parts of the United States. If someone tells you that a country has a certain requirement, be sure that he/she is actually stating the country policy, not an agency's policy. A country's policy wouldn't be negotiable, but you could always find a different agency if the issue was agency policy.

Sharon