[mollymay]

Hello!

We're just starting to fill out all the paperwork involved with our application.

Call me paranoid, but my husband is 45 and he was an excitable kid growing up and got into some trouble with the law when he was 23. I'm worried that will show up on his background check and they'll turn us down!

Does anyone out there know more about this subject?

[Eirual]

I know it's tempting to want to leave it off, however don't do it!

Dh has a criminal record from 23 years ago, when he was a minor. We disclosed to our agency who decided to leave it off the homestudy. When the agency pulled a background check, it didn't show up. She was under the impression that it would be better to not open the can of worms in relation to the country we were adopting from.

Long story short -
INS pulled a criminal background check & it appeared. Since we didn't list it on the homestudy, they stated they had serious doubts of our ability to parent. This resulted in them denying our I-600a.

The agency appealed, stating we did disclose to them. However, there are very specific steps the agency needed to take for the appeal (which they didn't do), and as a result, our appeal has been dismissed. The agency is trying to appeal the appeal, however, I've been told we have to wait a year to reapply. Even if we do reapply (& this time adjust the homestudy to reflect the prior arrest), there's a strong chance that since we were denied before, they'll still deny it.

Unless the "trouble" your dh was convicted of was child abuse, child molestation, or extreme violence, strong chance it won't hurt you guys.

Check out this link:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/w...cfr204_04.html
click on the 204.3 "Orphans" link - this will go into depth on what exactly needs to be in the homestudy.

[DianeS]

Yes, it will show up. If he was arrested, or fingerprinted, or had to appear in court - anything over simply being questioned on the street and not taken in - will show up.

Then your agency will deal with the issue according to agency policies.

One policy almost all agencies have is that if you didn't tell them about it up front, they will have problems with you and you have a great chance of not being approved. The thought being if you didn't tell them about that issue, what else didn't you tell them about?

But if you do tell them about it ahead of time, then they categorize you as honest people, and you have more of a chance of being approved.

Some "trouble" he could have been in will be perfectly fine, and not cause a problem. Other types will permanently keep him from being able to adopt. Most others fall in the middle - talk about it more, maybe counseling or AA/drug meetings, proving that he fulfilled all court orders for things (restitution, counseling, jail, parole, etc), maybe a time of waiting (that you may already have fulfilled because it was so long ago), etc.

You need to pass the requirements of your own state, the requirements of the USA, and the requirements of the country you wish to adopt from - all three.

The best idea, to save yourself (potentially) some money and heartache, is to call the agency you intend to work with and straight-out tell them about the "trouble with the law". Exactly what happened, the charge, the sentence, the year, etc. Most places will willingly tell you whether it would cause a problem or not, before you apply. They don't want to waste time, money, or patience either and will likely tell you right up front if you ask.

Good luck!

[marie38]

Most people have something in their pass no one is perfect. depends on what charges were.