[anmatwall]

Hi, I have a question and I apologize if it's been asked and answered before, but it's something that has weighed on my mind all day and I really need to find out.

When I was a teenager, I pulled a couple of boneheaded stunts and got in some trouble. To be specific, I got arrested for shoplifting at age 17 and arrested at age 15 for a minor-in-possession. I did not go to court on either one, there was no conviction, I just had to pay a fine. I'm horribly embarassed by it, and don't like to talk about it, but I am terrified that it will stop me from adopting.

Will this impact a Kaz adoption?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrea

[PattyR]

Andrea,

I would not think this would affect your ability to adopt at all. I would recommend discussing this with your agency and the social worker who completes your home study.

Good luck!

Patty

[armurph]

It's amazing what comes back to haunt you. I had a similar problem. I was actually arrested and fingerprinted at the wise old age of 18 for not paying a speeding ticket. The police actually came to my parents house to serve a warrant for my arrest at 7:30 am and took me to the town courthouse to await my "trial". You can imagine how pleased my parents were. I just paid the fine on the ticket and that was it except for the humiliation and "discussions" about responsibility my parents had with me.
The point is my fingerprints are on file somewhere. I wrote an explanation of arrest and attached it to our Agency application, the homestudy questionaire and it may come up when we are fingerprinted for INS. There are a couple of ways to handle things IF they come up. Two homestudies can be done, one for INS including the info., which must be included. If they get a hit and there is no explanation then that's trouble. It was also suggested that I get a document from the court stating the disposition of the case which I may do. The homestudy for translation can leave out the information if the INS is satisfied with the explanation.
Basically, after all this rambling, unless you were convicted of a felony, you should be fine. Make sure you discuss everything with your agency and social worker. GOOD LUCK!!

[anmatwall]

Thanks for the replys (and your story armurph!)...it makes me feel a little better. I was worried that an agency wouldn't take us or we wouldn't be approved in a home study, or maybe Kazakhstan would reject us for that.

But thanks for the input, I don't feel as bad now.

Andrea

[ninamo1]

Hi there,

If you were not convicted of any crime, then the records will come back clean. But in order to cover all bases (do you live in te same town/state) tell your SW about what happened and that all of the shenanagis were before you were 18 years of age and being juvenile.

nina

[Evgeniya]

During your home study' visit you need to tell and explane your "story or stories" to the solcial worker (what, when, and why). Please, remember there is TWO HOMESTUDIES that your agency or independent solcial worker will have to complete:

FIRST (full version), will be send by the agency or solcial worker directly to the INS.

SECOND (short version) will be send to you to be submitted with your dossier to the foreign country.

Your FULL version (to the INS) has to include all explanations. However, your SHORT version (to the foreign country) will NOT have all that stuff written in it but only present information. That is all! A lot of people had done something wrong in their teenage's times (that is how we learn not to do it again!!!). However, it should NOT prevent you from adopting a child unless it was a case of child abuse or similar.
Hope it helps!

[PattyR]

I did not have two different "versions" of the home study written by my social worker. The INS received the same version of the home study as was sent to the foreign country. We did add pictures to the version sent to Kaz that did not go the INS, but otherwise everything was the same.

Anyway, just wanted to let folks know that this may not always be the case, but it's how it was for me.

Patty

[sak9645]

The USCIS has stated that there may NOT be two versions of a homestudy report.

According to the USCIS, some agencies were in the habit of putting information regarding an arrest -- especially an alcohol or drug arrest, such as a DWI -- in an addendum or "postscript", and then leaving off that last piece when sending the homestudy report to the foreign country. I have read a letter sent by the USCIS (back when it was called the INS) to a well-known agency, indicating that such an action is NOT acceptable, and that its rules require the inclusion of information on arrests and such within the body of the homestudy report, and the submission of the full report to the foreign country.

The position of the USCIS, as I understood it from the letter, was that the U.S. government could not be a party to actions designed to circumvent a foreign country's laws and policies. As an example, if a certain foreign country is known to reject prospective parents who have abused alcohol, the USCIS would consider it improper if a homestudy report sent to the country removed a footnote mentioning a spouse's DWI and did not send it to the country.

Obviously, however, an infraction of the law can be explained and excused in the homestudy report sent to both the country and the USCIS. For example, the homestudy worker might conclude that the person who got the DWI was 18 at the time, is now 40, and has had no further alcohol-related offenses; he/she might mention that the person is a solid citizen and that alcohol does not play any part in his/her life. Many foreign countries will allow a single infraction, if not recent and if not involving any sort of child abuse or domestic violence.

[carolinaj]

Misdemeanor convictions are not usually a problem as long as they weren't last week - meaning old such as 10 years or so and as long they are not crimes against persons i.e. DUI, gun possession. drugs etc. HOWEVER, I have seen where there were gun convictions and DUI at age 19 and not stop adoption at 41 years of age. A lot of it depends on the country from where you are adopting too... If there are many misdemeanor convictions i.e. repeated DUIs etc in the youth a Psych Eval is usually requested for about $500 to insure you're no longer an offender. I don't know about felonies - I've only been told felons are not considered for adoption. The point is to be as truthful as possible to your SW. There are no perfect people adopting - no one. Some just didn't get caught i.e. excessive speeding etc.,

[dlbmcgill]

Does anyone know how a recent DUI will affect the chances of adopting from Kazakhstan (or anywhere else)? My husband got a DUI 2 days before Christmas - many hours after having a couple of drinks at a Christmas party he got stopped at a roadblock and was barely over the limit. The judge told him that it wouldn't show up on his record because it's not even a misdemeanor and that he wouldn't even mention it (which doesn't seem wise to us). All the posts I've seen on various forums are about old DUI's, etc. Does anyone have any experience with having this happen shortly before starting their homestudy?

[Matt OB]

I had a DUI back in '93 and it had no impact in regards to our homestudy. But........USCIS was a different story. They wanted proof that the fines were paid, time served, etc. This goes back 12 years for cryin' out loud!

I had to go to superior court and give them the case # to do a search. The file was purged from the system after 10 years, so........luckily I'm a packrat and still had my file full of paper work.

USCIS will want confirmation that you have met all of the court's demands and that you have no outstanding court issues and that the court was satisfied with your probation, work project or time in the slammer, etc. You'd think they could answer these questions just by looking at the fingerprinting results and the lack of wants and warrants. Oh well.

FYI...SAVE ALL OF YOUR COURT PAPERS !! You never know when your past will come back to haunt you.

Lots of luck and patience........Matt

p.s. We're leaving next Wednesday for Almaty!!!! Just made plane reservations today!

[ninamo1]

Hi dlbmcgill,

Notify your social worker, find out if you need to go for extended counceling and get your husband to give up the spirits. Even one drink, especially for KAzakstan which is a majority muslim country. There may be no repecussions or huge ones, like changing country. Your judge is incorrect, this will come up in the local search. But it may not be omportant in several countries.

nina

[AndreaJ]

Disclose everything to both your social worker and your agency. Your agency is there to help you bring home your child, while respecting and obeying the law.

It's interesting, most people are denied homestudy or agency approval for lying about something or omitting it - even a DUI back 20 years. The theory is, if you're not up front in the very beginning...what could come up next? It's a trust issue.

There are countries more stringent on these issues. Most countries (and agencies) just don't want to see pattern or recent incidences.

Hope this helps!
AndreaJ

[dlbmcgill]

Thanks to everyone who provided advice on dealing with my husband's recent DUI. We had our first meeting with our social worker, told her about it and she was far less concerned than we were. He can provide the necessary paperwork from DMV and the counseling class and since it was only once in 39 years she doesn't think there will be a problem. So, we proceed with cautious optimism. Thanks again for all the advice and support.