[Jasiu]

My wife (Kama, she still cannot access her account easily) called the adoption center in Warsaw today and was told that we have been qualified as adoptive parents. As you may remember, we are working on our adoption independently with a lawyer in Poland. Our dossier was submitted in March 06. Our lawyer told us we were qualified the end of April, but it was the first time we talked with the adoption center directly. We made an appointment to see the adoption center director next week. We will be in Poland on vacation.

We were also told that we are ahead of other foreigners wanting to adopt because of our Polish roots. Has anyone been told something similar? What counts as Polish roots? Are couples who both have Polish roots ahead of couples in which one has Polish roots and other doesn't? We were wondering if anyone has any ideas about this.

[yusen]

Congratulations to you Both, on your qualification,, Now lets get you a referral!

My Husband and I were told the same thing, that the Polish courts recognize any Polish connection's,However we were never told that being of Polish Discent would put us ahead of other's waiting,, But I guess it is all up to their court system and such..

Again Congratulations!!

[jessipea]

Here is a little prayer for a quick process from here! That gives me hope because we have Polish "roots" too! Althought we don't speak the language...so hopefully that will help us too!

J

[Jasiu]

From both of us, thank you for the prayer. Good luck to all of us who are waiting!

Originally Posted by jessipea

Here is a little prayer for a quick process from here! That gives me hope because we have Polish "roots" too! Althought we don't speak the language...so hopefully that will help us too!

J

[Anita]

Here is what the Catholic Adoption Center in Poland says...

http://www.adopcja.org/e-index.htm

[momraine]

Originally Posted by Anita

Here is what the Catholic Adoption Center in Poland says...

http://www.adopcja.org/e-index.htm

Remember though, that along with the written rules, there are the unwritten ones and just plain old human opinions and inclinations.
Since in thier minds the ideal family for any given child would probably be Polish and Catholic and living in Poland, it would stand to reason that when looking at two or more sets of possible parents, they would (all other things being equal) be predisposed towards the ones who came closest to that ideal. So the closer your ties to Poland, the better you look.
Of course me, I am not Polish at all, as far as I know, I have not a drop of Polish blood, though honestly, I don't have access to all of my mother's history as her family didn't keep very good records. My father's family is all French. My husband has no information on his maternal grandfather who died very young. So we could have Polish, blood but we don't know of any. However, we are seeking a disabled child. So for us there is very little competition. We are actually trying to adopt a specific severely disabled child and it's looking good for us. We are going through the Catholic center and they have already seen most of our paperwork and seem happy so far. Our adoption is not "normal" mainly because of the severity of our future son's disability, but we have a daughter with a similar one, so to us it's not so severe.
Anyway, all this to say, you don't have to be Polish or Catholic, but if you are, every little bit helps and make sure and put that in your paperwork! If you are not, makes sure that in your homestudy it says you plan to teach your child about his or her homeland and will attempt to instill a sense of pride in them. For us we were asked for a photo of the child's room. I had already purchased some books on Poland and had printed a map of Poland. I made sure that these things were visable in the photo of the room. I also found a cute little T-shirt that Says Polska and has the eagle on it, for a good price on the big online auction site and found a good price on Polish cartoons on DVD. Most of the people who apply to adopt are wonderful people, who have the desire and resources to parent. It's got to be very difficult for them to choose one set of parents out of what must be a huge stack. So every little bit that helps you stand out and look more like the ideal parent helps.

[lastpaige]

So is this "Catholic Adoption Center" one of the three umbrella agencies that governs the orphanages in Poland?

[Anita]

Yes, according to the State Department -

http://travel.state.gov/family/adopt...untry_438.html

- it is one of the three centers helping to place children into adoptive families.

[momraine]

Yes, adoptions by foriengers in Poland can only be done through one of those three agencies. Going independant I think must be through the public one. The Catholic one only accepts applications from a select group of agencies.

I beleive someone said that the children available for adoption are assigned to agencies based on a lottery type system. I am not sure if your paperwork can be with more than one of the three or not.

[Jasiu]

This is correct, only the three adoption agencies/centers can qualify foreign prospective parents. It is also true that the private (TPD-or the Society of Children's Friends) and the Catholic one do not accept families (or in some cases, single mothers) unless they work through an agency that has a relationship with the respective Center. The public center does accept individual applications. Our lawyer told us that it is possible to submit dossier to more than one center at the same time.

In addition, even though the referrals normally originate in the centers, we have heard about some informal practices when children are "recommended" for a specific family to the center. In the case of children that are especially hard to place, because of disability for example, it is also possible to forgo the regular referral procedure.

Originally Posted by momraine

Yes, adoptions by foriengers in Poland can only be done through one of those three agencies. Going independant I think must be through the public one. The Catholic one only accepts applications from a select group of agencies.

I beleive someone said that the children available for adoption are assigned to agencies based on a lottery type system. I am not sure if your paperwork can be with more than one of the three or not.

[Paskal]

Hi - we are currently in the home-study process, but intend to adopt independently in Poland once we have our BCIS approval. We would really appreciate any information or advice you would be willing to share on finding a suitable Polish lawyer. We will be learning Polish full-time from September-on, but speak only extremely basic Polish now. Thanks much!

[Jasiu]

I PMed you.

Originally Posted by Paskal

Hi - we are currently in the home-study process, but intend to adopt independently in Poland once we have our BCIS approval. We would really appreciate any information or advice you would be willing to share on finding a suitable Polish lawyer. We will be learning Polish full-time from September-on, but speak only extremely basic Polish now. Thanks much!