Choosing an Agency
To adopt internationally, you should choose an accredited agency to help complete the adoption. This agency will help you assemble the paperwork, perform a home study, choose a child and perform monitoring in the months after the child is placed. Make sure the agency is licensed in your particular state, and ask questions about wait times and fees. Be sure to ask for references.
Gaining Eligibility to Adopt
Once you've chosen your adoption agency, apply to become eligible to adopt. This is accomplished through a home study, when an adoption worker comes to see your home, observe your family and living situation, check your medical records to prove you are healthy enough to adopt, as well as an examination of your financial records to prove that you can financially care for an adopted child. You'll apply for a I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country to gain eligibility. If adopting from a non-convention country, you'll need to file an I-600A form for the same purpose.
Child Referral
Once your I-800A form has been approved, you'll wait for a referral for a child. Your adoption agency sends your approved form to the country that you've chosen to adopt from, notifying the country of your intent. The form will be approved by the adoption authority in that particular country, and your request to be matched will be considered. Wait times vary from country to country, but you can expect six months to a year in most countries before receiving a referral. Once you receive a referral, you'll receive a date of birth for the child and the reason that she was given up for adoption, and any medical concerns to consider before you approve the referral to proceed.
Child Eligibility to Immigrate
When you've received your referral and approved it, you'll the petition the United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for approval to adopt the child from another country. You'll do this with a form I-800 -- Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative, which will give medical and personal information about the child, and must be approved by the USCIS for you to bring the child home.
Obtain Immigrant Visa
When your child's Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative has been approved, you can apply for an immigrant visa for your child to travel home with you once you've gone to get him from his country. You'll need to have an immigrant visa for the child in order to enter the United States. This visa will be sent directly to the adoption agency in the foreign country.
Pick Up the Child
Travel to the foreign country to pick up your child. Depending on the country's requirements for adoption, you may need to spend a small amount of time in that country while paperwork is being finalized to bring the child home. There will be a meeting where you will meet your adopted child for the first time, and subsequent meetings to make the transition easier. Once you are cleared to go, you are free to take your child home. Some foreign adoption agencies require that you stay in the U.S. and they accompany the child and bring her to you to meet in the U.S. Talk to the agency about your options and whether or not you'll have to travel.
