Intercountry adoption

This site is intended for use by anyone interested in or involved in intercountry adoption. Please use the links to the left to navigate the site depending on your area of interest.

News Items

9 July 2009 – Travel to China and H1N1

The Department has been advised via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in Beijing about the following information: ' Currently the authorities in Beijing are testing the temperature of all passengers on international flights who arrive in Beijing airport. If a passenger is found to have a high temperature, the passenger and those sitting in the three rows before and aft will be put into quarantine in a hotel for 2-3 days until they are sure they do not have H1N1. At this stage, if they require one of your family to be quarantined, they will quarantine all of you, so you will not be separated.

However, if your child is diagnosed as having H1N1, then you should be aware that there is the possibility that you will be separated from him/her. We have not had any such cases of this happening to British citizens in China, but our colleagues at the American embassy have reported a few instances of this happening. We have been informed by one of the main hospitals for quarantining people in Beijing that children under 10 will be allowed to be accompanied by a parent, but the difficulty is that there is no consistent policy across all of the hospitals.' The FCO is not able to give definite answers around this issue, but wish to inform travellers from the UK that this a risk, at least for the moment, to be aware of.

2 July 2009 – Philippines public health measures in influenza A (H1N1)

The spread of influenza is unlikely to be stopped but we hope that the spread of the infection in child caring agencies where the prospective adoptive children reside could be prevented. In this regard, the ICAB has adopted the following measures:

Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) travelling from countries where influenza A (H1N1) has been reported should do the following:

monitor their health upon arrival
if they develop fever or have influenza-like symptoms upon arrival, they must immediately consult a doctor
if they have no symptoms, they should proceed with the meeting/turn-over of the child with them.

The child caring agencies have been given the option to either allow the PAPs to visit their agencies for the official turn-over/release of the child with the PAPs or have the child brought to ICAB by the agency social worker for the official discharge.

Should you have further queries, please contact Ms Gina Escalante, ICAB Supervising Social Worker.

We hope for your understanding and cooperation.

Inter-Country Adoption Board ICAB
#2 Chicago St corner Ermin Garcia St.
Barangay Pinagkaisahan, Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines 1111
Telephone Nos: (632)721-9781 to 82; 726-45-51;726-45-68
Fax No. (632)725-66-64
E-Mail address: adoption@icab.gov.ph
Website: www.icab.gov.ph

2 July 2009 – Intercountry Adoption (ICA) Casework Team Availability

Would all prospective adopters, stakeholders and partners please note that the ICA Casework team is not available on Monday 6 July or Wednesday 29 July.

Please note the new opening hours of the ICA Casework Team: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 09:00 to 17:00, Wednesday 12:30 to 17:00. This is with effect from July 2009. This does not affect the centralised Public Enquiry Unit telephone service, which remains operable Monday to Friday during office hours.

18 June 2009 – Peru update

For information: the Department has been advised that all applications for adoptions in Peru from abroad, including the United Kingdom (UK), have been suspended indefinitely due to the high number of applications it has been receiving. The Department is currently investigating this matter and will update this website on receipt of any further information or confirmation about this.

20 May 2009 – Outcomes of DCSF meeting with China Center of Adoption Affairs

DCSF officials met with the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) on 2 April 2009.

The meeting was positive, and valued by both the Department and the CCAA. As a result, we believe we are making progress in reaching agreement with the CCAA in a number of areas on the process of adopting from China for UK prospective adopters. These are set out below.

Waiting times for referrals and access to CCAA system on case progression

The CCAA confirmed the information held on their database that the waiting time for an application to be matched with a child is currently 36 months. The CCAA is aware that waiting times are a concern for prospective adopters in the UK but cannot predict whether or not this will change as the waiting time will depend on the numbers of prospective adopter applications in the system and the numbers of children available for adoption. The CCAA also confirmed that the number of domestic adoptions within China is rising.

However, the Department has negotiated access to the CCAA database and will be able to provide updates on the timescale for UK prospective adopters on this website.

In addition, full access to the CCAA database has been negotiated. This will enable the Department to notify prospective adopters on an individual basis of their login dates. We will contact prospective adopters individually as soon as this facility is operational.

Children with special needs – CCAA online system

The CCAA has introduced a new online system for matching children with special needs, having completed a pilot of the system with selected overseas agencies in March 2009.

The CCAA confirmed that the previous system, whereby prospective adopters could directly specify a wish to adopt a child with special needs, ceased in March 2009.

The CCAA explained that, under the new programme, children are identified that may be ‘older than 6 years and/or have mild or severe health difficulties’. Information is given to adoption agencies who propose families for matching to take place.

The CCAA indicated that, as a result of the March pilot, there are currently no children with ‘mild disabilities’ available for adoption.

DCSF is currently exploring the feasibility of negotiating access to this system (for which there is a fee) and how it can be made to work in practice, as the process is different. We expect to consult shortly with adoption agencies for prospective adopters who have been approved as suitable to adopt a child with special needs from China by their agency.

We are also seeking clarification about what this means for those applications already registered before March 2009, and will contact those prospective adopters who are affected by the change.

Tainted milk

The CCAA confirmed that in 2008 they conducted research with the orphanages they work with and found that very few of the orphanages had used the affected milk products. The Chinese government had also provided free medical checks for all children. As a result of these checks, the CCAA is able to give assurance that children available for adoption have not been affected by tainted milk.

Post placement reports

The CCAA attaches great importance to the provision of post-adoption reports, and asked us to clarify for prospective adopters and agencies the format and order of the reports as set out in the post placement report template and on the CCAA website. The CCAA noted that the final report is often not sent, or sent late, and asked us to remind adopters and agencies to submit these promptly.

Bridge of Love Adoption Service (BLAS)

The Department also met with representatives of BLAS, who asked us to inform prospective UK adopters of the services they offer, including the provision of the ‘root-seeking groups’ of events for Chinese children adopted overseas. More information is available on the BLAS website.

30 April 2009 – Adoptions from China

The China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has made an important announcement regarding prospective adopters travelling to China and the current outbreak of swine flu. The Department will continue to monitor the situation on behalf of affected prospective adopters.

23 April 2009 – Philippines’ moratorium on accepting new applicants

The Philippines Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) has informed the Department that it has decided, due to the large number of unmatched approved adoption applications of Prospective Adoptive Parents wanting to adopt children within the age range of 0- to two-years-old with or without medical/developmental concerns, coupled with the limited number of children of such category, effective 1 May 2009, to set a moratorium on accepting new applicants wanting to adopt from this category.

ICAB shall resume accepting new applications for these categories only after it has processed at least 50 per cent of the existing families in its current list. Starting 1 May 2009, only the families who would want to adopt a child three-years-old and above would be considered by ICAB.

27 February 2009 - Restriction on numbers of adoptions from Thailand for 2009

The authorities in Thailand have notified the Department that due to limited numbers of children available for adoption in Thailand, applications from the United Kingdom are to be restricted to 24 during 2009, and the waiting time to be matched with a child will be approximately three years .

Please note that this is an estimate and will depend on the number of children available for adoption from Thailand.

The DCSF will monitor the number of applications despatched to Thailand.

Download this document [pdf 34kb]

27 January 2009 - Processing Times for Intercountry Adoption Applications

Prospective intercountry adopters with cases with the Department may wish to note the following. Currently it is taking an average of 8 weeks between the receipt of a complete application at the Department and a Certificate of Eligibility to Adopt being printed. Similarly, it is taking an average of 8 weeks between papers being returned to the Department from Notary Public, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and/or Embassy and the application being sent to country. Please note the length of time papers are with Notary Public, FCO or Embassy is one which the Department has no control over.

18 December 2008 –Notice received about sending of Post Placement Supervision reports and photos from Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB)

For the information of all ourpartners, the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) has decided that in view of the accessibility of email, foreign adoption agencies may have the option to send to ICAB the post placement supervision reports and photos via email. The reports and photos however, should be the original scanned copy with appropriate signatures.

4 December 2008 –Notice Received from Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB)

As part of the monitoring procedure of ICAB, the Board resolves that effective January 01, 2009, the sending of the Child Care Support Fund (CCSF) to the Child Caring Agencies (both government and non-government) which endorsed upon acceptance of a child proposal will have to be coursed through ICAB. However, for foreign adoption agencies who have liaison service agencies in the Philippines, they could continue to send the CCSF through their liaison.

2 December 2008 – Q & A for UK prospective adopters adopting from China

Download this document [pdf 19kb]

DCSF have produced a leaflet which provides an overview of the process for Intercountry adoption. The leaflet is aimed at prospective adopters thinking about adopting a child from overseas, and provides further information on the relevant legislation and process. Paper copies of the leaflet can be obtained via the DCSF publications house (Prolog) on 0845 60 222 60 (quoting ref no: DCSF-00809-2008).

Download this leaflet [pdf 143kb]

6 November 2008 – New DCSF leaflet: A guide to intercountry adoption for UK residents

Download this leaflet [pdf 143kb]

7 October 2008 - Notice received from the Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board

The Philippines Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) has informed the Department that it has decided to lift the moratorium for single applicants. However, ICAB will only consider single applicants who will be accepting children from 6 years old and above of either gender with minor correctable medical conditions or negative background.

2 October 2008 - Home Office letter

Prospective adopters requiring a RON117 letter (a letter from the Home Office Border & Immigration Agency giving a general statement that there is no reason to believe that an entry clearance would not be issued, providing the correct procedures have been followed) should contact the Home Office directly on 020 8196 0796.

1 August 2008 - Implementation of the provisions in the Children and Adoption Act 2006 relating to the restrictions of adoptions from abroad: Publication of the 'Restricted List'

Provisions in the Children and Adoption Act 2006 relating to the restriction of adoptions from abroad came into force on the 1st August 2008. Under the provisions of the Act, the Secretary of State must publish a list of countries (the ‘restricted list’) where special restrictions on adoptions from particular countries by British residents are in place. Reasons for declaring a country ‘restricted’ must also be published. Orders restricting adoptions from Cambodia and Guatemala (placing the existing suspensions onto a statutory footing) came into force on 1st August 2008.

The current version of the ‘restricted list’ can be found within the Restricted Countries section of this website, alongside background information on the suspension of adoptions from Cambodia and Guatemala. This information was previously located in the news item section.

2 June 2008 - Notification from the CCAA on Temporary Extension of the Validity Period of 'Notice of Coming to China for Adoption'

The China Centre of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has notified the Department of a temporary extension of the validity period for 'Notice of Coming to China for Adoption’, which is also known as an ‘Invitation to Travel’ (ITT). The letter can be downloaded here [pdf 32kb]

21 May 2008 - Changes to CCAA Charge for Service Fee

The China Centre of Adoption Affairs has notified the Department of a change to the service fee, with effect from 1 June 2008. The letter can be downloaded here [pdf 30kb]

8 May 2008 - Notice received from the Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board

The Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB) has notified the Department that:

“In our efforts to simplify the form “Type of Child Acceptable to Family” or the checklist on special needs which is one of our references in selecting the most suitable prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) for our children, we came up with a revised form, which is also inputted in our website.

Please note that we no longer encourage prospective adoptive parents to specify their gender preference since we believe that PAPs should be open to accepting a child of either gender.

Kindly emphasize with your PAPs that if they wish to adopt from the Philippines, they should be more open to considering accepting children with special conditions indicated in the checklist.”

The document is available at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/intercountryadoption/countries.shtml

18 April 2008 - Notice received from the Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board

The Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB) has notified the Department that:

"For the 1st quarter of 2008, we have noted the increase in the number of adoption applications. Although we are pleased that many of your families would want to adopt a child from our country, we are also concerned because we currently have very few children available for inter-country adoption. This would mean that there will be a longer waiting period for child placement.

ICAB and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are exerting efforts to lobby for the passage of the law that will make the procedure of abandonment an administrative process which is one way to fast track the movement of children for inter-country adoption. However, until such time, we are concerned that families will have to wait for a longer period of time (perhaps from two years and longer) before they receive a child proposal from our country. Again, we emphasise the need to encourage your adoptive families to be more open in accepting children with some medical conditions and “with no background information” so that the waiting period for a child placement will be shortened. Kindly share this concern with your adoptive families."

28 February 2008 – Adoptions from Thailand

The authorities in Thailand have notified the Department that applications from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) are to be restricted to 32 during 2008, and the waiting time to be matched with a child will be approximately 12 – 18 months.

Please note that this is an estimate and will depend on the number of children available for adoption from Thailand.

The DCSF will monitor the number of applications despatched to Thailand.

12 February 2008 - Hague Convention entry into force with respect to the United States

On 12 December 2007 the USA deposited their instrument of ratification for the Hague Convention. The Convention will enter into force on 1 April 2008.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), understands that the USA will continue to accept intercountry adoption applications from England after 1 April 2008. The DCSF expects to handle cases received on or after 1 April 2008 in line with the Hague Convention (where they satisfy the relevant criteria) and cases received prior to 1 April 2008 as non-Hague.

The US Department of State's website offers guidance for the 'Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption', which is available at: http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/convention/convention_462.html

13 December 2007 - Changes to CCAA Charge for Service Fee

The China Centre of Adoption Affairs has notified the Department of a change to the service fee, with effect from 1 January 2008. The letter can be downloaded here [PDF 48kb]

04 June 2007 - Temporary Moratorium on adoption from the Philippines by single applicants

Notice for prospective single adopters from the Philippines. Due to the large number of approved single prospective adopters who are currently waiting for a suitable match the Philippine Inter Country Adoption Board (ICAB) informed the DCSF it was temporarily suspending acceptance of new single applicants until they have matched all current approved applicants. Once current applicants have been matched ICAB will be accepting new applications. As soon as we receive further information we will update this site

For the latest information on adopting from the Philippines please visit the ICAB website.

19 March 2007 - Changes to CCAA criteria for applications to adopt from China

The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has notified the Department for Children, Schools and Families of new criteria for applications to adopt from China. With effect from 1 May 2007, applications that meet the conditions detailed in the document China information sheet from 1 May 2007 will be prioritised by the CCAA.
The CCAA has advised the Department that the revised criteria have been introduced in response to a rapid rise in the volume of applications to adopt from China. The main changes are that applications will be prioritised where the prospective adopters are:

a married couple;
both husband and wife are at least 30 years old and under 50 years old (this age limit is extended to 55 years old if the couple are applying to adopt a child with special needs).
the couple has been married for at least 2 years. If either of the couple has been married before (and they may not have had more than 2 previous marriages) the couple have been married for at least 5 years.

14 March 2007 – Vietnam‘s requirements for prospective adopters

Adoption from Vietnam was suspended for all foreign nationals in January 2003, unless their country had a bilateral agreement relating to inter-country adoption. There is currently no agreement between the United Kingdom and Vietnam. In August 2006, the Vietnamese authorities advised us that British nationals wishing to adopt Vietnamese children could only do so in exceptional cases. These exceptions include those that:

Have been living, working or studying in Vietnam for at least six months
Have a spouse or parent who is a Vietnamese citizen or of Vietnamese origin (Vietkieu)
Have a relationship with the prospective child’s family or have already adopted a sibling of the child.

If those wishing to adopt a Vietnamese child do not meet the above conditions, they can still apply to adopt a child with disabilities or a serious illness.

26 February 2007 – Adoptions from Thailand

The authorities in Thailand have notified the Department that applications from the UK are to be restricted to 32 during 2007, and the waiting time to be matched with a child will be approximately one year.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families will monitor the number of applications from the UK by keeping a central register.

25 September 2006 Intercountry Adoption from Lithuania

The Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour has informed the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) of the following:

The Lithuanian authorities will only accept two adoption applications to adopt a child (or children) under six years of age per calendar year. This order will not apply to families that wish to adopt a child with special needs.
The Lithuanian authorities will not accept new applications from foreign institutions seeking to get authorisation in respect of intercountry adoptions.

25 September 2006 - IMPORTANT - Changes to the application process to adopt a child from the Philippines

The Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB) of the Philippines has indicated that applications from prospective adopters who only wish to adopt female children will no longer be accepted as of now, September 2006. This is because there are very few female children available for Intercountry adoption. ICAB has also stipulated that where the primary caregiver (in general this is the female prospective adopter) is aged 43 and over, they will only be considered for a child over 2 years old. (The latter point will not apply to prospective adopters who registered their application with ICAB prior to December 2005).

Prospective adopters who have been waiting for a child referral for longer than one year will need to indicate that they still wish to pursue their application. In the event that they do, ICAB require an updated report regarding the prospective adopters’ circumstances. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) will contact affected prospective adopters and their UK adoption agencies to advise that the ICAB has requested the above information.

8 September 2006- New Adoption Agency Checklist

Adoption Agencies please note that the DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) has produced a new Adoption Agencies check list. We recommend that Adoption Agencies complete and attach a copy of this new checklist to the front of each new intercountry adoption application submitted to the DCSF Intercountry Adoption Casework Team. This checklist will help the DCSF and Adoption Agencies and ensure that each application contains all the required paperwork, as any missing documents will inevitably cause delay. The document can be downloaded here.

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