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Country-specific information
The series of information sheets and news items below are intended to provide general information for prospective adopters, wishing to adopt a child from a particular country. The information supplied on this web page reflects the Department's understanding of the current requirements and procedures relating to intercountry adoption imposed by the country/territory in question as at the date of publication of this webpage. Whilst the Department endeavours to ensure that the information provided is up-to-date, these requirements may change without notice.
The first point of contact for anyone interested in applying to adopt from another country should be an adoption agency (either your local authority or a voluntary adoption society registered for intercountry adoption with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, Ofsted). Prospective adopters should also take advice from an appropriate person in the country/territory in question in relation to their specific circumstances.
View information for:
Bulgaria / China / India / Lithuania / Nepal / Peru / Phillipines / Russia / South Africa / Thailand / Vietnam
Bulgaria
Information sheet [word 138kb]
China
Information sheet [word 97kb]
Information sheet annex [word 195kb]
12 November 2009 – DCSF meeting with the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) on 15 October 2009
Following a positive meeting with the CCAA in April 2009, the Department met the CCAA again on 15 October to continue to discuss a number of areas of work and outstanding issues.
Key issues:
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The CCAA confirmed that the number of domestic adoptions in China is increasing. This is thanks to the country’s rapid economic growth and Government intervention with plans for the treatment and rehabilitation of children with special needs.
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The CCAA confirmed that at present there are 30,000 families awaiting a match in China and, because of the decrease in the availability of healthy children, some of these families are transferring to the special needs system waiting list. It is unlikely that the waiting time for the main list will reduce.
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The change to procedures on the timing of the issue of the 17(c) agreement came into force on 23 October. If your application is affected by this change, the casework team will explain this to you and your agency. It means that the 17(c) agreement can be issued before you travel to China to meet the child, but you should still continue to liaise with your agency when you have met the child, and confirm whether you wish to proceed with the adoption.
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The CCAA confirmed that they recognise that occasionally a match is not satisfactory. If the prospective adopters decide not to go ahead with the adoption once they have met the child, they should notify their adoption agency immediately to notify the CCAA. The CCAA confirmed that in these circumstances they would usually put forward an alternative suitable match.
- The CCAA has requested that post-placement reports are written and submitted by the social worker and not by the families, and that the reports have to comply with the standards set by the CCAA. For more details, please visit the CCAA website. DCSF is following up outstanding reports with agencies.
20 May 2009 – Outcomes of DCSF meeting with China Centre 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.
India
Information sheet [word 98kb]
Lithuania
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:
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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.
Nepal
Information sheet [word 67kb]
Peru
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.
Phillipines
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.
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.
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.
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."
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."
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.
Russia
12 November 2009 – Post placement reports for children adopted from Russia
Post placement reports following the adoption of children from Russia should be sent to the regional guardianship and custody departments (Otdel Opeki i Popechitelstva) where the child was adopted. The relevant addresses can be obtained from the following website: www.usynovite.ru. Unfortunately, the site is in Russian only, but all addresses can be found on the main page from the part called (Куда идти усыновителю: Все органы опеки и попечительства России - Where adoptive parents need to go: all guardianship and custody bodies). There is a search facility on the page where you can select the city, town or region that you need from a drop-down menu. Please note that you will need to make your own translation arrangements to identify the relevant body.
South Africa
20 October 2009 – adoption applications from South Africa
Please note the Department for Children Schools and Families can currently only process relative adoption applications with South Africa. The Department will review this in April 2010.
Thailand
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]
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.
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.
Vietnam
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:
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Have been living, working or studying in Vietnam for at least six months
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Have a spouse or parent who is a Vietnamese citizen or of Vietnamese origin (Vietkieu)
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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.
