Central Okanagan
We facilitate many types of inter-country adoptions. All of these adoptions involve a child being brought into BC by parents that live here.
Just as in domestic adoptions, for inter-country adoptions The Adoption Centre of British Columbia:
- Counsels families both before and after the placement of the child.
- Completes thorough checks of the adopting family (home study).
- Reviews the child’s social and medical history.
- Collects the letters of consent that are issued by birth parents and government of origin.
- Ensure that all necessary requirements are met if the adoption is finalized in the child’s country of origin.
Inter-country package “Dossier”
- Each country or state has a unique and very specific list of documents they require adoptive parents to sent to the country. Our agency is able to provide you with a prepared checklist of documents and in some cases, sample documents.
- Additional documents, profiles and detailed medical exams may be requested.
- Once these documents have been compiled, translated and usually notarized, the package is sent to the chosen country.
Matching/Proposal
- The US programs operate much like the domestic one in BC, where birth parents select the adoptive parents.
- Most other countries will match you with a child and then send you the proposal.
- The time this takes varies widely depending on the country and how many requests/applicants they get.
The Adoption Centre of British Columbia has no influence over wait times. The adoption program in any country is subject to unforseen changes, suspensions or even closures at any time without warning. Applicants need to be prepared that inter-country adoption is subject to varying risks and waits which cannot be anticipated with any certainty. As a result, The Adoption Centre of British Columbia cannot guarantee if or when the applicants with receive a placement.
Placement & Adoption
- After you have received and accepted a proposal, travel plans are made for you to pick up your child.
- The adoption is either completed in the country of origin or in BC after you get back (known as a “Section 48″, named after the section of the Adoption Act that describes it). Periodic progress reports are requested by all countries whose children are adopted out and must usually be done by a registered social worker.
- When the adoption is completed in BC, a Post-Placement Report is required by the courts after six months of placement. This is done by your social worker and passed on to your lawyer to be included when you file for adoption.
Countries
The countries that we work with currently for inter-country adoptions are: United States, China, Ethiopia, and Bulgaria. We are currently investigating the possibility of working with South Africa and with Taiwan.
Additional information on these countries have been included on this website. In addition, the following government link offers good background information:
- BC Ministry’s Fact Sheets on Inter-Country Adoptions (contains detailed information for the specific types of inter-country adoptions.)
United States
The United States ratified The Hague Convention in April 2008. As a result, the US agency that applicants work with MUST be Hague Accredited and willing to work with Canadian families.
Download: Adopting from the US General Information Package (PDF)
The children available are of both genders and are primarily of African American, Hispanic and bi-racial backgrounds. Our agency work to place newborn infants from the states. We do not place American children in state foster care systems.
Since the Hague was ratified, there are less US agencies to choose from who are accredited. We encourage prospective adoptive parents to contact the US agencies that they wish to work with directly so that they can get to know agency personnel and determine if this agency, who will be profiling them to birth parents and a primary source of support at the time of placement, feels like a good fit for them.
The follow is a list of US agencies that our agency has worked with most recently.
- Adoption By Shepherd Care (Florida)
If you are interested in learning more about adopting through the U.S., please read this document U.S. Adoptions for further details.
China
All Chinese adoptions are processed through their central government branch, the China Centre for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). China ratified The Hague Convention in January 2006.
China (CCAA) has specific requirements of adoptive families. These requirements were changed as of May 1, 2007. It is important to be sure that you meet these requirements. CCAA may exercise leniency if applying to the Waiting Child Program, but it is important to contact our office to discuss any departures from this list of criteria before your home study to ensure that you would qualify.
CCAA has two programs through which foreigners can adopt children:
Non Special Needs Program
PLEASE NOTE: Because of lengthening wait times we are not recommending this adoption program for new registrants at this time.
The children available through this program are almost exclusively female and range in age from approximately 0-24 months. These children have no known special needs.
Applicants with Chinese Ancestry may be eligible to have their applications expedited. For more information on this, please contact us.
Waiting Child Program
Children available through this program are from 18 months of age and older, with more males available than female children. CCAA considers these children to have ‘minor correctable special needs’ which may include: congenital heart defect, Hepatitis B positive, cleft palate, cleft lip, missing toes and/or fingers to name a few. If you are interested in this program, please read this document: Waiting Child Program.
Download: Adopting from China Waiting Child Program General Information Package (PDF)
Download: Adopting from China's Waiting Child Program with Login ID (PDF)
* if you already have a Log In Date with CCAA for the non special needs program, please note that the dossier documents that you would need to add to your dossier for this program are minimal. For information on this program when you have a log in date, please read this document: Waiting Child Program with LID.
Haiti
ALERT: Our provincial authority has issued a suspension of adoptions into our province from Haiti since the earthquake. The suspension is because of the province’s concerns with regard to Haiti’s current infrastructure following the earthquake and the process by which children are identified for inter-country adoptions. As a result, we are not currently accepting registrations for Haiti.
In Haiti, all adoptions are processed through their central government branch, the Institut du Bien Etre Social et de Research (IBESR), however, the orphanage where the child resides usually plays a central role in assisting with this process. Children available are between the ages of newborn and older. All children are of Haitian Creole background. Orphanages must be licenced to facilaite adoptions through IBESR. We have relationships with several orphanages which are licensed by the IBESR. Two such orphanages are:
We encourage families to contact orphanages directly, usually through their website, so that they can ensure personally that they are comfortable working with that orphanage, meet the orphanage’s criteria for placement, and that the orphanage has children in their care in the age range that the family is interested in adopting. The orphanage will become the prospective adoptive family’s primary support during travel and placement and for this reason, the family should begin establishing that relationship with the orphanage early into the adoption process. Haiti has specific requirements of adoptive families which will be important to know should our province open Haiti for adoption for BC residents again.
Ethiopia
To facilitate adoptions from Ethiopia, BC agencies need to work with agencies in Canada who are accredited by Ethiopia government officials. There are two such agencies which are currently in operation in Canada:
- Canadian Advocate for the Adoption of Children Inc. (CAFAC)
- Mission of Tears (Note: Prospective adoptive parents who were registered with Imagine Adoption are now served by MOT)
Download: Ethiopia Adoptions General Information Package (PDF)
Adoptive parents need to register both with a BC licensed adoption agency and one of these two Ethiopian entities to ensure that legislative requirements of both jurisdictions are met. Children available range in age from a few weeks old and up. All children are racially Black.
Ethiopia has specific requirement of adoptive families – if you are interested in this program, please read this document Ethiopia Adoptions for further details.
Bulgaria
Download: Adopting from Bulgaria General Information Package (PDF)
In Bulgaria, all adoptions are processed through the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). Not for profit organziations assist the Bulgarian Government with inter-country adoptions. The not for profit organziation that our agency works with is VESTA .
The children available for inter-country adoption are of Roma, Turkish and Armenian heritage and of both genders. The majority of children are between the ages of 3 and 6 years of age. If you are interested in this program, please read this document Bulgaria Adoptions.
Adopting from countries not listed
Our agency will consider researching adoption options from additional countires upon request. A registration fee would be collected at the time of the request which would then be applied to the applicants’ overall fees paid to our agency to puruse an adoption plan. Our agency is not able to pursue adoptions in countries where our provincial authority has issued a suspension. Our provincial authority will also issue alerts to be aware of should concerning information come to their attention on the adoption practices in a certain country. For more information on country suspensions and alerts, click here.
Download: Canadian Immigration and Citizenship Notes June 2008 (PDF)
In all Inter-Country adoptions, because the adopted child is coming to Canada from another country, Canadian Immigration and Citizenship (CIC) plays a vital role in Inter-country adoption. Please check out the CIC website for additional information and click here.
