The reasons for the decline are related to more adoptions by Chinese parents and fewer children being given up for adoption. Things are better for Chinese families and children, and although that is good news for China that translate into a dearth of children available for intercountry adoption.

But people are not giving up in their hopes of adopting a child from China. It is still one of the most popular countries for those from the U.S. to adopt. Or, at least, attempt to adopt. Here is what has changed and what you should expect.

• The Chinese government has raised the standards for those foreigners wanting to adopt.
• The process, which in the past could take up to three years, may take even longer.
• There is more paperwork than there used to be, which has complicated the system.

The good news is that the Chinese government has shown that it is concerned about the welfare of its adoptive children and the changes in adoption policies are not necessarily bad for U.S. parents. For those wanting to adopt, these changes mean that if you are, indeed, a parent who can provide a supportive and safe atmosphere for a child, you have a decent chance of adopting.

But it will take patience and it is very helpful to work with an immigration lawyer who focuses in the area of inter country adoption.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, San Jose Bay Area and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding intercountry adoption or immigration law. To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

The fact is that it has become much more difficult for U.S. families to adopt internationally. I have written about this subject in this blog fairly recently, but it is worth reexamining.

Countries such as China and Russia have seen the number of children available for international adoption drop. One reason for this has to do with greater stability in those countries and the ability of families within those nations to provide homes to orphans. In China, which had been one of the largest sources for those wanting to adopt, changes in social and economic policies have also dried up the pool of healthy children. Other countries, such as Guatemala, stopped allowing adoption due to various scandals.

What does this mean for those who want to adopt a child from another country? Along with making it harder to adopt and making the wait longer, the number of healthy children has diminished. That means that many U.S. families are adopting children with various types of health and developmental issues.

It also means that children who are most preferred by adoptive parents, those who range from the infant stage to pre-school age, are at a premium. It can take a very long time to adopt a child of this age. The result is that either families are unable to adopt or they must adopt older children.

Certainly, those wanting to adopt can be helped by an immigration attorney who deals with these issues, the paperwork and bureaucracy on a daily basis. In my San Francisco office, my work with clients is ongoing. It can be frustrating for those of us who want to see a quick successful result but it is also greatly rewarding.

Whatever your case may be, if you are going to be attempting to adopt a child from another country, you should work with someone who knows how to navigate the ever-changing landscape of international adoption.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, San Jose Bay Area and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding intercountry adoption or immigration law. To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

The first five strategies that I discussed focused on home and family life. These next five are concerned with adjustments to the outside world.

Finding a Friend

Connecting with a child who is going through or has gone through a similar experience can be very helpful. Your new family member will have someone in their life with whom they can readily identify and who will understand what they are going through.  Try to help them connect with that person.

School

If the child is middle of high school age, then they should be enrolled fairly quickly. Do not have them put into classes that offer English as a second language. They will adjust much more quickly if they are mainstreamed. With elementary age children, you may need to take some time before enrolling them. But you do want them going to school as soon as they can.

Set Limits

All kids need limits and a child coming from an institutional setting to a new country certainly requires a strong framework in which they can function. Don’t buy them everything they want or let them do anything they want. Treat them with respect and set reasonable limits that will allow them to develop confidence and be a part of the family. With older kids, set limits as to how long they can be out and where they can go. Get to know their friends. Remember, you are the parent.

Television Vs. Extracurricular Activities

As far as television goes, you have to make sure that the child is watching programming that is appropriate. Violent, over stimulating programs or shows that teach or show irresponsible or inappropriate behavior should be avoided. Television sends cultural messages that influence all children and that can be especially influential to kids who are experiencing our culture for the first time.

Involve the new member of your family in a sport, art or craft. Maybe they’d love to play soccer, basketball or hockey? Perhaps they’d like to learn to play the guitar, paint or dance? Or maybe they’d enjoy a craft? By the way—video games don’t count.

Rewards

Set rewards for progress in school, good behavior and being involved in chores. Punish bad behavior but don’t go overboard. You’re trying to help the new member of your family adapt to family life, learn limits, build self-confidence and learn responsibility.

Common Sense

The families I’ve worked with as an immigration lawyer all acknowledge that using common sense in this process is essential. I understand that the initially parents involved in intercountry adoption are focused on making sure that the child can immigrate to America and have a good family life. Then there is the essential time of adjustment, which will determine future success.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara Bay area, and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding intercountry adoption.  We represent clients throughout the fifty states.  To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

Often such children have limited or no family experience and they are used to their own culture and to a life that involves schedules and experiences that are disconnected from what one would consider normal family life. Here are five strategies that you can use to help your new family member adjust.

Daily Routine is Important

Creating a daily routine will give the child confidence and help them adjust. If they are constantly regulating their daily schedule to a different time for dinner, bed, bath or other such activities or situations, then they’ll be confused. Along with a routine, you need to make the child feel at home and make them a part of the family. They should not be the center of attention.

Make them Part of Your Extended Family

Slowly but gradually make sure that they get to know various members of your extended family such as uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, etc. This will help ground them and give them reference points in terms of their new family and setting. Don’t do this all at once. You may have good intentions, but it’s very easy for a child to be overwhelmed. It’s essential that the new family member is welcomed by and interacts with all close family members.

Use the Home as an Anchor

Make the home the central part of their existence. At first, you should avoid big trips such a going to Disney World, travelling to the Grand Canyon or going on some other such adventure. These types of trips and activities will come in time.

At least one parent should be at home with a young child at all times. Do not enroll the child in daycare or hire a nanny. Older children should be mainstreamed into your local school system but when at home one parent should be with them. For how long should you do this? The minimum would be at least the first two to three months. But it is partly dependent upon the child and the situation from which they have come.

Language Transition

Speak to the child in their language as much as possible while also engaging them in English. Don’t insist that they learn English immediately. That will happen in time and often it happens fairly quickly.

Food Transition

Try to include foods that the child is used to eating. Slowly add new foods to their diet. Don’t ban junk and fast food but set limits. Children coming from institutional settings tend to want foods that they have not had access to, including sweets, foods high in fat and sugar drinks. Be responsible in allowing these items.

Stability is Key

Each of these five areas focuses on providing the newest member of your family with a home that can serve as an anchor, offering consistency and stability.  As an immigration lawyer, I know the first part of adopting a child from another country is ensuring that they can come to America and be part of a loving family. The second part is that all-important period of adjustment for all.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara Bay area, and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding intercountry adoption.  We represent clients throughout the fifty states.  To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

Here are some links that adoptive parents can utilize to help them with various issues health issues they may encounter after the adoption process is complete. It’s essential that adoptive parents understand that once they have their new family member safe and secure and the adoption complete that their work has just begun.

The American Academy of Pediatrics:

This organization has a roster of pediatricians who have a special concentration in medicine connected with adoption and foster care. You can find them at: www.aap.org/sections/adoption/SOAFCAdoptionDirectory2.pdf

ComeUnity.com:

You’ll find a special link to international adoption medicine at this site, including a list of clinics. To find then, navigate to: http://www.comeunity.com/adoption/health/index.html

Centers to Disease Control and Prevention:

If you have to travel to a foreign country to adopt, you may need certain vaccines. Check this information early in the process. Here’s a link to the Traveler’s Health section: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/

This organization also offers Information concerning medical exams and tests for children adopted from other countries. Follow this link to find out more: wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/yellowBookCh8-Adoptions.aspx

Using these Links

These links will give you an excellent starting point as far as intercountry adoption is concerned. My clients in the San Francisco area have found them to be very helpful. A good immigration lawyer who works with intercountry adoption can help you with legal issues and with other concerns.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara Bay area, and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding intercountry adoption.  We represent clients throughout the fifty states.  To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

For prospective parents who want to adopt now, a good lawyer who understands immigration and intercountry adoption is an important asset. Here’s what has recently developed over the past few years.

Stricter Requirements

Parents are screened on their income and marital status in all three countries and also on their body mass index in China. The fact is that you may meet the criteria in the U.S., but you may not in other countries. It has become very competitive.

More Expensive

Choice countries have raised the price of adoption from $10,000 a decade ago to over $40,000. The economic climate in the U.S. has stopped some from pursuing adoption. Still, I do find that this price is only for some of the choice countries and the price range is between $10,000 – $25,000 for many other countries.

Decrease in Available Children

The baby boom that occurred over the last 20 years is over. Plus, countries such as Russia and China have stabilized and their adoption pool has shrunk. In the past, 5,000 children per year were adopted from Russia. That number is now at 1,500. China allowed 8,000 in the past. Now just 3,000 children are adopted from that country.

Numbers are Down

Overall, the number of intercountry adoptions in the U.S. has shrunk by about half with less than 13,000 having taken place over a one-year period. This has affected those in the San Francisco area and it’s made immigration lawyers who engage in intercountry adoption in demand.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara Bay area, and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding intercountry adoption.  We represent clients throughout the fifty states.  To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

Children Who Have Spent Time in Institutions

If you’re adopting a child who has spent any length of time in an orphanage or similar institution, then you’re bound to find that there will be a time of adjustment depending upon their experience.

The first adjustment that a child must make is to living with a family. Your home setting may be the first time that your child has ever been in that type of situation. It can be overwhelming. Changes to their schedule, including eating, sleeping and school and adjustments to new foods and various different activities are all stressful and can be disconcerting.

Adjustments can be easier if the child is able to keep some favorite, familiar items that may include clothing, a blanket and pillow, a special memento or other such articles in which they may find comfort.

Children Adjusting to a New Family

Depending upon the age of the child at adoption and if they had any family experiences with their birth parents or foster parents, there will be a period in which they are adjusting to your family. If you already have birth or other adopted children in your home, the new child will literally be the new kid on the block in new country.

Transcultural and Transracial Issues

Additional issues are involved when a child is from a very different culture or is of a different ethnicity or race. There are certainly adoptive support groups and joining one that focuses on families with transcultural or transracial challenges can be especially insightful and helpful. As an immigration lawyer, one of the issues I raise with clients of which they must be aware is that the adoptive child can also have a huge impact on children already in the house and on extended members of the family.

Complicated Issues

These are certainly complicated issues that can influence a family in its daily existence, offering challenges to all involved. Adults must be especially attentive to any issues that may arise. In my immigration law practice, I’ve found that those adults who directly address such issues and who are willing to work at solving such problems ultimately create a home that is a supportive haven for all.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara Bay area, and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding intercountry adoption.  We represent clients throughout the fifty states.  To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

There are two ways for parents to secure proof of citizenship. They may apply for and obtain a Certificate of Citizenship from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or they may secure a U.S. passport for the child.

I’ll discuss each process in this blog but if you have any questions or concerns regarding proof of citizenship, I suggest, that you work with an immigration lawyer who is familiar with these processes.

Certificate of Citizenship

There are two ways in which you may secure a Certificate of Citizenship and the manner in which you do so depends upon which type of visa was issued to your child.

IR-3 Visa: These are issued to children entering the U.S. whose new parents have made a full and final adoption within the child’s country of origin. There are exceptions for those parents who work in the U.S. Department of State or who are in the military.

IR-4 Visa: Children coming into the country with an IR-4 visa cannot receive a Certificate of Citizenship until the adoption process has been finalized in a U.S. court. On the day that the adoption is finalized your child becomes a citizen of the United States, provided they are under 18 years old. To apply for a Certificate of Citizenship submit an Application for Certificate of Citizenship (Form N-600) with the appropriate fee. The application may be submitted to your USCIS suboffice or district office. If your child enters the U.S. under an IR-4 visa and prior to entering was officially adopted and the State in which you reside recognizes the adoption, then you do not have to go through a finalization process in the U.S. and you may simply apply for a Certificate of Citizenship.

Obtaining a Passport

It’s not required that you possess a Certificate of Citizenship prior to securing a passport. However, the child’s adoption must be recognized under Federal law as being full and final. Once a foreign adoption is finalized then that means that the adopted child and his/her adoptive parents possess identical rights and obligations as they would have under an adoption decree issued through a State court. Passports are obtained via the State Department.

Proof of Citizenship Important

Possessing proof of citizenship for your adopted child is important when it comes to all legal matters that may involve your child. Having worked with many families as an immigration lawyer, I know that it’s important to be attentive to this process and ensure that it’s completed.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara Bay Area, and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding the process of proof of citizenship or intercountry adoption. To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

Adoption within your home country can be a long road and going outside of the country can be even trickier, although well worth it. When discussing and considering intercountry adoption, there are various areas of concern. Here are five key categories that you should investigate.

Parental Requirements

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), those wishing to adopt must be citizens of the U.S. If it is a married couple, then there are no age restrictions, but if an unmarried citizen wishes to adopt a child, he/she must be at minimum 25 years old. In terms of the actual adoption, potential parents will be interviewed and undergo a home study to ensure that they can provide a proper home and support for an adopted child. An immigration lawyer who works with intercountry adoptions can explain this process to you.

Child’s Age and Circumstances

In order for a child to be brought to the U.S. for adoption, he/she must be under 16 years old when the papers are filed. Most children that are adopted from foreign countries are four years old or younger (84%). The breakdown splits evenly between children under 12 months (42%) and children between the ages of one and four (42%).

Along with the ago of the child, as an immigration lawyer, I’ve found that parents need to consider that they may be bringing children into their family who have experienced a range of hardships, including abandonment, death of one or both parents, poverty and illness. Children may also have been exposed to neglect, alcohol and drug abuse and child abuse. There may be emotional, psychological and physical challenges involved.

Additionally, often there will be cultural differences and issues that will need to be addressed. Older children have been exposed to more and had more experiences than younger ones. For any child but especially for older ones, there can certainly be problems in adjusting to a new home as well as a new land and culture.

Timetable and Timeframe

No adoption is immediate and in my law practice with intercountry adoption and immigration I’ve found that some adoptions happen quickly, within a year, and others can take as long as four years. Thus, adoptive parents need to not only plan ahead but project what it will be like for them and a child if the process takes longer than usual.

Think Seriously and Ask Questions

Review each of the categories discussed in this article, being sure that you are as realistic as possible when considering the possibilities.

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara Bay Area and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding the process of intercountry adoption or immigration. To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.

Here’s a summary of those steps that adults involved in intercountry adoption may need to take. As is always the case, it’s best to work with a lawyer experienced in the area of international adoption.

Reports and Pictures after Placement

Depending on the country, you may be required to submit reports concerning and photographs of the child after they have immigrated. Annual reports and pictures may need to be filed for five years or longer. Adoptive parents have a responsibility in not only honoring this agreement but in doing so in a timely manner they help create goodwill between the U.S. and the child’s country of origin. This may help other parents hoping to adopt a child from that same country.

Adopting Your Child Again in the U.S.

Your child may need to be readopted in the U.S. Doing so will protect your child’s rights within the U.S. and will also allow you to obtain a birth certificate from the state in which you reside.

Secure and Confirm a Social Security Number

Prior to securing proof of your child’s U.S. citizenship, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will provide your child with a social security number. But in order to complete the process, you must provide the SSA with proof that the adoption process has been completed.

Secure Proof of Citizenship

This may be done by obtaining a U.S. passport for your child or by getting a Certificate of Citizenship from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. This process will be discussed in another blog.

Working with an Immigration Lawyer

Please contact the Ranchod Law Group with offices in San Francisco, Santa Clara Bay Area, and Sacramento California, if you have any questions regarding the process of intercountry adoption or immigration. To schedule a consultation contact us at 415-986-6186 or at info@ranchodlaw.com.