Hague Convention Adoption From India
Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law, Dallas

The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention) is an international treaty that provides important safeguards to protect the best interests of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents who are involved in inter-country adoptions. The Hague Adoption Convention entered into force in the United States on April 1, 2008. All visa petition cases filed on or after April 1, 2008, seeking to adopt a child habitually resident in any country outside of the United States that is a party to the Convention must follow the Hague process. Currently there are 78 countries recognized by the United States as Hague Adoption Convention countries. India is one of the countries which is party to the Hague Adoption Convention. Under U.S. law, prospective adoptive parents who filed theI-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition, or the I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, before April 1, 2008, may continue to process their adoptions under the current orphan regulations, provided that the laws of the country of the child's origin allows for continuation under the current orphan regulations.

A country that is a party to the Convention must have an officially designated Central Authority (CA) to ensure that the adoption process is safeguarded. The U.S. Central Authority is the Department of State (DOS). An adoption service provider (ASP) must be accredited or otherwise authorized to provide adoption services in connection with a Hague adoption in order for the provider to assist the prospective adoptive parent(s) with a Hague adoption. Be sure to ask any adoption service provider whether the adoption service provider is authorized to work on Hague adoption cases before hiring or paying any money to the provider. An adoption service provider cannot provide legal advice or legal services to the prospective adoptive parent(s) or represent the prospective adoptive parent(s) before USCIS.

The following are the steps in the process of adopting a child from a Hague Convention Country:
1. Choose a Hague Accredited ASP, and perhaps also an immigration attorney;
2. Obtain a home study from someone authorized to complete a Hague adoption home study;
3. Apply to USCIS before adopting a child or accepting a placement for a determination that one is suitable for inter-country adoption;
4. Once USCIS approves the application, work with the adoption service provider to obtain a proposed adoption placement;
5. File a “petition” with USCIS, before adopting the child, to have the child to be found eligible to immigrate to the United States based on the proposed adoption;
6. Adopt the child, or obtain custody of the child in order to adopt the child in the United States;
7. Obtain an immigrant visa for the child;
8. Bring the child to the United States for admission with the visa.

Form I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country and Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative. Prospective adoptive parents must submit Form I-800A to USCIS in order to establish their eligibility and suitability. If USCIS approves your Form I-800A, then you must submit Form I-800 to determine the child's eligibility as a Convention adoptee, before adopting or obtaining legal custody of the child.

If you have reason to believe that the child you wish to adopt may be inadmissible to the United States (on medical grounds, for example), you may file Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility, with Form I-800. Once you have obtained a favorable home study, file Form I-800A with USCIS. To be eligible to file Form I-800A, you must meet the following requirements:
Be a U.S. citizen, habitually reside in the United States, if you are married, your spouse must also sign your Form I-800A and must also intend to adopt any child whom you adopt. If you are not married, you must be at least 24 years of age when you file your Form I-800A, and you must be 25 years of age when you file your Form I-800.
After the USCIS has approved the Form I-800A, you may apply to the Central Authority of the other country for a specific adoption placement. Once the Central Authority has proposed placing a child with you for adoption, but before you actually adopt the child, you must file Form I-800 on behalf of the child to be adopted. For a child to be classified as a Hague Convention Adoptee, the child must meet the following criteria:
Under the age of 16 at the time of filing Form I-800, habitually reside in a Convention country, determined to be eligible for inter-country adoption by the Central Authority of that country and have obtained all necessary consents for adoption. If you are married, your spouse must also sign the Form I-800 and adopt the child. If you are not married, you must be at least 25 when you file the Form I-800. After the USCIS provisionally approve your Form I-800, you may apply for a visa for the child and may complete the adoption of the child (or obtain custody to bring the child to the United States for adoption), once the Department of State advises you to do so.

You need to retain an attorney who has extensive experience in immigration law to represent you before the U. S Immigration since it involves diligent legal work and expertise to process the petitions before they can be approved. It may involve lot of time and also expenses depending on the whole process. Once you have adopted a child, the said child has all legal rights same with that of your natural child and the adopted child does not have any relationship to the natural parents.

Disclaimer: Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law does not claim authorship for above referenced information. Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law or the publisher is not responsible or liable for anything stated above, since it is generalized information about the subject matters collected from various sources including Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, State Department, Federal Register, and American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA) Advocacy Center, and other legal sources. For individual cases and specific questions you are advised to consult an attorney of your choice or contact the agencies mentioned above. You can visit our website at: www.indiaimmigrationusa.com or www.indiaimmigrationusa@yahoogroups.com for more information about other related immigration matters.