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

7 October 2008 - Notice received from the Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board
2 October 2008 - Home Office letter
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'
2 June 2008 - Notification from the CCAA on Temporary Extension of the Validity Period of 'Notice of Coming to China for Adoption'
21 May 2008 - Changes to CCAA Charge for Service Fee
8 May 2008 - Notice received from the Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board
18 April 2008 - Notice received from the Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board
28 February 2008 - Adoptions from Thailand
12 February 2008 - Hague Convention entry into force with respect to the United States
04 June 2007 - Temporary Moratorium on adoption from the Philippines by single applicants
19 March 2007 - Changes to CCAA criteria for applications to adopt from China
14 March 2007 - Vietnam‘s requirements for prospective adopters
26 February 2007 - Adoptions from Thailand
25 September 2006 - Intercountry Adoption from Lithuania
25 September 2006 - Changes to the application process from the Philippines
8 September 2006 - New Adoption Agency Checklist

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.

Share this information?