Adopting a foreign born child can be an emotional rollercoaster and a heavy financial burden but once the dreamed of child finally makes it into the new parent’s arms all the hardships involved in the process with melt away and it will all be worth the wait.

Adopting a foreign born child can be an emotional rollercoaster and a heavy financial burden but once the dreamed of child finally makes it into the new parent's arms all the hardships involved in the process with melt away and it will all be worth the wait. The first step is to contact an adoption agency to arrange for the adoption of the foreign born child. The immigration process differs for children that are legally considered "orphans" and those children that are considered "non-orphans."

• Orphans
An "orphan" would be a foreign born child that has neither natural parent still living or that the child's biological parents have completely disappeared and legally, permanently abandoned the child. A child is still considered an orphan where only one parent is absent and the other has not remarried and is incapable of providing for the child base on the standard of care for a child in the specific country. Sometimes a child is placed in a foreign orphanage but the biological parents do not give up their parental rights which caused the child remain in an unadoptable legal status.

• Non-Orphans
A "non-orphan" is a foreign born child under age sixteen whose parents may be still living but who are willing to release all parental rights to the child to the adoptive parents. A non-orphaned child is much more difficult to adopt and to arrange for his or her U.S. immigration. Depending on the law of the child's birth country it may be that even if the non-orphan child was born to an unmarried mother that child's father would need to relinquish his parental rights before a legal adoption could take place. A family adopting a non-orphan child would not be able to obtain an adoption visa and may need to live with the child in the birth country for two years before being able to bring him/her back to the U.S. on a regular dependent visa.

• Adoptive Parent Requirements
The potentially adopting parents must also meet certain requirements. Usually one of the adopting parents must be a U.S. citizen, or at minimum, legally present in the United States. If the adopting parent is unmarried then that individual must be at least twenty five years old. There are no parental age restrictions imposed where the adopting parents are legally married. The adoption process begins with the U.S. citizen parent or parents submitting a petition for a visa for the child at a U.S. Immigration service center. The forms to be used to obtain a visa for the child is either INS Form I-600 or I-600A depending on whether the child has already been identified or not. It is best to wait until the child has been identified if at all possible and to use the INS Form I-600A.

Please feel free to set up a free initial consultation with Attorney Hendrik Pretorius today to consider your options.