Today we are going to take a look at the 11 easiest countries to adopt a baby. Click to skip our introduction and methodology and jump to the top 5 easiest countries to adopt a baby.
When maternity calls your name, and you can’t have a baby of your own, you may consider adopting a baby. By the time couples start to think about adoption, they have already tried everything. No wonder, as everybody wants to adopt a baby, therefore the wait-list is pretty long. While surfing on the net, and searching relevant sources for this article, I began to look at kids waiting for adoption. I kept looking at their faces, and I imagined their background story. I saw them running in the garden, falling off on the pavement, laughing at a joke and mourning their relatives. I saw them as babies abandoned in a hospital or taken from their families due to drugs and alcohol-related problems. I saw them crying and I saw them smiling. I saw every each of day in their short lives, and I heard all their painful cries. It was also me, who wiped their tears, and hugged them. If only there weren’t children in orphanages any more! It was hard to stop watching these children and after closing that window on my laptop, I was sitting with far-off look. But now, we are here to present you with several ideas where you can adopt from easily, so let’s turn back to the easiest countries to adopt from.
CREATISTA/Shutterstock.com
So, maternity has called your name – and you decided to adopt a baby from another country. Great! You have made the first step. Adoption doesn’t only mean to adopt a baby, but you adopt the baby’s country as well. Therefore it’s essential to decide on your prospective baby’s birth country. You do not adopt your baby, but at the same time you adopt a completely foreigner culture and heritage, which will be present every each of your day, for a lifetime. No one should underestimate this fact. Naturally, every child differs, but some kind of affinity for their birth country will surely be present in your lives. Lots of couples start to find babies to adopt without any special criteria regarding to the birth country. Only few of the prospective parents have strong reasons why they pick up a certain country, so it’s not easy to narrow down the possibilities.
And now, let’s check out some important criteria. After you have made sure of what countries you can adopt from, you must consider several factors which will influence the rest of your life and the commitment to that country and you baby. So what factors should you regard? Naturally, country requirements are the very first ones. You have to fulfill the country’s requirements where you want to adopt from. There is no point in daydreaming about adopting a baby from China if you are a single mom of three and the youngest one is under the age of 6. Or you may fall in love with Argentina, but if you don’t live there for at least five years before applying for adoption, you won’t be successful. You can gain relevant information about the requirements of countries on the site of US. Department of State. The next criterion to be checked out is the question of nationality. As we have mentioned above, you will have a lifelong connection with the country. If you adopt from a foreign country, you will have to bring them “with a positive understanding their heritage”. The more you know about the country, the nation, the cultural heritage, the more you like its people, the more successful will be in parenting. You will have to spend lots of time in that certain country, and you will probably visit this country with your child in the future.
Additionally, when your child asks you to speak about his or her heritage, language, traditions and customs, you will need to answer these questions. Do not forget, you will bring up your child in two worlds at the same time, your home and the other one is his or her birth country and its special world. You will need to conciliate the two worlds, which is sometimes not any easy thing. And it’s inverse is also true: if, for any reason you have revulsion towards that country, you had better choose another one, or at least think twice before traveling there for adoption. Again, this country will escort you for rest of your life.
Another essential issue is racism, the color of baby’s skin. Having a baby who is evidently not yours, means people will always be curious and sometimes inquisitive. Consequently, you must know not only yourself, the birth country of your future baby- but people in your neighborhood and home town, too. It’s not only your interest but also that of your kid. What if people keep asking you about adoption? How will you react? How are people willing to accept your child? Your neighbors, children and parents from the kindergarten, school? There are many communities all over the world, where people are not accepting towards those who are different. Have you taken everything into consideration related to racism? And at last but not least, you need to check out the financial part of the procedure. To complete a newborn domestic adoption means an amount of $20,000 and $40,000. An international adoption can cost around $35,000 and you must fulfill other requirements, such as having a certain annual income, and defined property, just to name a few.
But one thing is sure, if you have adopted your baby, you will be the happiest parent in the world! It’s not enough to adopt, but you need to check out if your city is among the 25 safest cities in the US. If you may be planning to move after taking home your child, we highly recommend you to read the 50 most beautiful US cities, once you see these emerald-necklaced cities you will daydream about living in one of them. And if you tend to build a house, the largest construction materials companies offer wide range of excellent materials, such as Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX), JELD-WEN Holding, Inc. (NYSE:JELD) and Emcor Group, Inc. (NYSE:EME).
To compile the list list of the easiest countries to adopt a baby, we have consulted Adoption.com, where we could collect the necessary data for this article. We applied a double-filter to rank the countries. At first, we watched if the country is the member of the Hague Convention country. Hague Convention applies to every each of adoption by American citizens who adopt child from abroad. The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption was concluded in the Netherlands 28 years ago, in 1993. It’s an international agreement which includes and declares standards of intercountry adoptions. According to the latest edition on April 6, 2020 – there are 101 countries that signed the agreement, comprising the United States, of course. It means, you will get higher protections if you adopt from a Hague Convention country, that’s why this was our main point to rank the countries. Also, the minimum age of the adoptive child is important, as we are speaking about adopting babies. Consequently, we ranked higher those countries where there are no age restrictions, so you can adopt even a newborn. But keep in mind, adoption is extremely subjective, and this article provides simply the first step to consider a country to adopt a baby.
And now without a further ado, let’s see what are the easiest countries to adopt a baby, starting with number 11:
11. Ukraine
Hague Adoption Convention Country? No
Are Intercountry Adoptions between this country and the United States possible? Yes
Age of Adoptive Child: above 5 years old
10. The Bahamas
Hague Adoption Convention Country? No
Are Intercountry Adoptions between this country and the United States possible? Yes
Age of Adoptive Child: above the age of 6 weeks
Adopting a baby from this country, at least one of the future parent should be at minimum 25 years old, and over 21 years older than the adoptive child.
Pixabay/Public domain
9. South Korea
Hague Adoption Convention Country? No
Are Intercountry Adoptions between this country and the United States possible? Yes
Age of Adoptive Child: under the age of 16
Non-Korean parents should be between 25 and 44, married couples are preferred.
Pixabay/Public domain
8. Uganda
Hague Adoption Convention Country? No
Are Intercountry Adoptions between this country and the United States possible? Yes
Age of Adoptive Child: under the age of 18
Half way through our list of the easiest countries to adopt a baby, Uganda stands on the eighth spot. In 2011, 207 kids were adopted by parents from the United States, and now they live as happy families in America.
Samuel Borges Photography/Shutterstock.com
7. Taiwan
Hague Adoption Convention Country? No
Are Intercountry Adoptions between this country and the United States possible? Yes
Age of Adoptive Child: No age restrictions
Around 205 children were adopted by US families in 2011. Also, lots of babies are available for adoption, although there are more boys waiting for parents, than girls. All of them reside in orphanages.
Pixabay/Public Domain
6. Colombia
Hague Adoption Convention Country? Yes
Are Intercountry Adoptions between this country and the United States possible? Yes
Age of Adoptive Child: above 18 months
In 2011, parents from the United States adopted around 216 kids from Colombia, but if you meant to adopt from this country, you must be aware the US State Department has confirmed travel warnings, because of criminal activities and drugs-related terrorism. The children live in orphanages and foster care.
Please continue to see the top 5 easiest countries to adopt a baby.
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Disclosure: No positions. 11 easiest countries to adopt a baby is originally published on Insider Monkey.
