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Madison Adoption Associates earned
accreditation in Philippines in early 2009 to do adoptions of special needs
children. Although Philippines is a stable and well established international
adoption program, this currently is a pilot program for our agency.
The
Children
In Philippines, children ages 8 months to 15
years are available for adoption. The children reside in public or private
facilities throughout the country. The children generally receive excellent
medical care but need a family to give them the individual love and attention
they deserve.
Madison’s adoption program in the
Philippines focuses on children who have special medical needs and children who
are older. Madison works in cooperation with the Inter-Country Adoption Board
(ICAB) of the Philippines to identify children who are legally available for
adoption and to find appropriate families for these children. ICAB refers to
this program as “Special Home Finding” and relies on Madison to find the best
possible placement for each child. These children are:
Older children whose age range is from 5-15
years old
Children belonging to a sibling group of 3
or more
Children found positive of Hepatitis B or
HIV
Children with minor to moderate medical
conditions (cleft lip/palate, sight impaired, hearing impaired, mild
cerebral palsy, etc.) or developmental delays (language/speech, motor skills,
etc.)
Children adopted from Philippines will enter
the U.S. on an IR-4 visa. Adoptions are finalized in the United States, and the
adoption is completed in your local county court.
Adoption Requirements
It is a requirement of the Philippine
Inter-Country Adoption Law that the adoptive applicants should be at least
twenty-seven (27) years old and at least sixteen (16) years older than the child
to be adopted at the time of application. The mother should be no more than 45
years older than the child she adopts. The applicants must be legally married
for at least three (3) years and generally, no more than one divorce per spouse
is allowed. The family should also be actively practicing some type of religion
to which they will expose their child.
Single women are permitted to adopt from the
Special Home Finding Program.
Travel
Philippines supports the belief that an
adoptive family should be familiar with the child's heritage. Thus, both parents
should travel to the country. If only one parent is able to travel, there are
additional paperwork requirements that could complicate the adoption process.
Children available for adoption have
received an Endorsement of Child for Inter-Country Adoption from The Department
of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). This means the child has been legally
abandoned and it has been determined that it is in the child’s best interest to
make him/her available for international adoption. This status allows ICAB to
process a passport and US visa for the child before the adoptive parents
travel. The total time in-country should only be about 7 days. Madison will
work closely with ICAB to arrange all of your travel in Philippines.
Fees
The total cost of an adoption from
Philippines is approximately $23,000- $24,000. This is a complete price,
including USCIS fees, home study, documentation & courier fees, visa and Embassy
fees, agency fees, ICAB fees, and an estimate of hotel and airline fees for two
people. Please see our attached fee schedule and explanations. Madison provides
an agency grant of $1000 for the adoption of a child with special needs.
(Agency fee is thus reduced from $6500 to $5500)
Interested?
Contact us!
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