There are 3 distinct parts to the adoption process. (all require more paperwork than you can imagine :)
- Home study agency
- Kenya Program agency
- Dossier
The Hague Convention involves a set of internationally agreed-upon standards for countries involved in international adoption. The intention of these standards is to protect children, birth parents, adoptive parents, and to prevent child trafficking and other abuses in the adoption world.
The Hague was initially approved by 66 nations on May 29, 1993. Its formal title is “The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.” Any adoption involving two “Convention countries” must adhere to the Hague Convention standards. This means that any adoption service provider working in convention countries must be “accredited” under Hague standards.
Each country takes its own steps to sign and ratify the Convention. The United States signed the Convention on March 31, 1994. On October 6, 2000, President Clinton signed into law the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, which is the U.S. implementation of the Hague Convention.
On February 16, 2006, the State Department finalized the standards and regulations that adoption service providers must comply with to become accredited to provide adoption services in Convention cases. Additionally, the State Department established requirements for accrediting entities to use to accredit agencies or persons. The State Department has approved two entities to accredit U.S. agencies and individuals that facilitate adoptions from Hague countries: The Council on Accreditation and the Colorado Department of Human Services.
For anyone adopting from Kenya that means you MUST use a home study agency that is Hague accredited
Here is how you find one: Hague adoption service providers
What is a home study?
It's a detailed written report of your family compiled and prepared by a social worker. This can take three to six months to finish. The adoption home study requires the prospective adoptive family to gather different documents, answer several questions, and explore their reasons for adopting.
Every state and agency have different requirements so it varies a lot.
We had an intake orientation at our agency's office. It took about 3 hours for us, although they told us it would take about 2. We had an application we had mailed in advance of our appointment, we were mailed a packet of paperwork to bring with us and given more paperwork to be completed for our home study visit.
Then we had ONE in home visit which lasted several hours. You may hear many horror stories from people about how scared or nervous they were or how intrusive the experience was. I was nervous before our social worker arrived but she made us feel pretty at ease so it went pretty quickly.
Many people have more visits. Again that depends on your schedule, social worker and state and agency requirements.
Our visit included interviews with Paul and I, with our 2 boys - they were very brief, making sure our home met safety requirements - working smoke alarms, safe water areas, adequate space for more children, a safe environment, they are not looking so much at how clean your home is... it does not have to be perfect.
At the end of all your interviews and paperwork is gathered, completed and returned to your agency a report will be written up. You will get a draft copy. Read this VERY thoroughly and make any necessary corrections, this can happen several times. make sure it's ALL correct! When the home study is complete the end of it states if you are approved to adopt and the social workers recommendation for your family.
At the end of all your interviews and paperwork is gathered, completed and returned to your agency a report will be written up. You will get a draft copy. Read this VERY thoroughly and make any necessary corrections, this can happen several times. make sure it's ALL correct! When the home study is complete the end of it states if you are approved to adopt and the social workers recommendation for your family.
You can read very thorough information HERE
Before you decide on a home study agency .....
Make sure to do the research and interview them. There are a couple Yahoo groups that research agencies. I found them very useful. You can look in their archives, ask questions to people ... other adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents ..... about different adoption agencies that you are considering. This would be good to do for your home study AND for your adoption program agency. It's good to have the information .... good and bad!
Click on the links below to join the groups and do your research:
Your home study will likely take between 3-6 months from sending in the application, all your interviews and home visit, to the writing of the report and getting any paperwork required turned in to your home study agency.
The cost for a Hague accredited home study, they typically cost more than a non-hague or domestic home study, is between $1500 - $5000. Again that depends on the area you live in and what is included. Some agencies include post adoption visits and the cost is more. Some do not charge for them upfront and then you will have to pay for them at the time you need them after your adoption is complete and your child is home.
Your home study agency is an agency in close proximity to where you live and in the same state. We do not live in the same state as the 2 agencies that have Kenya programs currently, so we will have 2 agencies. It is possible if you live in Wisconsin or North Carolina to use the agency that has the Kenya program as your home study agency as well.
Currently (March 2012) , there are only 2 agencies in the United States that have a Kenya adoption program.
You MUST go through one of these agencies to adopt a child from Kenya in the United States.
Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper
Michigan
Carolina Adoption Services
It's a good idea to get the list of dossier documents required at
(this is the list of documents the Kenyan government requires for a potential adoptive parent, I think we had around 27 documents. Kenya adoption agency application, Kenya adoption agency medical form, birth certificates for everyone, marriage certificate, were among the many required documents) the time of your home study, if possible. Some of the same documents will be needed so it's nice to get everything you need at once instead of making a second trip ..... like 2 doctor's visits as we had to do since we didn't know.
