Picking a country of origin for your future child is not an easy task. And when you start looking at the adoption process, you quickly realize it has to be pretty close to step one! You need a country to pick your agency and get registered. In Alberta, the name of the country has to appear on the International Adoption Application, which is the first form you have to send out. So apart from getting married, there’s not much we could do without this crucial step.
Still, it has a lot of implications! It will determine your child’s race and cultural background, of course, but also your political instability exposure, the risk for certain health issues, the duration of the process, the age of the child, and many more aspects.
So here is how Pablo and I did it:
A- We found a list of countries at http://www.familyhelper.net/ad/chooser.html. The list is not completely up to date, but it was a good starting point for us
B- We wrote down all the countries and researched the requirements to adopt. A lot of agencies have a web site where the requirements are listed. For the countries we could not find info on, we sent out emails to the agencies.
C- We rated each country as follows:
1, if we met all the requirements (or could meet them in a few weeks by getting married)
2, if we could meet the requirements in a few years (e.g. minimum 2 years of marriage, age requirement, waiting lists overcrowded)
3, if there was a major show stopper (e.g. minimum 10 years of marriage, country currently closed to adoption, children significantly older than what we were hoping for)
D- We were lucky enough to have 4 countries that were ranked as 1. We did some more research on health, political and process issues and narrowed it down to 2 preferences: Sri Lanka and the USA.
E- We contacted agencies and met with them to gather as much information as we could. In the end, it really came down to a feeling... Both countries have pros and cons, and we felt like both programs were equally interesting. This made the decision more difficult, but it means we have a strong plan B!
According to our agency in Ontario (yes, we have two agencies... I’ll explain that later), Sri Lankans that are available for international adoption are 4 months old and up and babies less than a year old are not a rare occurrence. The waiting time is up to 2 years and involves one trip of 4 to 6 weeks.
We love to travel and a long stay in such a far away land is far from deterring us: we’re actually pretty excited about it!
Congratulations on your decision to adopt from Sri Lanka! If you want to connect with another adoptive family in the process from the U.S.A., send me your information privately in an email and I'll forward it to our friends. We are also an adoptive family with our daughter from India who is the joy of our lives. We love her very much. The journey is definitely worth the paperwork and all of the wait. My husband is also from Sri Lanka and my in-laws live there, so if you have any questions about the country, their people, and their many cultures, do let us know. I've been to Sri Lanka several times and we were there last summer with our daughter. Also, my husband has many relatives who have immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka that we can put you in touch with to help you integrate within the Canadian-Sri Lankan community. In addition, if you want to connect with other adoptive families with children from Sri Lanka, we have contacts with two families in Sri Lanka and one in our local area. The families in Sri Lanka are Sri Lankan but the family in our local area adopted the child from India and are not Sri Lankan. The mother of the Sri Lankan child was in a refugee camp in India and made an adoption plan for her child placing him in an orphanage later being adopted by a couple living in the U.S.A. I hope we can stay in contact as we would enjoy being a source of support for you as you go through your adoption journey to welcome a Sri Lankan child into your family as your son or daughter. Having been in your shoes at the end of 2005 and then going to India in June of 2008 and now three years later with a fully integrated family and a wonderful daughter we love very dearly, we know your journey and we also know that it is all worth it in the end. God bless you and all the best to you.
ReplyDeleteTawnya Kumarakulasingam
tmkpk at earthlink dot net
Hi Gen,
ReplyDeleteWe are looking at adoption locally and from Sri Lanka. Looks like we live close to you (Alberta). My friend is from Sri Lanka and has just put me in touch with a relative who is a lawyer that works at a reputable firm in Sri Lanka. Can you email me so we can chat a bit?
Thanks
deanjohnbull at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteSeriously "Cinnamon Baby"- Dude!! Better try to get a white Baby cause your blog name is already offensive! what are you calling your ecuadorian husband? I am from Sri Lanka and i get really pissed by your blog- i really hope my country wont give you guys a child..!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree, I am adopted from Sri Lanka and this lady just seems like she wants a baby for her own selfish reasons not to raise that particular individual she will adopt.
DeleteFacebook page - Sri Lankan Adoptees in Australia.