How To Adopt Thai Child In Thailand?

[stevehaigh]

my wife (thai) and me (us) want to adopt a 7 year old thai girl. the mother will agree to the adoption but it may be hard to get her to BKK; very sick.

does anyone know the process for adopting a kid inside thailand? we live here and do not plan to move. we've been married 1 year.

thx steve

[phibunmike]

I don't know the formalities.... however.....

We have "adopted" a 10 year old girl. The procedure was:

Her: "I want to live with you"

Us: "Ok"

Her parents: "Ok"

- and that is how it is.

I am not sure if there will be complications in the future, but, in our case, as she is a family member, if any do arise, I expect they can be overcome. (Phew - computer running out of commas).

I would be interested if you do find out further details - perhaps you could post them here, or, if the thread disappears onto page gazillion, PM me.

Cheers,

Mike

[astral]

When I enquired about formally adopting my step sons,

I was told I would have to do it in my own country...............

On an informal basis, Mike is right,

though I would suggest you get a lawyer to draw up a simple document to clarify the situation,

to prevent any later suggestions of kidnapping etc.

Your wife should be able to get the child transfered to her household papers.

[Boo]

It depends on how far you want the adoption to go. If you want the child to be recognised legally in your own country then you will (usually) need to complete the adoption process there first & be approved by your home country before approaching the thai side of it. My MIL "adopted" a girl as a baby as her family were poor & begging in Khon kaen & the MIL had been told she couldn't have more kids after her 2 sons. There was never any legal paperwork done & the girl was just handed over & then put on the house papers. This was 30 years ago so obviously things have changed but I would suggest approaching your own embassy first for see how complicated you want it to get. You may not think you will leave LOS now but what happens in 5 years for example if you needed to go back to your own country for an extended period & "your" child wasn't allowed to go with you??

Best of luck with it & let us know how you get on.

[ColPyat]

It depends on how far you want the adoption to go. If you want the child to be recognised legally in your own country then you will (usually) need to complete the adoption process there first & be approved by your home country before approaching the thai side of it.

I am not sure about that.

Our son is living with us since he is ten months old, he is two now. The Ampur said that now we cannot adopt without huge difficulties until he is five years old. Then, they said, they will make it easy for us because he is a blood relative of my wife, and because they have known us for a long time. It is already noted in the system that our son is living with us, we have an official paper that we are allowed to take him along to foreign countries, and that is already in the computer system of my embassy as well, when we successfully applied for a tourist visa there.

I was asking my embassy about recognition. The legal expert there said that when we have finalised the adoption in Thailand, we will have to go through a standard process in my country of birth, to get it recognised there as well, so that my son can get a passport from my place of birth.

I am keen though on experience and opinions here. Obviously i am a bit paranoid about the whole process that we will have to go through in a few years time. I would be very uncomfortable if we cannot make this official, who knows what happens one day, and there is now way that in case we can't live here anymore we could not take our son with us, that would be a nightmare.

[Boo]

Thats why I said (usually). There are obviously different circumstances but for a standard adoption for a Brit for example you will need to complete a home assesment from the UK first, once this is done and the adoption is legalised in both countries then your child can apply for a passport & travel as a Brit.

Edit: I just understood what you were posting, they said you have to complete the adoption of your son in Thailand first then in your home country as per the lagl expert at your home embassy. I was posting what consititues a legal adoption which we basically agree on but have differing info on which part to do first.

The UK couple I know living in LOS had to do all this from the UK first before they could even get on a list for kids to adopt in Thai. They stumbled as the husband had a prior criminal record & even though he was a upstanding citizen now, 20 years ago he was a bit of a tearaway & it was coming back to bite him.

I would suggest the OP contact the US embassy & get in writing their process. That way if you come across problems in future you have it all in print.

Edited February 17, 2007 by Boo

[ColPyat]

Thats why I said (usually). There are obviously different circumstances but for a standard adoption for a Brit for example you will need to complete a home assesment from the UK first, once this is done and the adoption is legalised in both countries then your child can apply for a passport & travel as a Brit.

Edit: I just understood what you were posting, they said you have to complete the adoption of your son in Thailand first then in your home country as per the lagl expert at your home embassy. I was posting what consititues a legal adoption which we basically agree on but have differing info on which part to do first.

The UK couple I know living in LOS had to do all this from the UK first before they could even get on a list for kids to adopt in Thai. They stumbled as the husband had a prior criminal record & even though he was a upstanding citizen now, 20 years ago he was a bit of a tearaway & it was coming back to bite him.

I would suggest the OP contact the US embassy & get in writing their process. That way if you come across problems in future you have it all in print.

I guess the difference there is that my wife is Thai, and the squirt her blood relative.

What i know of real foreign adoptions does go along the lines you described, very complicated. People have to go through the very tight selection process in their home countries, and only then have to go through the equally complicated Ministry of Social Affairs here in Bangkok.

[stevehaigh]

i found this interesting: http://www.sgalegal.com/guide/adoption.html

my wife will call the Child Adoption Center of the Department of Public Welfare next week, i found a phone number, i hope it works.

i'm interested mostly so we can take care of legal stuff like a passport for her without having to involve the "official" mother who is my wifes aunty. in reality my wife is the real mother but for some f'ed up thai reason they listed the aunty as the mother on the birth cirtificate!

i'll post any info i get from the authorities. i doubt the us embassy is interested unless i want to take her to the us which i don't.

[qwertz]

25 years ago I was involved with a TG who brought her little son down from the north shortly after she'd moved in with me. She took off without a goodbye shortly after with a German who took her with him to Europe. She left the kid with me and I found it pretty difficult to get anyone to take him off my hands. None of his relatives came to look for him and I finally left him in good hands at Papa Ray's orphanage near Pattaya. How times change.

Edited February 19, 2007 by qwertz

[leisurely]

I don't know how realistic this idea is, but couldn't you have a DNA test to show the child to be your wifes and then have the birth cert changed accordingly?

Good luck

Leisurely

[Diablo Bob]

My younger Brother and sister are adopted from Thailand. At the time, 1964, the procedure was as follows:

1) Adoption in Thailand (Needed for Thai passport & onward visa)

2) Visa to the USA, at the time a 1 year wait.

3) Upon arrival in USA, adoption in USA.

4) Naturalization proceedings for USA citizenship.

The whole process took around 3 years, of which most of the time was waiting for a visa or waiting for a court date or waiting for the naturalization proceedings. In actuality, the process was probably no more than 2 weeks of actual time off work for my father.

Something to verify though, check with your attorney to see if the child who is adopted continues with their rights as Thai citizens, such as land ownership and health benifits. It would be a shame to adopt legally and then have the process cripple them if they decide to stay/return to Thailand.

[teacup]

-First your wife has to get “the sole custody” paper from the court, then the child will be legally hers.

-Second, if you also want to legally adopt the child and giving her a US passport, then the process now needs to go through the “thai social and wefare dept” which is the only govt branch responsible for adoption of all thai children.

Note:

Before you can start the thai child adoption process, you (as a US citizen) “MUST” get the clearance to adopt from the INS(Immigration and Naturalization Service) first!, this should not take longer than a month or two. Then after that, there will be lots of adoption forms and paper works from both countries for you to fill out!

You can be sure the adoption process will take at least 18 months or longer.

Good luck

[thaihome]

I don't think there is any need for the adoption process to take place in the US.

INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION - THAILAND

And form the Child Citizenship Act Of 2000

Another section of this new law provides that children (biological and adopted) of U.S. citizens who are born and reside abroad (that is, they do not enter the U.S. as permanent residents) and who don’t become U.S. citizens at birth can apply to INS for a certificate of citizenship if the following conditions are met:

At least one parent of the child is a U.S. citizen, whether by birth or naturalization.

The U.S. citizen parent has been physically present in the U.S. for a total of at least five years, at least two of which are were after the age of 14. If the child's U.S. citizen parent cannot meet this requirement, it is enough if one of the child's U.S. citizen grandparents can meet it.

The child is under the age of eighteen.

The child resides abroad in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent and has been lawfully admitted into the United States as a nonimmigrant.

Children who acquire citizenship under this new provision do not acquire citizenship automatically; rather, they must/must apply to INS for a certificate of citizenship and go through the naturalization process.

I can verify that you must get a court order in the home district that gving “the sole custody” to wife. This in effect takes away parental rights of any biologcal parents.

TH