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A. FOREIGN BORN CHILDREN PLACED WITH NORTH CAROLINA FAMILIES
B. PROCEDURES FOR RE-ADOPTION OF CHILDREN ADOPTED IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
C. NATURALIZATION OF A FOREIGN-BORN CHILD ADOPTED BY NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENTS
1. When a Child is Adopted in the Country of Birth
All responsibilities for giving approval for these placements rest with the private or public agency that prepares the home assessment. The placements must be in conformity with the pre-adoptive requirements of North Carolina and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services regulations. Contacts are made directly to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Office by the agency working with the adoptive applicants. Unless a child has been identified by the adoptive applicants, county departments of social services are not required to provide services to persons seeking to adopt internationally (N.C.G.S.§48-3-302(e). Private agencies specialize in international placements and are oftentimes the best resources for these placements.
North Carolina residents often apply to United States based international adoption agencies located in other states across the country. These placements must adhere to the Interstate-Compact for the Placement of Children guidelines.
2. Legal Process
When the legal adoption process is completed in the foreign court before the child enters the United States, the adopting parents appear in person before the foreign court and become the child's legal parents at that point. Approval for the child to enter North Carolina is not needed. In other cases, the adoption proceeding, even though it may be filed in the foreign court, will not have been completed. Guardianship may have been granted or the adoption may have been completed by "proxy" when the time comes for the child to join his adoptive parents in North Carolina. In such instances, or when no adoption proceeding has been filed in the foreign country, approval must be obtained prior to the child's coming to North Carolina. Approval, just as in interstate approvals, is based on review by the Interstate ICPC Section of the ICPC 100A (DSS-1837) The child's background, medical information, legal and foreign clearance documents and their translations, and a completed and approved North Carolina adoptive home assessment must be reviewed before approval can be given. ICPC supervision continues until the adoption is finalized.
The international process is complex, time-consuming and expensive. It is often stressful and difficult to complete. Therefore, it is important that adoptive applicants become well-informed, maintain a strong commitment to the process and have the support and expertise of the agency to assure a successful foreign adoptive placement.
North Carolina residents are encouraged to also adopt through a North Carolina court upon return to this state. The law does not distinguish between a domestic adoption and an inter-country adoption, so the basic procedure for legalizing an adoption must be followed. A certified copy or the original document of the foreign adoption decree will serve in lieu of the otherwise required consents to the adoption. Once a Decree of Adoption is issued, the adoptive parents will receive a Certificate of Identification from the North Carolina Vital Records Office. The child's birth record will be recorded in North Carolina, though indicating the country of birth as it actually was. This will eliminate the necessity for the parents to attempt to obtain a new birth record for the child from the country of origin - often an impossible task. (See Adoption Checklists for Clerk, Appendix I)
Adoption does not confer citizenship on the child being adopted. Therefore, it is important to file an application for naturalization of a foreign-born child adopted by North Carolina residents as soon as feasible with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services authorities. The process for naturalization may take up to two years from the time the application is made.
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For questions or clarification on any of the policy contained in these manuals, please contact your local county office. |
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