Adopting UKC step children after moving to US

[Hokie97 5]

I thought I asked this, but I can't find it so I guess I only meant to ask it...

We have moved up our plans to move to the US to next summer when the children get out of school. We had planned to go ahead and start adoption proceedings now, so that they hopefully we'd be ready to go to court in March 2010 when I've been here a year (that is the requirement for UK step child adoption). They said it could take months to a year for it to be final after March.

Now that we are moving sooner rather than later, I am not sure what to do. I contacted AdoptionUSCA when we thought it would be 4 years, and they were very helpful. I have since contacted them back and not gotten a response. I will try again.

If for some reason we could get it done while we are still here, will that affect anything, as their visas will be processing as step children, not adopted children. I don't know if this makes a difference.

If we wait and do it in the US, who do we contact? It seems like logistically it will be easier here, but I don't want to mess anything up with DCF. We were going to file in the next week. I also don't want to start, pay the fee, and then not be here for it to be finalized and waste their time and our money.

Any thoughts, experience or advice welcome!

[rebeccajo 14]

I think you better take care of getting the children's legal adoption done in their home country before you begin paperwork with the US government. Trying to change the children's status midstream would be nothing but confusing.

IMO you'd better find out if you would even be able to legally adopt them if they aren't in the UK. That'd be the first bit to find out.

What's the big rush to get back to the US anyway? It's not as if things are booming here you know.

[Hokie97 5]

It's not a rush, it's a matter of timing for us. We were originally going to be moving in 4 years. But then we realized we did the math wrong, and she would be out of high school. Which means she'd have a year in the US when she was not in college and not in high school. Looking at our other options, if we stayed two years, I'd have to leave early and go to the US as my LLR will expire before they get out of school for summer. If we stay two years we may as well stay three and get my UKC. But if we do that, we won't have time to move that same summer, as citizenship and DCF would not both have time. And then we are back up to 4 years.

As it turns out, starting next summer, we have a place to live for free as caretakers of a family estate 2 miles from my parents and within a half hour of all of our extended family. The move is never going to be "easy," there are always complications and such, but we're never going to get a better deal than FREE rent. And without it, we'd never be able to afford and manage such a move.

Obviously we'd like to get it done before we leave next summer, but from what they told us when we called before, it's not likely. Basically, my question boils down to who do we contact to see if it is possible to adopt while in the US?

[Hokie97 5]

I just got a reply back from Adoption-USCA. They say that we just contact a family law attorney when we arrive in the US to begin the proceedings. That is a relief. I thought it would be more difficult technically.