Question about Immigration through adoption

[carL♥tRin 1]

Hi, I am not sure if this is the right forum for questions about adoption. Anyway, I have a friend(US Citizen)who wants to adopt the child of her brother. The brother passed away when the child was only 3 mos. old due to Pulmonary Embolism (Massive Heart Attack). Since then, She has been supporting the child already. He is now 12 years old, And wants to take him with her in the US in 3-4 years time. Do u think she should do the adoption process now while She's in the Philippines(studying). Any ideas & help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

[apple21 953]

Where is the child's mother?

[carL♥tRin 1]

1363047725[/url]' post='6039129']

Where is the child's mother?

The Mother cannot support the child "financially".

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

The child cannot be adopted for immigration purposes. If the mother cannot support the child financially, then your friend has the option of sending money, or maybe paying for boarding school. Once the child is a bit older, an F1 student visa may be an option so he can stay in the USA a few years, but as there is a living mother that is it.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Adoption and immigration are two different things.

Even if she can adopt the child in her home country, one of the main requirements would be that the child is an orphan (both parents dead) or that both parents are otherwise totally out of the picture (life in prison, insane asylum, etc.). Another major requirement is that the adoption's purpose cannot be to provide the adopted child with immigration benefits to the United States. So your friend will have to decide between adopting the child and continue to live in the Philippines or not adopting the child and moving to the United States.

Once she has adopted the child, she cannot move to the United States without risking criminal charges for child abandonment in the United States, which would be an express ticket back to the Philippines.

[carL♥tRin 1]

Thank you for the inputs. I really appreciate it.

[AlexG187 1]

Hello all

I'm hoping someone might be able to guide me in the right direction or provide me information on how to figure out my situation. I'm currently living in South America with my wife (currently awaiting her I-130 to be approved) and we're considering adopting before returning to the US. I've been here for 3 years so this isn't just a temporary stay, anyhow, since we're living here I'm interpreting the USCIS website as saying that I can use the governmental agency here to conduct the homestudy which then needs to be sent to USCIS with the appropriate form, but outside of the I-800, are there any other forms that need to be filed. To be honest, I'm lost between USCIS, DoS, and then state laws on readoption, etc. Any help is greatly appreciate.

[OKflyboy 35]

No idea how adoption works in the Philippines (maybe the mother can give up her parental rights and express a wish that her SIL adopts her child). But on the US side, if she adopts the child without going through homestudy and I-800 (I-600 non-Hague) process, she will have to wait 2 years before she is able to file I-130 for the child. The child has to reside with the adoptive parent all this time outside of the US.

[zeth77 0]

if she wants to adopt the child from the philippines. she should started now because one of the requirements is she's a u.s citizen she have to stay in the philippines i think 3-4 yrs if i'm not mistaken.