AMERICANS ADOPTING FROM TAIWAN

The Home of God’s Love Local Tel: (03) 951-4652

P.O. Box 9 From US: (011)886-3-951-4652

Lo-Tung 265, Taiwan Local Fax: (03) 951-0191

R.O. C. From US: (011)886-3-951-0191

E-mail: ted@thehomeofgodslove.org E-mail: bev@thehomeofgodslove.org

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

When a child becomes available for adoption, whether through abandonment, desertion, death of parent (s), or from an unwed mother situation, we follow these procedures:

1. Make sure the child’s guardian(s) has relinquished rights to process an overseas adoption.

2. After praying about the matter, we notify a suitable family on our waiting list.

3. Instruct the adoptive family to prepare the following:

a. 4 original notarized ‘Power of Attorney’ in English. (We Fax or e-mail a sample of what’s needed. The family types it up, notarizes it and sends us a copy via Fax so we can translate the document.  Please type or print witness' name underneath his/her signature.)

b. A ‘Home Study’ valid for international adoptions - 3 notarized originals. (One copy needs to be sent via Fax so we can be working on the translation while the family completes the other needed paperwork.)

4. We prepare the following to send to the adoptive family:

a. 2 Chinese translated copies of their ‘Power of Attorney’

b. 2 copies of the Chinese adoption contract – No English required

c. 1 Passport application for the child’s Chinese Passport (red and black lettering)

d. 1 translated copy of the Home Study which we have received earlier via an internet attachment or a fax

e. Requirement to register your adoption

f. A list of all the Taiwan Economic & Cultural Offices (TECO) in the Unites States

http://www.teco-us.org

5. When the adoptive family receives the paperwork as described in #4, they must do the following:

a. Sign at the penciled X on the Chinese adoption contract (no English required) and on the Passport application and on the paper that is the requirement to register your adoption and have their signatures notarized by a local notary.

b. Staple the 2 Chinese translated copies of the ‘Power of Attorney’ individually to 2 English originals.

c. After all papers have been notarized, be sure the Secretary of State (SOS) verifies the authenticity of your notary (or notaries) before taking all papers to TECO.

d. Collate the following papers and send to the nearest TECO office (be sure to call ahead about fees so a check can be included to cover costs):

· 2 notarized Chinese translations stapled together with two English originals of the ‘Power of Attorney’ (the other notarized original in English that we need does not need to go to your Secretary of State nor to TECO).

· The 2 notarized Chinese original adoption contracts between adoptive parents and child’s legal guardian(s). (No English translation is necessary)

· The one Chinese Passport application - red and black lettering that has been signed by the adopting parents and notarized by your local notary (This form must also go to your SOS and to TECO for authentication).

· We now need copies of the adopting parent’s passports that have been signed by the adopting parents, notarized and authenticated by your SOS and TECO in order to apply for the child’s Taiwan passport.

· One (1) original notarized copy of the ‘Home Study’ attached to one (1) Chinese translation we send you. (We also need one (1) original notarized copy of the Home Study that does not need to go to your Secretary of State nor to TECO)

· The requirement to register your adoption.

e. While all the papers are at TECO being notarized, the adoptive family should prepare a simple pictorial of themselves, their home, baby’s room, grandparents, etc. to give to the judge during the adoption proceedings. (This is best scanned and sent via an e-mail attachment, but if you just have pictures, we can have them scanned in the proper form. Be sure all pictures are labeled properly.) When TECO has returned all the notarized papers, then assemble those papers, all the English copies not notarized by TECO, and the family pictorial and send them to us along with copies of the adoptive parent’s driver’s licenses, front and back. (Even if your family pictorial is not ready when you get all the papers back from TECO, please go ahead and send the papers first. We can’t start anything in the courts here before we get those papers back, but we won’t actually need the family pictorial until about 6-8 weeks later when we go to the court for the adoption proceedings.)

Please send via FEDEX to:

Ted Skiles

No.62, Section 2, Chwun-Jing Road

Luo-Dong Cheng, 265, Taiwan

Tel: (03) 954-1081

f. The adoptive family should simultaneously begin work on their I-600A. The I-600A should be filed with your closest USCIS office.  Do file an I-600A for Taiwan if you are planning to come to Taiwan and pick up your child. This is much faster than filing the I-600 from the U.S. and waiting for all the proper court papers to be sent to you. We can file the I-600 the day of your interview here. By coming to Taiwan, you can get an IR 3 visa for your child, which means he/she will become an automatic U.S. citizen upon your return to the U.S.

A WORD OF CAUTION: The adoptive parents should copy all legal papers and keep an original copy of your POA and home study as well, in case something is lost or the papers are needed for future reference.

6. After we have received all your notarized papers, we do the following:

a. Take a set of all the prepared papers and apply for the adoption court date at our local court.

b. When the court date arrives, we accompany the child’s guardian(s) to court for the adoption hearing.

c. Now we have to wait once again for up to 4 weeks before the court’s civil ruling arrives (First paper).

d. Once we have the first court civil decree, we can submit your paperwork to AIT for a proposed interview date.

e. While we are doing “d” above we are also waiting on the mandatory 10-14 day waiting period to see if anyone contests the adoption before the court will prepare to send out the final irrevocable decree. If this waiting period was waivered by the child’s legal guardian, sometimes we can get the final (or second) paper within a week.

f. Once we have both papers in hand, we can apply for the child’s passport and take him/her for his/her visa physical.

g. After the parents have arrived in Taiwan, then we can take the proper papers to the household registration office and register the adoption and names of the adoptive parents. (We have to wait on the parent’s arrival though, or else they won’t get an IR 3 visa. This is considered the final step to complete the adoption process and according to U.S. law, the parents must see their child before the adoption is completed in order to receive an IR 3 visa.)

A WORD OF CAUTION: The adoptive parents need to make sure their USCIS office sends their I-600A approval notice to the AIT office in Taipei, Taiwan. We have had cases where the USCIS has miss-sent this approval.

On the day of the interview, the adoptive parents need to submit their passports and a copy (or copies if filed separately) of last year’s filed income tax form(s) (your 1040 front and back of the first two pages through the parent’s signatures and your W-2 form(s), depending on what is applicable.

j. After the interview, when we have the immigration visa in hand, the child is then ready to depart to go home with his/her adoptive family. The adoptive family should usually plan to spend as least 5 days to a week here in Taiwan to finish up paperwork and to get adjusted to their child and the time change due to jet lag. This time to bond with their child has proven invaluable to the adoptive family as well.

7. Each child is sent off with our prayer that he or she will grow to love and follow our Lord Jesus Christ.

Last revised: 1/27/2012