Old posts... starting at the beginning

Below is all of the old posts written on our mac blog. Start at the bottom and read up if you want to read from the beginning.

17 July 09
(Opps... this was written a little while ago but never got uploaded, but the situation is still the same... waiting waiting.)

We are back home in Bohol after spending a week in Macau with Daniel's family and then Nya and I had a week in Kunming with friends while Daniel was working in Mindanao. We've been back for a week and a half now and life has settled down to normal again. A slightly different normal than before as we've been making some changes around here. First of all our helper who lived with us for over a year has now gone, meaning Nya and I are home alone together. We've also moved Nya out of her crib and into her own bed. And we've transferred the office downstairs (into the helpers old room) and are making the old office into a new baby room. All in preparation for our new arrival. We've been doing lots of other preparation too, reading, reading and more reading. We ordered two recommended books on adoption (Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections and The Connected Child) which we picked up in Macau and have been reading online all about adoption parenting, attachment and lots of other issues. Although many things we already knew about, there have been some eye-openers too. Specifically we realised we will be parenting our next child(ren) in some different ways than we did with Nya. The major differences will stem from a more intense focus on building attachment from day one, so baby-wearing (we're ordering an Ergo), co-sleeping and lap-feeding will all be involved. We'll also be bottle feeding for the first time as Nya would never take a bottle.
As for when we'll actually see our new baby(ies), we don't have any more info than before. Our social worker came to our house last week for a home assessment. She stayed for about 15 minutes and asked a few questions about the who owned the house etc. Then before leaving she said she will let us know when the next matching is. She expects there will be one this month but due to a change in some of the top officials she said things may be delayed. So for now we're preparing as much as we can and awaiting our SW's phone call.


1st June 09
The twins thing...

Why on earth would we want to adopt twins. Well a lot of people are already wondering why on earth we’d want to adopt in the first place. It’s definitely a counter-cultural thing where we live. As I’ve written before, Daniel and I have always wanted to adopt before we even knew each other. It was one of those things which we realised we totally agreed on when we were dating. One of our main reasons for wanting adopt was that we wanted to offer a family to kids who would otherwise not have one. If there were plenty of adoptive families and not many kids then we wouldn’t be thinking of adopting. For this reason we have always thought of adopting those kids who are harder to adopt. Thankfully there are local families who are willing to adopt a single, healthy infant. There are not so many willing to adopt children who are older, have special needs or are part of a sibling group. So we have always considered the possibility of adopting one of those ‘harder to adopt’ kids.

We have thought a lot about adopting a special needs child and I hope this may still be something in our future. In our current situation however we realised that we do not have the means to care for a seriously disabled child. Also having seen some of the amazing opportunities for special needs kids in HK, US and UK we would find it particularly difficult not to be able to offer those to our own child here. We do see the flip-side, perhaps just providing a loving family would be better than nothing, but at this stage we honestly can say we just don’t feel prepared enough to handle major special needs. We have put on our application that we are open to minor special needs. In any case we do understand that there is a chance any child we adopt (the same as in having a child naturally) may have hidden special needs that do not surface until later. Of course we are prepared to deal with those as and if they come up.

We were open to adopting an older child, however we were advised and see the wisdom in keeping Nya as the oldest child. This didn’t give us much leeway, as she will only be two at that time of matching. The Philippine regulations stipulate a year age gap between adopted children and any existing children in the family. So this means we can only be matched with a child 1 year or younger. (We’re excited that my brother and his wife are currently looking to foster teenagers in the Philippines, they can do what we can’t!)

So this brings us back to sibling groups. We have always been open to the idea of adopting siblings, particularly after spending much time with the kids at ICM’s children’s shelter in Dumaguete. There are three sibling groups (or 3 and 4 kids each) who are able to stay together as a family because of the ICM shelter. We love the way that they are able to maintain their family unit even though they are not living in a typical family arrangement. At first when we decided to only be matched with a child younger than Nya we thought that this ruled out adopting a sibling group. However we then came across a set of triplets (the same age as Nya) and then a set of quadruplets (only 6 months younger than Nya) both at Rainbow orphanage, a ministry we know of in Dumaguete. Although because of the small age difference we wouldn’t be able to adopt those children it did make us realise that we could still adopt a sibling group. Once we started thinking about it, it was an idea that just wouldn’t go away. (By the way, the quads are still in need of a home…)

We decided to put on our application form that we are open to adopting twins, if there are twins under 1 year old who are in need of a family. We realise that it may be unlikely that there are twins in our region, at the right age, at the right time. However we believe that God is control and he knows the kids he wants to be a part of our family. We’ll wait expectantly to see if that is just one for the moment, or two.


5th May 09
Exciting news
We handed in our adoption application yesterday morning. Our social worker looked through everything and then announced that there was a matching seminar this week. She told us that if we wanted she could do our home assessment that afternoon and put our papers in for matching. Which would mean we could have a child(ren) in our home within the next 2 weeks. We were a little taken aback at first and told her we already have plans for June (Nya and I will spend 3 wks in Macau, Daniel will spend a wk in Macau and then go t0 Rwanda with our HK church team) so we won't be ready for matching until July. Then after we left we began to think and talk about the possibility of changing our plans.

We spent yesterday afternoon trying to decide what to do. We thought a lot, talked a lot and prayed a lot. We were also able to skype with both sets of our parents. It seemed that either choice had pros and cons. Our main concern was if we wait until July when we come back we could be adopting the same child(ren) as we could adopt in May - meaning they would spend 2 extra months in an orphanage somewhere. We asked the social worker to come to do the home assessment that afternoon so that we were prepared in case we did decide to go ahead and be matched this week. We also asked two missionary couples who live here to come over after dinner to talk and pray with us.

Ok did you notice I've been saying child(ren)? We have been feeling for quite some time that we might want to adopt a sibling group of 2. Because of wanting to keep Nya the oldest and the need for a 1 year age gap, that would mean adopting twins. Our original plan was to put in our application and say that if there happened to be twins available at the right age (a small chance) then we would take them. (There's quite a long story why we want twins... but this is getting long already!)

It turned out the social worker was in court all afternoon and not able to come. One of the missionary couples have 3 year old twins, born in Bohol. So we were able to really talk with them about the practicalities etc. Their main concern for us was we needed to be prepared for how much work twins will be, especially with Nya still only 2. We began to see that we're probably not ready to have twins arrive in the next two weeks. We could probably be practically ready in terms of equipment and places to sleep etc. But perhaps not mentally or emotionally ready. To use a metaphor Daniel compared getting all the paperwork together as the 'trying to get pregnant' stage, now that we're thinking about the actual matching it's like we're in the 'actual pregnancy' stage. Two weeks is not really long enough to be 'pregnant'!!

So, we've decided to wait. We'll go ahead with our plans for Macau and Africa. I really want to use that time to have good one on one time with Nya and let her have one on one time with her Mayhugh grandparents and uncles, before any siblings arrive. It will also be our last time out of the Philippines for a while (it could be 2 years before we can travel as a family due to the adoption legalities and applying for passports etc). Then we are thinking about asking to be matched in July (we would return July 5th) or possibly August.

There you go. We are feeling very much at peace with our decision and know that we can trust God to give us the child(ren) he wants to be a part of our family at the right time.



29th April 09
Today is the day?

Well it’s been a while since Easter, when we thought we might have our application done. The last two weeks have been very busy for us both but particularly Daniel with ICM work. We had a visit from our CEO and other important guests so there were many meetings and much work to be done. I’m also in the process of planing the schedule for a missions team of 30 high school kids coming here next month from Daniel’s old high school. Amidst all of our busy-ness we’ve been trying to finish our adoption application. Last Friday we picked up the last paper (we thought) from the lawyer and went to the DSWD office. Our SW wasn’t there but the lady who was helped us to make sure we have everything. She also informed us we actually don’t need to hand in any original documents, just copies. We realised we were still missing one paper (a letter from our church in HK saying that they support us financially each month to show proof of income). So we went home with the hope that this week we’ll finally have everything ready. This morning we are planning to go back to the DSWD and hopefully (if our SW is there) hand in our application and move on to the next step of the process.
A side note: we continue to get some good baby practice with our neighbour’s youngest, Baby Brent. He usually comes to visit us during the day and he and Nya entertain each other. One morning this week I took out Nya’s old baby rocker and he fell asleep while being rocked. He’s almost 6 months old so every-time I see him I think of what our baby will be like when we first meet him.
Update since this morning: Well it seems like today is not going to be the day. We texted our SW to see if she will be in the office. She replied saying she is out of the office all week taking personal leave. This is the 5th week of leave she has taken in the last 2 months! Slightly frustrating... but nothing we can do about it.


14th April 09
How Much?

We have just returned from Dumaguete and haven’t had a chance to finish our application yet. But I just thought I’d mention some good news we heard before we left last week.

From when we first started looking into domestic adoption we began to ask approximately how much it would cost. Inter-country adoption is rumoured to be incredibly expensive in some cases and we were not in a financial position to consider it. We knew domestic adoption would be cheaper but were surprised by how low the figures were that people suggested. We began the process with the idea of spending between P30 - P50, 000 (US$630 - US$1050) for a lawyer. We were told that would be the main cost and then there are a few smaller costs which will build up. (For example we needed to pay P684 in community tax in order to get our Police Clearance.) But we had P50-P60,000 (US$1050 - US$1260) as a general idea of the entire cost.

When we first met with Attn Prince we tried to get an idea of how much his fee’s would be. At that time he didn’t even know if we would eligible for domestic adoption and so he gently evaded the question. When we officially took him on as our lawyer and asked him to begin writing up papers we tried again, unsuccessfully to get an idea of price. We knew that it wasn’t going to be overly priced, but we did begin to worry a little. He assured us that he would speak to Tita Eva about it. On our next meeting when we asked again he told us he had texted the price to Tita Eva and he seemed embarrassed to discuss it with us. When we caught up with Tita Eva she showed us the following costs.

Attorney Fee : P12,000 (US$250)
Each appearance in court for hearings: P1000 (US$21)
Court fee’s: P3000 (US$63)

Not quite the P50,000 we had expected! There is also an additional cost of between P8000 and P12,000 which is to place an ad in the local newspaper to announce the intended adoption. This is required by law (in case someone wants to protest) and it varies due to the different cost of local newspapers. From what we understand the lawyers essentially pick a name of a newspaper out of a hat and assign that paper for us to place our ad. Hopefully we’ll get the one that costs P8000!

All in all we are amazed and blessed by the prices. We’ve been praying for doors to open and our path to be smooth if this adoption is really God’s will for us right now. The way things have moved forward these last 2 weeks and the good price have been positive signs.


1st April 09
Chasing paper

We’ve been chasing pieces of paper around the city of Tagbilaran these last few days. Amazingly we now have almost everything we need for our application. Yesterday we went to the Barangay Hall to get a Barangay Clearance Certificate. We had to pay a little extra because we had not been included in the last census (whenever that was!), so we had to be added as latecomers. Then they certified that we are “bonifide residents” and “law abiding citizens and of good moral character”. Then we went off to the PNP to get our Police Clearance. Only to find out we needed to go back to the Barangay Hall to get a tax receipts. For the first time we were required to pay tax in the Philippines. As the lady said, now we are really Filipinos! Today we returned to the Police with our ID photos, Barangay Clearance and tax receipts. They took our finger prints and certified that we have no criminal record.

Next it was back to Attn Prince to see the letters he has written to send to the embassies. The UK letter is looking great and just needs my passport number and notarising before we can send to the embassy in Manila. The US one we are still unsure of the wording so we will need to check with the embassy. Our lawyer was also able to write up an affidavit of support basically saying that we are prepared and capable of supporting an adopted child.

Lastly today we tried to get our medical clearance. Our doctor friend suggested going to the Provincial Hospital down town and going to the outpatients dept. We waited a while and finally spoke to a lady who knew what we needed. Unfortunately we were in the wrong place. We then drove across town to the Dept of Health clinic. Our experience there was an interesting one. At first no one seemed to know what on earth we needed and when we mentioned it was for the purpose of adoption that only confused them more. We quickly became the entertainment for the whole room with everyone listening to us and then discussing us in Cebuano. It was quite funny. When the doctor came to see us she was a friend of Tita Eva and knew ICM, which made everything a lot more simple. She asked us a few general health questions and took our blood pressure, then certified us to be physically fit.

Tomorrow we will be returning to Attn Prince with ID cards from three staff members from ICM (Primo, Tita Eva and Minerva) who are prepared vouch for our ‘good moral character’. Attn Prince will then draw up affidavits for them to sign.

So it now almost looks possible that we could have our application ready by Friday. Apart from the fact we won’t be here as we’re going to Dumaguete for Easter. But in the Philippines everything stops for Holy Week anyway. So when we get back we will hopefully be able to hand in our application.


30th March 09
A good start to the week

It seems that things are starting to move along (finally!) We met again with Attn Prince this morning to discuss the letters he will be writing for us for the UK and US embassy’s. We also had a discussion about some of the outcomes of foreigners adopting a Filopino child, mainly the citizenship of the child. He assured us that the child will be able to remain a Filopino citizen (despite having our names written on his birth certificate - they rewrite it as part of the adoption) and he will be able to choose dual citizenship with either US or UK. We want to make sure that he can remain a Filipino citizen and then we will choose the second citizenship (we’re not sure yet if it will be British or American). Then if he chooses he can still change his citizenship (ie renounce one and choose another) before he is eighteen. Attn Prince has said he can write up the letters in the embassies by this Wednesday so we can get them sent off by courier and hopefully returned with the correct documents we will need for our application.

Our next stop was the DSWD to see the SW. This time we didn’t text, we just stopped by and were glad to see she was there. We had a short wait during which we chatted to another SW about why we were there. We were able to ask a few questions about the adoption process. I also learnt a valuable lesson about communication. Whereas I approach a conversation with a question and an aim of what I want to find out, Daniel is much more laid back and chatty. I could see from the face of the SW which approach works best. Daniel chatted about the why we’re here, the work we do with ICM, our family history, growing up in Asia etc. The SW was smiling and engaged and happy to find out that we want to adopt and open to answering questions. I’m now prepared to let Daniel do more of the talking as I listen and learn! We were then able to meet with Mrs Bustrillos, the Tagbilaran SW who will handle our adoption. She was happy to see us and answer our questions (about the medical certificate, who we can have as our references, how to get police clearance etc), and asked if we can have our application done by Friday. We were able to discuss timing and explained we will be in HK this June-July so we’re not looking to be matched with a child until August. This is the second time we’ve been given the feeling that there are kids available and waiting. However after talking with Attn Prince this morning we feel that we are on the right track with our timing. He told us that the Family Court Judge for Tagbilaran has just retired and so there is currently no judge for any cases like ours. Hopefully by the time we get to the legal process (6 months after we are matched with a child) there will be a new judge.

So our next steps are to complete our application. We collected one document we need from the DSWD office today, the certificate of attendance to the adoption forum (we attended in November). Next is medical certificates from a government doctor, Barangay clearance, police clearance and signed affidavits from three people saying we have ‘good moral character’. Then documents showing our financial standing and an affidavit from a lawyer saying we are able to support a child. We also need to get some recent photos of us with Nya. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be finished by Friday!


26th March 09
We have a lawyer

Yesterday we went with Tita Eva to meet a lawyer, Prince Joses Lim. At first we were both feeling a little negative... the first impressions were of a little office up a rickety wooden staircase in an alleyway downtown. But we were actually able to sit down and talk with him we both had a good feeling. Whereas the first lawyer we met was older and retired and just did a few adoption cases every now and then, this guy is young and eager to learn about new cases. He was honest that he had no experience of domestic adoption by a foreigner couple (but he had with half Filopino half foreigner couple) and was willing to let us talk and share with him what we had found out. We realise that it’s highly unlikely we’ll find any lawyer with experience is our exact case, but what we do want is someone who is willing to do the extra work and research to help us. This guy seems to be open to admit what he doesn’t know, but willing to learn. He asked us to give him time to do his own research and then meet up again to discuss how to move forward. The only thing we really need for a lawyer at the moment is the two papers from the UK and US embassy so hopefully he can help us with those to start.

In other news our social worker is still on personal leave. This is the 4th week that we’ve tried to meet her and been told she won’t be in the office all week. It’s a little frustrating (and I have the beginnings of an illogical fear that maybe she just doesn’t want us to adopt!) but we’ll just keep trying and trust that everything will happen in the right time.


19th March 09
Patience
I have a feeling this will be a post I will want to rewrite many times over the next year or so. Nothing happens fast where we live. We try to remember that if we get one thing done in a day then we're doing pretty good, especially when it comes to things concerning the government or legal stuff. We are trying to remind ourselves (over and over again) that this adoption will happen, and it will happen at the right time, whether or not we think it's the right time! Our plan was to have our application completed and handed in by the end of March. That gave us two months to find a lawyer and get all the documents. It's now halfway through March and we have yet to find a lawyer or any of the documents which we didn't already have. So really we've made zero progress. We were reminded in our staff devo's time last week that patience is not just waiting, it's waiting without worrying and without grumbling. I think this will be a key characteristic that we will be learning through this adoption process.

So what's been going? The lawyer our friend recommended was in Manila for a week and unable to meet. We found out she is currently the principle of a school (although still practicing law it seems) and so last week and this week she has been busy preparing for graduation (Philippines summer break starts at the end of March). While waiting to meet her we decided to go ahead and visit the Social Worker who will be handling our case. We thought we could at least begin to find out about the other documents we need, like the medical certificate and police clearance. The first week we text we found out she was taking personal leave. We were hoping to meet her this week but her daughter (long story – her fiancé worked with ICM for a short time and so we invited them to Daniel's birthday BBQ) let us know that she would be away all this week too. So this week we decided to ask around for other lawyers who we could meet. Two different friends gave us a number for a Christian lawyer they knew so we decided to call him. We're now on day 3 of trying to get through on his cellphone. Yesterday Tita Eva (who suggested the first lawyer) says she knows of another lawyer we can try to contact. When she called him she found out he was in Manila working on a case, but is happy to meet us when he returns. So now we have 3 options, hopefully one of them will work out. At this stage it is looking highly unlikely that we will complete our application this month. But we are not letting that worry us and we're trying not to grumble!


14th March 09
In the news this week

The article below was in the newspapers yesterday. How does this effect us? We will be speaking with our SW at the local DWSD this week about it. We assume this means we would be able to adopt a child as young as 3 months,we had been expecting the youngest would be 6 months. That is good news!

Arroyo signs measure fast-tracking adoption process
03/12/2009

MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Thursday signed into law a bill that seeks to hasten the adoption process of abandoned or neglected children, including infants.

Republic Act 9523, or the "Declaration of a Child Legally Available for Adoption," also aims to lessen the exposure to dangers in the streets, crimes, sexual trafficking and drug use of abandoned or neglected children.

The law seeks to remove legal handicaps in existing laws that prolong the neglect of these children. It facilitates early placement of abandoned children by giving the DSWD the authority to issue a certification declaring the child legally available for adoption as a prerequisite to all adoption proceedings. This task was previously handled by Family Courts.

Also, the law limits the period for the child to be declared legally available for adoption from almost three years in court proceedings to less than two months.

Those who witnessed the signing were Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral; Senate Majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri; Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations chairperson Ma. Anna Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal; and Reps. Matias Defensor (Quezon City), Amelita Villarosa (Minodoro), Rachel Arenas (Pangasinan), and Monica Louse Prieto-Teodoro (Tarlac).

The law is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 2391 that was principally authored by Senators Aquilino Pimentel, Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Loren Legarda; and House Bill No. 10 by Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson and co-authored by Reps. Defensor, Teodoro, Raul del Mar, Bienvenido Abante Jr., Fredenil Castro and Eufrocino Codilla Sr.

The new law amends three earlier adoption-related laws, namely: RA 8552, the Domestic Adoption Act of 1998; RA 8043, the Inter-Country Adoption Act of 1995; and Presidential Decree (PD) 603, the Child and Welfare Code.

"Every child has a right to a family. Let us not deny them that by removing legal handicaps," said Madrigal, who welcomed the signing into law of the bill.

Cabral, for her part, said that apart from fast-tracking the adoption of an abandoned child, the new law would help in de-clogging court dockets, lessening the lost time that a child may have in a “nurturing family environment”, and the lessening of the negative effect of a child's prolonged stay in an institution. - GMANews.TV


For an earlier article on this see: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/140060


25th February 09
Starting at the beginning

If you read the last post you will see the first step we need to take is preparing our application to be handed in to the DSWD. Most of the papers we already have (marriage certificate, birth certificates etc). We still need to collect the following:

~ Physical and medical evaluation by a duly licensed physician and when appropriate, psychological evaluation;

~ NBI/Police Clearance

~ Latest income tax return or any other documents showing financial capability, e.g. Certificate of Employment, Bank Certificate or Statement of Assets and Liabilities;

~Three (3) character references, namely from the local church/minister, the employer, and a non-relative member of the immediate community who have known the applicant(s) for at least three (3) years;

~ Certification that the applicant(s) have legal capacity to adopt in his/her country and that his/her country has a policy, or is a signatory of an international agreement, which allows a child adopted in the Philippines by its national to enter his/her country and permanently reside therein as his/her legitimate child which may be issued by his/her country’s diplomatic or consular office or central authority in intercountry adoption or any government agency which has jurisdiction over child and family matters; or in the absence of any of the foregoing, the Philippine Intercountry Adoption Board may also certify that the Philippines and the applicant country have an existing agreement or arrangement on intercountry adoption whereby a child who has been adopted in the Philippines or has a pre-adoption placement approved by the Board is allowed to enter and remain as permanent resident in the applicant’s country as his/her legitimate child.

We have decided to start with the most difficult, the last one. When we first read this we wondered how on earth any foreigners have been able to adopt here before. We know for a fact that both the US and UK embassies will not sign a paper saying a child can enter their country and reside there permanently before any proper channels of immigration are followed. So at first we were more than a little confused about this. How can we even start our application if we can’t get the papers needed. It took a week of correspondence with both embassies to work this out.

What we have been told is that we need a lawyer to prepare a statement saying that we have the legal capacity to adopt and then take it to the US embassy to be notarised. They tell us that this will be sufficient for the US side of things. (For US citizenship we will then need to wait for 2 years after the adoption has been finalised before we can apply.)

For the UK things are a little more complicated. We need to have a lawyer prepare a statement that I (Anna) am no longer habitually resident in the UK:

“I confirm that I have received legal advice and, with reference to all the circumstances of my particular case and in light of existing United Kingdom law, I can confirm that I am no longer habitually resident in the United Kingdom."

When we send this to the embassy they will give us a “letter of no objection” which we can hand in with our adoption application. The main thing is, a Philippines domestic adoption is not recognised by the UK. So in order to have our adopted child become a British citizen we will need to appeal to the Home Secretary after the adoption has been finalised. We have been told that in majority of cases they will give citizenship if there are none of the following issues:

(a) it is made before the child's 18th birthday
(b) at least one of the adopters is a British citizen by birth, and both of them consent to the child's being made a British citizen
(c) in the case of an older child (aged 16 or over), there is no reason to refuse citizenship on character grounds
(d) he is satisfied that all relevant adoption laws have been adhered to. This includes the laws of the country in which the adoption has taken place, the country of origin of the child and the country in which the adoptive parents are habitually resident.
He is satisfied that the adoption has not been arranged primarily to enable the child to circumvent UUK immigration controls

So, we are now in search of a good adoption lawyer who can help us to prepare these documents. We have decided not to go with the first lawyer we met during the adoption forum, not because anything was wrong with him, but we just didn’t get the feeling that he was prepared to go the extra mile to help us. We need someone who will really work with us and help us understand the process. We have one contact through our SW friend Tita Eva and hope to be able to meet them soon.


UK embassy adoption info:
http://ukinthephilippines.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-the-philippines/how-to-adopt-a-child/

US embassy adoption info:
http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwhadop.html


19 February 09
The Process

Who Can Adopt?
http://www.gov.ph/faqs/adoption.asp

Any foreign national or a Filipino citizen permanently residing abroad may file an adoption application if he/she::
1. Is at least twenty-seven (27) years of age and is at least sixteen (16) years older than the child to be adopted at the time of the application, unless the applicant is the parent by nature of the child to be adopted or is the spouse of such parent by nature. A maximum of forty-five (45) years age gap between the adoptive child should be maintained except in cases where the circumstances will be favorable to the child;

2. Has the capacity to act and assume all the rights and responsibilities incidental to parental authority under his/her national law;

3. Has been married for three (3) years;

4. Has undergone appropriate counseling from an accredited counselor in his/her country;

5. Has not been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude;

6. Is eligible to adopt under his/her national law;

7. Can provide the proper care and support and give the necessary moral values and example to the child and, in the proper case, to all his/her other children;

8. Comes from a country with whom the Philippines has diplomatic relations, maintains foreign adoption agencies, and whose laws allows adoption; and

9. Files jointly with his/her spouse, if any, who shall have the same qualifications and none of the disqualifications to adopt as prescribed above.


The Application
http://eservices.dswd.gov.ph/modules/forms/apply.php

Requirements
1. Authenticated birth certificate
2. Marriage Contract or Divorce, Annulment, Declaration of Nullity, or Legal Separation documents;
3. Written consent to the adoption by the legitimate and adopted sons/daughters, and illegitimate sons/daughters if living with the applicant, who are at least ten (10) years old;
4. Physical and medical evaluation by a duly licensed physician and when appropriate, psychological evaluation;
5. NBI/Police Clearance
6. Latest income tax return or any other documents showing financial capability, e.g. Certificate of Employment, Bank Certificate or Statement of Assets and Liabilities;
7. Three (3) character references, namely from the local church/minister, the employer, and a non-relative member of the immediate community who have known the applicant(s) for at least three (3) years;
8. 3x5 sized pictures of the applicant(s) and his/her immediate family taken within the last three (3) months;
9. Certificate of attendance to pre-adoption fora or seminars.
In addition, foreign nationals shall submit the following:
10. Certification that the applicant(s) have legal capacity to adopt in his/her country and that his/her country has a policy, or is a signatory of an international agreement, which allows a child adopted in the Philippines by its national to enter his/her country and permanently reside therein as his/her legitimate child which may be issued by his/her country’s diplomatic or consular office or central authority in intercountry adoption or any government agency which has jurisdiction over child and family matters; or in the absence of any of the foregoing, the Philippine Intercountry Adoption Board may also certify that the Philippines and the applicant country have an existing agreement or arrangement on intercountry adoption whereby a child who has been adopted in the Philippines or has a pre-adoption placement approved by the Board is allowed to enter and remain as permanent resident in the applicant’s country as his/her legitimate child.
11. Certificate of Residence in the Philippines issued by the Bureau of Immigration or Department of Foreign Affairs, as appropriate;
12. Two (2) character references from a non-relatives who knew the applicant(s) in the country of which he/she is a citizen or was a resident prior to residing in the Philippines, except for those who have resided in the Philippines for more than fifteen (15) years;
13. Police Clearance from all places of residence in the past two years immediately prior to residing in the Philippines.

The Process
http://www.gtalawphil.com/adoption_6.htm

Domestic Adoption (Step-by-step procedure) RA8552

~ Pre-Adoption Counseling/ Seminar 
Adoptive Parents are required to attend a seminar or fora at the DSWD to help then assess their motivation.

~ Filing an Application 
Adoptive Parents files an application for adoption at the DSWD after completing the seminar or fora.

~ Homestudy
Adoptive parents make arrangements for Homestudy to be conducted by DSWD or child-placing agency. If the adoptive parents residing abroad, the Homestudy shall only be conducted by an agency duly accredited by the Inter-country adoption board.

~ Matching
Matching of the child to the adoptive parents based on the Home Study is conducted by the DSWD.

~ Issuance of pre-adoption placement authority
DSWD issues a pre-adoption placement authority attesting that the child is ready for supervised trial custody. 

~ Supervised Trial Custody
The child is placed under the custody of the adoptive parents for a period of six(6) months.

 ~ Consent to Adoption 
DSWD issues its written consent to adoption after the supervised trial custody.

~ Filing of Petition for Adoption at the Regional Trial Court
Adoptive parents file a Petition for Adoption at the Regional within 30 days after the receipt of the consent to Adopt.

~ Publication and Hearing of the Petition
Before hearing, RTC Orders the publication of the Hearing of the Petition in the newspaper of general circulation once a week for three consecutive weeks. Adoptive parents and adoptee are required to attend the hearings.

~ Issuance of the Decree of Adoption
Upon approval of the adoption, the court issues an adoption decree and enters a judgment. Time frame is 6 months from the date of submission of the Petition for Resolution.

~ Authorization to Travel Abroad
Once the adoption is already final, the DSWD shall issue a written authorization for the child to travel abroad. The birth certificate of the child is also amended to reflect the names of the adoptive parents. The Decree of Adoption becomes final after 15 days from date of the receipt of the parties. Provided that the Department of Justice did not file and Appeal.


18th February 09
Deciding

There were a few things which happened at the beginning of this month which nudged us closer to starting our application. It seems like almost all of our friends are now pregnant (seriously, I can count 7 off the top of my head). Nya began to take an interest and love being around babies. One day she even pointed to my tummy and said 'baby?'.

Then the event which tipped us over the edge was this. One night we were giving Nya a bath getting ready for bed. Allyn (our yaya / helper) had gone to visit her friend next door. She found that all the family had gone out and the helper was there with the 3 month old baby. Because the helper was trying to cook Allyn volunteered to look after baby Brent. So she brought him back to our place. We then spent the next 20 minutes or so all playing and holding him. Nya loves him, she wasn't jealous at all, she just wanted to kiss him and touch his face. We asked her if she wanted to have a baby brother and she said “Yes Yes!”. For Daniel and I it was a chance to hold a little Filopino baby boy and really imagine that this is what our next child will be like. It was such an exciting feeling. We put Nya to bed and went out to dinner and were able to talk about how we both were feeling. We decided to begin the paperwork that will enable us to bring a little baby home just like Brent.


17th February 09
Adoption Forum

We first began to think about starting the adoption progress when Nya was about a year and 4 months. At that stage we had no real idea of how long it could take and so we were prepared to get things started in case it would be a year or more until we had a child come to live with us. Our co-worker and friend Tita Eva (ICM Bohol social worker) was able to take us to the Department of Social Welfare & Development (DSWD) and introduce us to the social workers there. Although the SW assigned to Tagbilaran wasn't there we were able to sit and talk with the other SW's about our desire to adopt. They informed us that the first step is to attend an Adoption Forum held every 3 months by the DSWD. The next one was to be held in November.

Adoption Forum – Nov 11th 08
We went along not knowing what to expect and if we'd be the only ones there. We were quite surprised to find about 8 other couples. We were the only non-Filopino couple except for one American with a Filapina wife. We were also the only couple wanting to be matched and adopt a child we had never met. All the others were adopting a child they knew (ie a relative or child of their spouse from a previous marriage etc). Everyone in the group was asked to stand up and introduce themselves and give some basic information about why they want to adopt. The SW's then led a seminar using the basic information on adoption given on the government web site (http://www.gov.ph/faqs/adoption.asp). Although we already knew most of what was said it was useful to be able to discuss and ask questions with the SW about the process. We were then introduced to a local lawyer who has experience with adoption cases and there was some further discussion about the legal aspects of adoption. The most important part of the morning for us was being able to meet with the Tagbilaran SW who will be handling our case. After most people had left we were able to sit and chat with her about why we want to adopt and how the process differs for us as foreigners.

After the Forum
We were surprised to learn during the forum that although the completion of the adoption usually takes at least a year, the time between handing in your application and having a child in your home is much less. Although we asked for some estimates the SW could not give us a time. The time it take for the SW to complete a home study totally depends on each case. Then you need to wait for the next matching meeting. From what we have been able to find out from talking to those who know, it could be as little as 3 or 4 months. After some prayer and thought we decided to wait on handing in our application until Nya reached at least 1 and a half.


16th February 09
Introduction

This month we are preparing our application to adopt a child in the Philippines. For anyone who knows us well this shouldn't be a surprise. Both of us have individually wanted to adopt from before we even met. It's a desire that has stayed with us and grown stronger since moving to the Philippines. There are so many children here who are not growing up in a stable home. Although in some areas fostering is beginning to happen many kids grow up in orphanages and no matter how good an institution is we don't believe it can compare to a family. We have been waiting and preparing for this for quite some time. You have to have lived in the country for 3 years before you can apply for a domestic adoption (rather than inter-country). We also wanted to make sure Nya will be 2 years old before we add to our family. (The Philippines requires a 1 year age gap between the adopted child and other children.) From what we hear the process usually takes 1-2 years for the legal aspects to be completed, although we could be matched with a child and have them in our home anywhere from 3 or 4 months after applying. At present we are just beginning the process and trying to work our way through all of the documents required for the application.

We will be using this web page as an on line journal to document our progress through every step of the adoption. Our main reason for doing this is because when we decided to adopt we couldn't find anyone who had gone through this exact process who could share their experiences with us(the legal stuff and paperwork as well as the emotions). We know many families who have adopted in Asia but not another British – American couple adopting domestically in the Philippines. (We do know of another American family but they have recently returned to the US). When Anna was pregnant with Nya she made a pregnancy journal, writing down her thoughts, feelings and events that took place during those 9 months and the first few months of Nya's life. It's our hope to be able to give that journal to Nya one day. We want to use this website to do the same for our next child but we will be putting it on line so that others in our same situation can use it as a guide.