Adopting a Child

S

sunniefaith

Registered User
Hey all,

I'll be moving to HK in a month's time. I've been thinking about adopting a kid in about 2 years' time. Does anyone know how difficult is it to adopt a child in HK? What's the process? I'm not neccessarily looking to adopt a kid from China, any nationality will do. And yes, I'm married with no kids. Not that I can't have a child, I chose to adopt a child
 
Posted by cara (2 days ago)

you have to be in HK for 18 months before the social welfare dept will process your application... then you need to be here for at least 6 months afterward you are matched to process the adoption...

fairly simple procedure to adopt from HK and you may not get a chinese baby...there are so many nationalities living in hk...

i know many people that have gone through the process... and there are amny threads as well.

Posted by sunniefaith (2 days ago)

Thanks so much. I'm looking at adopting in 2 yrs' time. I'm not really looking at Chinese baby. Any baby and any sex will be fine. Are the babies local or from overseas? Would it be hard for the baby to have the same citizenship as me? I'm Sporean

Posted by cara (2 days ago)

you have to check with the singapore gov't as to how to get the citizenship approved. as far as i know, most gov'ts recognise adoption and grant citizenship to the adpoted child.

the babies in hk are local babies, obviously, but there aer many nationalities of people living in hk, you many get ....chinese, philippino, indian, thai, or any number of different nationalities...

i do know that most of the babies put up for adoption in hk are male though.

Posted by tia (2 days ago)

You also have to have been married for 3 years. Be sure that it is a legal marriage and not just common law in your home country.

Posted by tia (2 days ago)

http://www.afhk.org.hk/aboutUs.php


HONG KONG ADOPTION AUTHORITY: The government office responsible for adoptions in Hong Kong is the Adoption Unit, Social Welfare Department, 38 Pier Road, Harbor Building 4/F., Central, Hong Kong
tel: (852) 2852-3107, fax: (852) 2851-9189
e-mail: [email protected]
web site: http://www.info.gov.hk/swd

http://www.swd.gov.hk/en/textonly/site_district/page_kwuntong/sub_crossdistrict/#1

I would say contact one of these departments and ask them what you need.
 
hope that helps....


sorry rani, i saaw the thread on another forum and answered it... then saw it here a few minutes later and just too darn lazy to retype it all....:bump:
 
We adopted our son in Hong Kong and we didn't live here for 18 months. We used to live in China and I spoke to the person in charge because I didn't feel the reasoning behind waiting just to familiarize myself with hong kong for 18 months was a good reason for me. Anyway, they gave me the green light to start with the procedures and in exactly 9 months time we brought our baby boy home :)
 
i think that you are an exception to the rule, Daizy... as i know about 5-10 couple that have adopted in HK and ALL of them had to wait for 18 months before the paperwork could be submitted
 
He was only 2 months old.

I know what you mean carang but all I did was ask them (over the phone) why wait 18 months, she said because you need to get familiar with HK resources and I said I am familiar, her supervisor called me later and we had a conversation and they let us start :) so I guess we were lucky.

But here is some other info I got just a couple months back about waiting to be matched with a baby from my case worker.

1st priority goes to Chinese couples with no kids
2nd to foreign couples with no kids
3rd couples who have adopted child/children
4th couples who have biological kids and want to adopt
 
So I'm Singaporean and I've been married for about 4 years and I don't have kids as well. To be honest, we haven't even bother to try. We just want to adopt a child. But at this point of time, my husband may not join me in HK. Will that affect my chances? Thanks Daizy!
 
Hey, the process starts with the couple attending 3 trainings, after you finish attending them you submit some paper work, once a case worker is assigned then the interviews begin. They will interview you as a couple, separtely, interview a friend and do a home visit. Once they are convinced you have a solid marriage and believe you are able to handle adoption and have a stable house/income then they approve your application and after that matching process begins. Husband and wife are required to attend everything togather, so it would be best if your husband is in HK. I believe they also have a certain age requirment I know parents have to be over 25 years of age but not sure what the maximum age is. If you have any other questions, let me know :)
 
Daizy, thanks a great deal! We're planning to adopt in about 2 years' time. Oh, actually, i've one question. I'm a Sporean and if i adopt the child from HK, does he or she follow our citizenship? I keep getting confuse over this point.
 
Hi sunniefaith, good question. After you meet your baby and take him home you will sign some documents saying you will be taking care of this child, the official adoption papers won't be signed yet for another six months. During these six months the case worker will visit you once a month to check on the baby and how the couple is getting along. Also during these six months you are not allowed to take the child abroad. At the begining of the six months the case worker will ask you if you want to apply for a Hong Kong passport for the child, if you say yes then they will apply for a HK passport under the child's current name. After the six months is over and your adoption has been finalized they will give you the passport and you may travel with it. If you want to change the child's name to something different you may do so at that time.

Since my husband has an American passport we applied for an American passport for our son and got it. He now has a HK SAR passport and a US passport. Some parents prefer to only have their native nationality but I personally think a HK passport is good (it allows him to go to china without visa but with a special long term card) and other benefits. I don't know if singapore allows duabl citizenship, you will have to see which passport would work out better for your family.

Good luck for your adoption. HK has one of the best Adoption programs, very effecient :)
 
I'm reviving this thread because I've been seriously thinking about adoption. Would anyone else like to share their adoption stories?
 
It sounds like the process is quite fast. In Canada to adopt a baby from china it takes a while and the baby is at minimum 6 months old, and very often much older. It sounds like it would be a lot faster, and you may get a younger baby if we were to go to hong kong and apply from there.

Does it matter what ethnicity and nationalility you are? I am Canadain born and raised (caucasian), but my husband was raised in Hong Kong (chinese), but living in Canada since age 19 and holds canadian citizenship, but still has his hong kong ID card, but no chinese or british passport anymore, and I am guessing the only way to get a chinese passport would be to renounce his canadian citizenship, which of course we would not do.
 
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