Adoption in Hong Kong

[Editor]

Choosing to adopt a child is a beautiful thing, but the process isn't exactly a walk in the park.

The Social Welfare Dept. does a good job of ensuring that parents and children are well suited to live together, but it can take time. With the right amount of patience Hong Kong is a supportive place to become an adoptive parent, and the steps here are both efficient and secure.

Have a look through our Adoption Guide for some insight into the necessary steps you'll need to take, and to get an idea if you're eligible to adopt.

Are you an adoptive parent? Do you know a family who has adopted in Hong Kong? What suggestions and advice do you have for couples looking to adopt?

 

[Daizy]

I am an adoptive parent and we adopted our son in Dec 2004 when he was only 2 months old from Hong Kong and I must say the Social Services Department in Hong Kong is one of the BEST government organizations that I have ever come across. They handled our adoption process very well and placed our son in our life. Four years later we had moved to the US and adopted a little brother for our son from Taiwan. Our son is now 8 and his brother 4.

 

[Moonlight]

Thank you both of you for your sharing.

My husband is a local Chinese and the family is rather conservative. We discussed the idea of adoption with my parentsInLaw. They are not happy about it but it is acceptable to them, only in the case that the baby is a new born or below 1-yo, any race is fine. We are even willing to take care of the mother if that's the case, because of the Chinese medicine that they believe in.

I went thr the local social service sites which is pretty much like the one posted by the editor here.

It looks like the bread-earner needs to carry any overseas passport to be able to adopt a child, regardless how loving we could be or the fact that we have a child of our own or the mother has an overseas passport?

It sounds absolutely absurd to me, and without further investigation we kind of KIV until I bump into this topic here today. Can someone help me on this please?

Thank you!

 

[Editor]

Hi Moonlight,

We reached out to Mother's Choice who works with the Social Welfare Department to handle local adoptions to get some clarification on your question and their reply was:

Pursuant to the Social Welfare Department of Hong Kong?s requirements, applicants are likely to be considered suitable adoptive parents if they are

• at least 25 years old and mature enough to make the life-long commitment to adopt a child and to take up parental responsibilities;
• have good physical and mental health without serious illness/disability and are thus able to raise the child until he/she can be independent;
• are reasonably educated, preferably with at least six years of post-kindergarten primary-level education;
• have stable employment and sufficient financial resources, and a stable accommodation in which to bring up a child;
• have resided in Hong Kong for 12 months or longer so as to be familiar with the social environment and community resources, and can stay for a continuous period of 12 months or more to complete the adoption process (not applicable to inter-country adoption);
• (if married) have been married for at least 3 years and the marriage is stable enough to provide the child with secure home care; and
• have no criminal record.

There is no requirement about the passports holding issues.

We hope that helps!

For further enquiries, please refer to SWD: Social Welfare Department - Adoption Service
Or Mother?s Choice: Mother's Choice - ????? - Adoption Services