Adoption

H

hkrose

Registered User
I was wondering what the first steps, things that happen when you make the call and say I want to adopt. I know the requirements... and as soon as I can find a job we'll meet them all but I'm wondering what types of things I might want to prepare for or if there is anything I can do ahead of time. We've been waiting for this for a long time and I want to get things rolling as soon as I make that call.

I would appreciate any help, wisdom and I would love to hear some of the time tables of those of you who have completed or are in process of adoptin. I realize they're all different but it's nice to know a general idea.

THANKS so much!!!

Melissa
 
Melissa,

The first thing that you should do is to make a call to the Social and Welfare Department, Adoption Unit. You and your husband need to attend a briefing before any forms are given out. When I called in June, we could only attend the briefing in Sept, that was like a 3 month wait.

As far as I know these are the basic requirements
1) Both must be 25 and above
2) Married for at least 3 years, singles ok but there's another set of requirements with that. Not sure.
3) Must have resided in HK for at least 12 months (They are quite strict about it, and it means husband and wife must be in HK for 12 months)
4) Salary, I'm not quite sure, when I made the call, I told them only my salary without my husband's as he was planning to do his MBA fulltime and they were fine with just one salary and I don't earn really loads of money. But hubby decided against doing his MBA fulltime. Adoption in HK is not for only the rich, which is nice
5) All in all, it costs about HK3000

That's call that I can think about. We attended the first briefing session in Sept. Got our first set of forms and we sent it off and now we got the second set of forms which is about 17 pages long. We're planning to sit down to fill up the forms as soon as hubby gets back from his work trip. There are 2 workshops that we have to attend as well which we have signed up for them. We signed up in Sept and we're attending one in Jan and next in Feb. I've spoken to a case worker. According to her, after we send in our second set of forms and they go through it and if they think that we're suitable, they'll assign us to a case worker who will start the home study with us. The home study will take 3 months. In the meantime, we have to complete the 2 workshops. If the 2 workshops are not completed, we can't be matched with a child.

Hope this is all very useful. I know another geoexpat couple that's adopting too. I'm sure there a few that has adopted as well. We should really meet up for dinner and share experiences. All the best and keep us informed. Adoption is very exciting!

Faith
 
Hi Melissa and Faith,

I just wanted to say a big Thanks to you Faith for taking the time to post the information you did about your experience of the time frames for adoption in HK. Like Melissa, we are really keen to start the process, but I've been unsure on how long it all takes. I know it'll be different for everyone, but it is nice to hear someone's experience of the initial process (briefing, home visit etc). I think I'm going to get the ball rolling today! Melissa, I'll post anything that I think you may be interested in...good luck....it's ever so exciting, isn't it!

Megan
 
meg,

It's nice to hear from another couple who's adopting as well. Give the social welfare department a call and let us know how's it going? Very exciting! Think I was too excited at one point and started window shopping for baby stuff!
 
Sunniefaith--May I ask why you had to wait 3 months before the initial meeting? That makes me nervous. :) I'm so ready to get moving.. it would kill me to have to wait another several months just to attend that.

Megan--Would absolutely love to hear what you were told! I've never gotten much further than the 10 questions as our finances weren't enough.

Thanks so much for the replies and advice!!!
 
I don't know if anyone would have the answer to this but I thought I'd ask here first...

I know that I need to get a job in order to adopt and I'm assuming I'll have to keep it throughout the adoption process but does anyone have any idea how long they check your finances or once some initial paperwork is it not worried about?

It kills me that this is a requirement because while kids are expensive, I know that we can afford to have another child and if adoption doesn't work out we will try for our own anyway.... but I really want to stay home with my children and I know once baby #2 comes home with us.. I'll want to be with them all the time. So I'm just curious how long I'll have to keep working.

Hope that made sense. :)
 
hkrose said:
Sunniefaith--May I ask why you had to wait 3 months before the initial meeting? That makes me nervous. :) I'm so ready to get moving.. it would kill me to have to wait another several months just to attend that.

Megan--Would absolutely love to hear what you were told! I've never gotten much further than the 10 questions as our finances weren't enough.

Thanks so much for the replies and advice!!!
Click to expand...

Apparently, they only conduct one workshop a month and the class size is about 10 or 12 therefore the wait time for the classes is like for 3 months. Actually, one of my workshops was scheduled for Mar and it was only when I called and asked some questions that they managed to fit me into Jan.

Are you sure that your finances are not enough? If I can remember correctly, if it's a family of three, after paying off rent or mortgage, the disposable income is meant to be around 16K or something like that. Just call the welfare department. They are very friendly. I asked a whole heap of questions and they can tell you straightaway if you're eligible or not.
 
Melissa and Faith, I've just got off the phone from Social Welfare and have booked in for the initial briefing session for December! Can't quite believe it! I had to ring family back in NZ to tell them the news!

Anyway, as you mentioned Faith, the sessions are quite small so that's why they book so far ahead. Melissa, they didn't ask anything in regards to finance so I can't give you any information but definitely ring them and find out an exact figure and see how you can work round it. It may be that you only need to top up your income a little, if any. Best of luck with you inquiries, I found them really helpful. I was actually quite nervous when I rang and I'm feeling elated now that the ball is rolling!! Keep us posted...
Megan
 
meg said:
Melissa and Faith, I've just got off the phone from Social Welfare and have booked in for the initial briefing session for December! Can't quite believe it! I had to ring family back in NZ to tell them the news!

Anyway, as you mentioned Faith, the sessions are quite small so that's why they book so far ahead. Melissa, they didn't ask anything in regards to finance so I can't give you any information but definitely ring them and find out an exact figure and see how you can work round it. It may be that you only need to top up your income a little, if any. Best of luck with you inquiries, I found them really helpful. I was actually quite nervous when I rang and I'm feeling elated now that the ball is rolling!! Keep us posted...
Megan
Click to expand...

Congrats Megan!!!!

I'm so so happy for you! The waiting is what we call, adoption pregnancy.

We really should meet up and talk about the stage that we are all in. Very exciting!:yeah2.....
 
Yeah Megan! We will be joining you in Dec!!!! I'm so excited but nervous at the same time... I don't want anything to go wrong.

faith (sorry my capial f's don't work :) ) So exciting to hear about your process so far. PLEASE keep us updated! It's so exciting and encouraging to read about what the process entails.

Okay... gotta run. Have a great day!!!
 
Yeah.. I actually mad the call several times but there always seemed to be one more thing. It was actually quite a frustrating week but alas... we are scheduled and that's all that's important. I'm just praying so hard that nothing changes and it all works out!
 
Hi Melissa and Faith,
Thanks for the congratulations Faith. I have just discovered the forum goes on to page 2, so I was delighted to see both your messages! Wonderful you got into the December intake Melissa. I like the term "adoption pregnancy" Faith, and I think it would be great to meet up and share info and just have a good natter about it all...I'll try and pm you both my phone number and email.......if I can work out how to do it! Then maybe we could arrange something...It really is so exciting...and nice to be able to talk to people that are in the same situation..

Megan
 
International Adoption...U.S. citizens adopting

I read some of the posted thread, and thought I'd just leave a comment about adoption. My husband and I are currently in the process of adopting a baby boy from Guatemala. We are from the states and just moved to HK just over 2 months ago....and began the process back home..actually got all of the paper work finalized, home study completed, immigration approval, etc. finished before leaving the states, and then just received our referral (that is what they call it when the agency/orphanage actually 'refers' a child to you with picture, info., etc) in August.

I could tell you lots of details about the crazy process of adoption, but I'm unsure it will be helpful if you are an HK resident adopting locally. The process here must be very different if the info I read on the thread was accurate. If I could be of help, or anyone is wondering about U.S. citizens adopting...or Guatemalan adoption, let me know.

It's all worth it when you get that picture of your baby, so hang in there!....But now, as our little one is about 10 weeks old, and the legal process will most likely take another 6 months, it is difficult---to be so far from him and simply receive monthly updates on him! But, God's timing is perfect, eh?!...so, we'll wait.
 
melinhk,

I totally agree with you that God's timing is perfect! Things will fall into place and hang in there! Cangrats! Can't wait for you to get your baby.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top