Haitian Adoption Process

Haitian adoptions are highly complex and challenging to complete. Under Haitian law, they can be completed by an attorney or a director of one of the 67 creches licensed by IBESR - the equivalent of Haitian social services. Most Haitian adoptions are accomplished by creche directors acting as facilitators. Very few attorneys have the extensive amount of time and dedication required to process an adoption case.

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ONCE IT GETS TO HAITI 

(This is from the GLA Dossier Packet)

1. Dossier arrives at GLA.  GLA staff goes through dossier to ensure all documents are included.  They will notify BCSI if anything is missing.  Referral wait time begins once your dossier arrives at GLA.

2. Legalization at the Minister of Foreign Affairs (MAE).  All documents that have been legalized at the Haitian Consulate/Embassy in the US are legalized with the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  They are legalizing the signatures of the Haitian Consular Offices that legalized your dossier at the Haitian Consulate/Embassy.  This takes approximately 2 to 4 weeks.

3. Child referral.  You are referred a child as soon as a child is available that fits your request.  With your referral, you will receive information on your child’s background (whatever is available, which is often fairly minimal), his/her medical report, lab work, psychological report, judge’s consent, and photos.  Families are asked to complete an acceptance letter, which is forwarded by BCSI to GLA giving them the go-ahead to proceed with your adoption. 

4. Dossier preparation for IBESR.  Upon acceptance of your referral, GLA prepares your dossier for IBESR and delivers it to GLA’s lawyer.  Your child’s, and your dossier are combined into one.  As well, a social history is required by IBESR for your child.  Preparing a social history involves putting your child’s social information into a home study format together with information from your home study.  Expect 1 to 3 months for dossier preparation.

5. IBESR (Institute du Bien-Etre Social et Recherches – Institute of Social Well-Being and Research).  IBESR is the Haitian Social Services.  When your dossier is at IBESR, social workers will study it to see whether you meet the Haitian requirements to adopt a child.  They also judge whether your referred child is a good match for your family.  Your dossier needs 4 signatures before it can be released from IBESR.  The four individuals who sign the approval are the director of IBESR, the IBESR lawyer, the head of adoption services at IBESR, and the head of social services.  If, for example, one of these individuals is on holidays, there is not another individual who can sign on his/her behalf, which will result in additional delays.  Once all 4 signatures have been received, IBESR issues a Certificate of Authorization informing Parquet and the courts that IBESR has approved you to adopt your Haitian child.  Time varies from 3 to 6 months, but could be longer if you need a Presidential dispensation.  A presidential dispensation can take an additional 3 to 6 months or longer.  You need to be aware of this as you go into the adoption process.

6. Travel. Your first trip to Haiti occurs after you are approved by IBESR. On your first trip, you will meet with the local judge, file your I-600 / Adjudicate Orphan Status First application with USCIS, and appear before the civil court. Both adoptive parents must travel.  See instructions in the Travel Packet on how to complete the forms for your I-600 filing. You can expect to be in Haiti for 3-5 days.

7. Parquet (District Attorney).  GLA prepares a letter for Parquet, as well as submits a couple extra documents in the dossier for submission to Parquet.  An additional two documents are completed and signed in Parquet that approve your adoption.  This stage is very unpredictable at this time; however, expect 1 to 6 months.

8. Court.  GLA types up two court documents (Act of Adoption, and Civil Court document) and submits your dossier to the court for finalization of the adoption in Haiti.  This takes 1 to 2 months.

9. Attestation Signature.  An attestation signature is required on your child’s Act of Adoption.  The attestation signature is completed by Archives recognizing that the signature on the Act of Adoption corresponds with the signature that is on file for this individual.  It is similar to legalizing or notarizing the signature.  This takes 1 to 2 weeks. 

10. Legalization at the Minister of Justice.  Each of your child’s adoption documents needs to be legalized in order to apply for his/her passport.  This takes 2 to 4 weeks. 

11. Legalization at the Minister of Foreign Affairs (MAE).  Each of your child’s adoption documents must also be legalized at the Minister of Foreign Affairs before applying for his/her passport.  This takes 2 to 4 weeks. 

12. Passport.  Once all documents have been legalized, GLA can apply for your child’s Haitian passport.  This is a 2 step process – Studying the application at the office of the Minister of Interior and finalization and printing the passport at the Immigration department.  In MOI the passport application is studied and approved, and in printing, it is exactly that, the printing of the passport.  The majority of time spent in this stage is in MOI.  This stage is also very unpredictable at this time; however expect 3 to 6 months (3 to 6 weeks included for printing).

13. Paperwork review.  Once your child’s passport has been printed, and all original documents have been returned, GLA will review the paperwork and have any errors corrected (spelling errors are very common in Haiti). 

14. US medical.  A medical on your child is completed by a US approved physician in Haiti and the results are submitted together with the visa application. It can take up to a week until GLA is able to pick up the completed medical report.

15. USCIS and US visa.  Families must first have their I-600 approved by USCIS in Haiti before the child’s paperwork goes to the Adoptions Officer with the Consular division of the U.S. Embassy. GLA will submit your child’s complete visa packet (adoption documents, passport, US medical, passport photos, DS-230) to USCIS for your I-600 approval. Once your I-600 has been approved, USCIS will forward your adoption file to the Adoptions Officer, who will then schedule your child’s visa interview. Your child’s visa interview is usually held 1-2 weeks from when the Officer received your child’s adoption file.  At the same time, GLA must obtain a travel document, permitting the child to travel, from IBESR.  Expect four weeks to four months for this entire process.

16. Travel.  Once your child’s visa has been approved, GLA will contact BCSI with possible travel dates for your final trip to Haiti to pick up your child.  GLA will pick up your child’s visa before you arrive in Haiti.  Expect to stay in Haiti for 2-5 days.  Please do not book flights until you have been given approval from GLA.  If only one parent is able to travel, the parent remaining at home must complete a power of attorney for the parent that is going to Haiti.  This way, the parent traveling to Haiti can sign all documents should he/she be required to sign anything. 

Times frames cannot be guaranteed as circumstances may present themselves that affect all adoptions, or your adoption in particular.  It is also unknown how the process will continue post-earthquake, and post-election.  IBESR and Haitian courts work at their own pace.  It is very possible that a dossier that arrived at GLA after yours will be approved before your dossier.  Haiti is not the same as the US, and things are not always done in order.  Your patience is required as you move from one stage to the next.

1. Where does my dossier go? What are the legal steps in Haiti?

Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA)	2-4 weeks
First Legalization (1st Legal). This is where all of the papers are authenticated.
File prepared for IBESR (Concurrent with MFA)	1-4 weeks
When the paperwork is at Foreign Affairs, your lawyer must prepare your file for IBESR. IBESR requires that the paperwork be in a certain order. The social history and psychological examination required by IBESR for your child must be made during this period. It involves putting the child's social information into a home study format with your home study information.
IBESR	2-6 months
Your child's paperwork is put together with your documents and the file is then presented to IBESR (Haiti's Social Service Department) where a social worker will look over all of your documents and decide whether to approve your adoption request.The director of IBESR, the IBESR lawyer, the head of adoption services at IBESR, and the IBESR social worker must all sign off on your dossier. This is four stages of approval.
Parquet	2-12 weeks
This step involves one person(?) releasing the child(ren)'s file(s). Parquet is the head commissioner. He is intertwined with court. He asks all of the birth parents to come for interviews to make sure that they understand that there children are being adopted. Apparently there was some fraudulent activity going on and he wants to protect the birth parents interests. i.e. make sure they are in agreement.
Civil Court Legalization	2-8 weeks
The adoption is finalized. After this point, the children are legally yours. (2nd Legal)
Minister of Interior Affairs (MOI)/Haitian Immigration	2-14 weeks
The file is submitted into the passport process. The passports are printed in the adopting parents last name.
DHS Processing (U.S. Parents)	1-3 weeks
I-600 is filed by adopting parents. File is reviewed and approved by DHS
DNA Testing	0-6 weeks
May or may not be necessary. Depends on DHS' opinion.
Consulate/Visa Appointment	1 week lead
Child receives visa in preparation for travel to their new home	time

Courts is after Parquet. That's where the civil court judge approves the adoption decree, then it needs signatures in attenstation, a stamp from Parquet, and legalization in Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and Ministry of External Affairs (MAE).

Then gets submitted to Ministry of Interior (MOI) - basically Haitian immigration which approves the passport. Then the passport gets printed.
Then, for US families, entire completed dossier gets submitted to USCIS - they'll approve the I-600. Somewhere in there, the child has their visa medical exam/immunizations. When the I-600 and the visa medical are done, then they'll approve the visa and print it. I think GLA will approve travel until they have the visa in hand. They have to at some point in there get a letter from IBESR that will allow you to board the airplane with your child(ren) - I understand that's a 2-day thing around the time they have the visa.

Another Explanation of the Process