All God's Children International

All God's Children International (AGCI) now has a Taiwan adoption program.

Bethany Christian Services

Bethany Christian Services now has a Taiwan adoption program.

Dinner in Taipei

The author of A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei has an interactive Google Map where she points you in the direction of some good eats.

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Home of God's Love Video

How to select an adoption agency or choose an independent adoption process

DOES THE AGENCY HAVE A GAG CLAUSE THAT PREVENT PAST CLIENTS OF THE AGENCY TO SHARE EXPERIENCES OPENLY AND HONESTLY?

Most adoption agencies will have you sign an adoption contract. Know that there are some agencies that will put a clause in the contract known as a gag clause, that will legally their clients from every discussing a wrong doing, bad experience, or a distateful subject matter outside the company. Adopting families are in danger of a lawsuit if you do have a horrible experience and are caught sharing. Beware that some adoption agencies that employ a gag clause send spies into adoption forums and chat rooms to catch adoptive families discussing a bad ordeal you had or are having with your agency so that they can hold the gag clause over your head.

WHEN DECIDING ON AN AGENCY, JOIN FORUMS SUCH AS
Adoption_Agency_Research Yahoo group and ask questions about the organizations you are desiring to work with to bring your child home. Other helpful sites for fishing for answers include AdoptingfromTaiwan Yahoo group, ChristianInternationalAdoption Yahoo group, Adopting_from_Taiwan Yahoo group(recommend research on this group only), Adoption.com (forums: International adoption/General Asian forum, and the AdoptingTiawanIndpendently Yahoo group.

ASK IF THE AGENCY PROVIDES A "TAIWAN SIDE" HELPER
This is a person that works on the inside of Taiwan to ask questions more directly, go to the orphanage to represent your desire or need for your child and meets you in country to help you with the first meeting with your child and to translate while there. Some agencies do not supply this. This is a comfort level for some families feel they must have.

ASK HOW IN DEPTH THE AGENCY WILL PREPARE YOU FOR TRAVEL

WHEN QUESTIONING OTHERS THAT HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH AN AGENCY AS AN PARENT, ASK THEM

How was the communication? How well do you feel they prepared you? Are they hand holders? Were there any questions you asked that went unanswered? Did you have any problems with getting information on your child after requesting it? Were there any bumps or major events during your adoption with them? If so, how did the agency handle it?

WHEN ADOPTING THROUGH AN AGENCY OR INDEPENDENT

Ask if there are any fees you should know about that are not listed and cross reference those with other parents online for affirmation. Make sure you understand their routine and policies and when monies are due. Ask about what kind of support is in place for you and your little one in Taiwan if there be an emergency or a need arise. What kind of contacts they have in Taiwan besides for just agency wise?

Independent Adoption

IF CONSIDERING INDEPENDENT ADOPTION

Try to grasp a firm understanding of the dossier paperwork first or find a good source/helper that has "been there done that" so that you are not so alone in the process.

Recognize the differences:
a. Paperwork will be your responsibility first and foremost even with a Taiwan side coordinator.
b. The system is not as cut and dry as an experienced agency
c. Will you have to find a foster family for your child while the court proceedings are happening?
d. What all are they helping you with on their end?
e. Travel may be longer or shorter since the Visa may be acquired differently than with agencies.
f. What will they do to insure your child meets INS requirements?
g. What kind of background will you receive? What are they requiring of their placing families to insure your child has a solid transition?
h. What kind of Visa are you receiving for your child? (IR-4 or IR-3)
i. Does your "placing source" make this appointment for you? Do they apply for you?
j. Where does the organization find their children? Are they registered in Taiwan? Are they a home or just a placing resource?

A couple of differences in Independent adoption that will make your day.
A. NO DOSSIER or partial dossier requirement.
1.) The truth is, that on a regular basis, Taiwan courts do not ask for physical forms, financial information, job refs etc. Now that you know by asking your "dossier helper that has been there done that", you know that these forms are usally apart of the dossier, but you will not be needing them unless asked for by the courts, which is unusual.
2.) You will need, your birth certs, marriage certs, authenticated homestudy, and your state laws on adoption. They will also need paperwork from your birth family which usually is their responsibility to get.
Other papers or documents could be requested from you BUT are not normally.
B. Other pluses to independent.
1.) Possibility of your child being in foster care, hand picked by your organization or YOU. Which in turn offers other perks, such as more updates and possible video conferences with your child.
2.) Possibility of living temporarily in Taiwan, and fostering your own child.
3.) Reduced costs (by half or more than half)

Some steps that may not be good news

A. Costs differences.

1.) You may have different expenses such as a direct payment to the hospital for your child's birth.
2.) You may be asked to pay for small necessities for your child while in care of the organization in order to
sidestep over blown fees.

B. Courts and INS

1.) Your INS approval may be presented before courts are entered. (good news, this means your child will meet
the definition of an orphan without fail once PRE approved.) bad news may be a longer waiting period while they approve your specific child INS info.
2.) Courts may prove longer or shorter. This is still a topic in independent that is not really tried.

C. Foster Care possibilities

1.) You may be responsible for finding a foster home for your child until courts are final.

Independent WITHOUT a placing organization

A. How is it possible?
1.) This is very a possible aspect.. Especially if you have contacts in Taiwan that can search or get around word of mouth that you are looking to adopt or you speak Mandarin and can call the hospitals and women's clinics yourself.
2.) Please make sure that your child fits the INS definition of a LEGAL ORPHAN.. If you do not make sure that your child fits this definition, you could be facing the "2 year rule" which will mean, no entry visa to the U.S. for your child until they have resided with you for 2 years elsewhere. There are ways to prove certain, normally non eligible children to be eligible with particular proof or proper paperwork, if filed before court proceedings begin.

B. Other Resources for finding your child yourself in Taiwan: (click on the names of the organizations to visit their site for information.

1.) Christian Mountain Children's home

Places with an outside organization BUT not with a typical U.S. side agency.

2.) Christian Salvation services

Two year waiting list for this organization, you can contact them directly.

3.) Garden of Mercy Foundation

Not a "home" for adoptive children but a resource or possibility. They occasionally have a child available or in need of a family. Although, this is an AIDS house, the children that may be available may be Aids free. For more information please visit their site.

4.) Harmony Home: Aids home

Not a "home" for adoptive children but a resource or possibility. They occasionally have a child available or in need of a family. Although, this is an aids house, the children that may be availble may be Aids free. For more information please visit their site.

5.) Lastly you can do a search for unwed mother's homes and women's clinics in Taiwan and contact them individually. Some may have contracts or designated homes they work with to place their children.

Taiwan adoption regulations: Who's is Who's?

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ADOPTIVE PARENTS: The articles of law relating to adoption in Taiwan are found in the Civil Code (Family and Children Welfare Act in Book VI), Articles 1072 through 1083.

The adopting parents must be at least twenty years older than the child(ren) to be adopted.

No child adopted may be:
1. Directly related by blood;
2. Directly related by marriage, except in the adoption of the other spouse’s child as a stepchild; and
3. Indirectly related by blood, such as cousins (unless removed by a certain degree), the spouse of a sibling, or a sibling of your spouse. (Taiwan law is very detailed about what degree of indirect blood relation is excluded from adoption. If prospective adoptive parents are concerned about possible blood ties with the child they wish to adopt, they should contact AIT for clarification before proceeding with the adoption.)

Taiwanese regulations further stipulate that adopting parents must be adults not older than 55 years of age. A married person who adopts a child shall do so jointly with his/her spouse.

Other program regulations are put in place wither by the orphanage or the adoption agency. Some of these rules are more like suggestions that can be overturned, but waivers are becoming more and more rare as the demand to adopt from Taiwan increases. Many adoptive families have voiced that some adoption agency representatives will misrepresent orphanage or agency regulations and call them country specific when they are not. If one agency’s Taiwan adoption program does not fit for your family, you can look elsewhere and find another program that is right for you.

Orphanage regulations: (divided by orphanage Title to visit the orphanage's

site please click on it's name. The following orphanages are the "main publicly placing orphanages in Taiwan)

CATHWEL

Criteria for Prospective Adoptive Parents

* The adoptive parents must be at least twenty years
older than the adoptee.
* Where a married person adopts a child, he/she must
do so jointly with his/her spouse.
* Our organization requires the applicants to be under
45 years old and to be married at least five years.
* Preference is given to CHILDLESS couples.
* A letter addresses to prospective birthmother should
be attached with home study.
* Please keep in touch with Cathwel once in a while before
you are offered a proposal. So we are sure that you still have
interest in working with us.

ST. LUCY CENTER

The Qualifications of adoptive parents :

* The adoptive parents must be at least twenty years
older than the adoptee.
* The applicants must be under 50 years old.
* The applicants must be married at least five years

CHUNG YI

Requirements changing frequently. Contact an angecy that works with Chung Yi for details.

The following are homes, or resources that act independently of

U.S. placing agencies, therefore allowing for independent adoption.

They are Church driven and supported.

HOME OF GOD'S LOVE (NOT ACCEPTING APPS,
temporarily on hold)

1. We pray concerning the placement of each child, and ask
prospective parents to do the same, seeking God’s direction in
placing just the right child in their home.
2. Both parents must be active Christians and must provide
5 references attesting to their
Christian maturity and suitability for parenthood. We do not
adopt to single parents, although
we have helped some, (who locate their own child), with their
paperwork and childcare during
processing.
3. Priority goes to couples who cannot bear their own children
and due to this waiting list,
families with children of their own would be advised to seek
adoption through other agencies.
4. We tend to place children with couples who have no other
children but weigh each situation
and child – seeking the Lord’s guidance.
5. We prefer to adopt to Chinese families. We feel both parents
and child will have a better
adjustment. However, due to the scarcity of childless Chinese
Christian couples, most of our
children have gone abroad.

Morning Light (applying for registration in Taiwan,
not yet an orphanage and NOT ACCEPTING APPS AT THIS
TIME)

Here at MLC, we are not an organization directly looking for kids
to adopt out. We do have
though, connections through the agencies here that contact when
a child is available. We do
not necessarily have the child/children in our home, but they are
in a foster home or in a
children's home here in Taiwan.
Our first priority at MLC is to place children in an evangelical
Christian home. As Christians
ourselves, we do not feel we can allow a child to go into a home
of an unbeliever. We do have
people ask us about infants, toddlers and older children. We can
search for the child they want,
but not necessarily find one right away.

Agency Regs that may be claimed as orphanage or country

and they are not:
Must not have a Body Mass Index over 30 or 40%
Cannot choose sex of child to be adopted.
Cannot add to your family if you have X amount of children.
Must wait until child in your home is X months or years old.
Cannot adopt from Taiwan unless you are XXX religion.

US Immigrant Visas Issued to Taiwanese Orphans

*NOTE: All statistics given correspond with the U.S. Government fiscal year, which begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. For example: Adoption statistics for 2008 = Number of adoptions from October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008.

2008 - 267
2007 - 184
2006 - 187
2005 - 141
2003 - 107
1991 - 54
1990 - 66

source: http://adoption.state.gov

Abbreviations Helpful when reading about Taiwan Adoption

On some of the forums or groups you may join, exists a Taiwan adoption-specific lingo.  This little "cheat sheet" will certainly improve your learning curve!

SLC: St. Lucy Center, an orphanage in Taiwan

CY: (sometimes used) abbrev. for Chung Yi, an orphanage in taiwan

FFC: Families for Children, a U.S. agency based out of Utah that's Taiwan division is now named For Every Child

FEC: For Every Child, a U.S. based agency formerly referred to as Families for Children

JOH: Journeys of the Heart, a US agency

HAI: Heartsent Adoption, Inc., a US based agency

hs: often used for homestudy

sw: social worker

bm: birthmother

NT$: New Taiwan Dollar

PAP: prospective adoptive parent

AP: adoptive parent

AIT: American Institute in Taiwan (like a consulate)

CSS: Christian Salvation Service

CAI: Commonwealth Adoptions International

TWCA: Taiwan Women's and Children's Association

TECO: Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office, regional offices that handle Taiwan affairs here in the US, like an embassy or consulate.  Upon accepting a referral, you'll send paperwork here for authentication.

Taiwan Child and Juvenile Adoption Information Center

The Taiwan Child and Juvenile Adoption Information Center preserves and manages personal information of birth parents, adoptees, and adoptive parents and aid in future search and reunite services.

Growth Charts for Taiwanese Children

Growth charts are a standard part of any checkup, and they show health care providers how children are growing compared with other kids of the same age and gender. They also allow doctors and nurses to see the pattern of kids' height and weight gain over time, and whether they're developing proportionately. Genetics, gender, nutrition, physical activity, health problems, environment, and hormones all influence a child's height and weight. Here is a link to view growth charts for Taiwanese children.

Taiwan Adoption Court Process

This text is a general guideline that has been passed around several Taiwan Adoption Yahoo groups as a description of the Taiwan adoption court process. If you are the author of this text, let us know so that we can credit you with this helpful information. Remember that this is a general guideline, and that the court process can go more quickly or more slowly. Oftentimes adopting families do not hear any updates on their court process until the first decree.

1. District Court Process
a. The family court office reviews the case/petition and a Judge is assigned to the case.
b. Judge reviews and considers the case and schedules a "hearing". Hearings are handled differently depending on the birth family's situation, the judge's schedule, persons representing the birth family and those representing the adoptive family. The time involved in getting a hearing scheduled depends on the judge's calendar/schedule and that of everyone else required to attend. Hearings can result in--The immediate decision to finalize the adoption (though this is rarely the case) or - Result in the judge's request for more information (in one case we saw the judge request additional counseling for the birthmother and he scheduled a follow-up hearing. Again, this is rare). -Most often, the hearing just provides a judge with more information about the case and allows him/her to rule on the adoption with confidence. Most often, the judge's decision (final ruling) happens weeks or even as long as months after the hearing.

The responsibility of the District Court is to make sure that every issue related to the best interest of the child has been considered. Though lengthy & frustrating at times, the District Court process protects the child, the birth parent, the organization caring for the child, AND in the end protects us as adoptive parents. When the District Court decisions have been made, adoptive families can be confident that the process was handled with consideration and in the best interest of the child. 2-4 MONTHS

2. Part I of Final Decree (first decree).
Once the District Court hearing has been completed and the judge has had time to make a decision to finalize the adoption, he/she issues the first part of the Final Decree. This is a short statement signed by the judge that is forwarded to the parties involved (social services organization on behalf of the adoptive family and the birth family) notifying everyone of his/her decision to finalize the adoption. This first part of the Final Decree must go to each party and there is a waiting period of 10 days before any more can happen to ensure that everyone has been notified of the judge's decision. 2-4 WEEKS.

3. Part II of Final Decree.
Once the 10 day waiting period is up (and the court staff finds time!), the second part of the Final Decree is forwarded to all parties. When the second part of the decree is received by your child's social service organization, the court process is DONE!

4. Household registration change and immigration requirements. Before adoptive family travels, a lot must be accomplished by the child's social service organization. All court documents and background info on the child must be officially translated to English and submitted with certain paperwork to AIT. Also, the child must have his/her Visa medical exam which is forwarded directly (unopened) to AIT's immigrant visa office. At some point the child's guardian must file for a household registration change. The household registration is a file located at local government offices in Taiwan that contains certificates and information about each person in Taiwan. Your child's household registration is attached to his/her guardian's file until the adoption has been finalized by the Taiwan courts. Once the child has been legally adopted in Taiwan, the guardian files with the government office to remove the file from theirs and create a new file showing that the adoptive parent(s) are the new legal guardians.The household registration change takes a day or two or a week depending on the placing organization and the local government office. 2-4 WEEKS.

5. New family receives a travel date. Each organization in Taiwan is different in when and how they schedule a travel date. Some wait until all of the above paperwork is filed and then give the family notice to travel quickly. Some schedule the travel in advance, while they work at preparing the above documents, giving a couple of weeks notice before travel.

Taiwan Travel Information

TRAVEL AGENTS:
Lydia at Best Tours / 206.633.3555 / besttours889@hotmail.com

Erle D'Penha at Azumano Travel / 800.777.2018 / http://www.azumano.com

Todd Gallinek at Travel Society
6519 Newhall Road
Charlotte, NC 28270
Home/Office: 704.364.7107
Mobile: 303.918.9888
tgallinek@aol.com

Susan Schulties at Around the World Travel Agency / 888.292.9493

HOTELS:
Hotels with an * are recommended by previous travelers.
Hotels with a $ are recommended by low-budget travelers.
* Agora Garden
Ambassador Hotel
* Caesar Park Hotel
Crown Plaza
Delight Hotel
* Evergreen Laurel
Far Eastern Plaza
$ Feeling Hotel
Golden China
Grand Formosa
Grand Hotel
* Grand Hyatt
Hotel Flowers
Howard Plaza
Landis
* Rich Garden Hotel
Riviera Hotel
Taipei Fortuna Hotel
Taiwan Hotels