Adoption — Intercountry adoption: adopting a tamaiti from overseas

The countries we have intercountry adoption programmes with are:

• Chile – Chile intercountry adoption factsheet (PDF 179 KB)
• Hong Kong – Hong Kong intercountry adoption factsheet (PDF 173 KB)
• India – India intercountry adoption factsheet (PDF 211 KB)
• Lithuania – Lithuania intercountry adoption factsheet (PDF 94 KB)
• Philippines – Philippines intercountry adoption factsheet (PDF 187 KB)
• Thailand – Thailand intercountry adoption factsheet (PDF 115 KB)

Preparing to be a caregiver or adoptive parent

Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption

Facilitating the adoption of a tamaiti from overseas

Before the intercountry adoptive applicant assessment

Before we complete the assessment for intercountry adoption, we must inform adoptive applicants about:

• the different processes that each country has
• the likely costs for which they will be responsible
• the routes available to facilitate intercounty adoption from a particular country — liaise with the New Zealand Central Authority (NZCA) for specific information about the process, requirements and routes available for intercountry adoption from a particular country.

Staff resource: Process instructions and templates for specific countries

Assessing intercountry adoptive applicants

Intercountry adoptive applicants must follow the caregiver and adoptive applicant assessment and approval process before they can be approved for an adoption.

Assessing and approving caregivers and adoptive parents

Approving intercountry adoptive applicants

Creating the overseas dossier

Once the adoptive applicants have been assessed as eligible and suited to adopt a tamaiti from another country, we must:

• prepare a Home Study report
• assemble a documentation dossier as specified by the country selected by the applicants
• liaise with the New Zealand Central Authority (NZCA) to complete the application process and requirements.

Intercountry adoption Home Study report

Overseas dossier for intercountry adoptions

The New Zealand Central Authority and accredited adoption agencies under the Hague Convention

In cases where the accredited placement agency does not fulfil this function, the social worker must:

• liaise with the NZCA to help the applicants to correspond with the overseas country
• plan their meeting with te tamaiti, their activities while in the country of origin of te tamaiti and their return to New Zealand.

The NZCA must:

• take appropriate measures to ensure any tamaiti adopted from another country have a formal record of their birth and adoptive identity
• help te tamaiti to secure New Zealand citizenship and entitlement to services.

Post-placement reporting

Where an accredited placement agency does not carry out this function, the social worker must:

• sight the adoption order or adoption finalisation document
• record details to ensure the mandate for placement reporting is established (some countries do not finalise the adoption until after the required post-placement reports are completed. Refer to the country's adoption process guidelines and liaise with the NZCA to confirm the mandate and requirements for post-placement reports for specific countries)
• supply the NZCA with accurate and timely post-placement reports as required by the country of origin of te tamaiti.