Adoption Process
The adoption process begins with an application to An Open Door Adoption Agency (downloadable from this web site), a Service Agreement, followed by a home study, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services ( CIS) application I800A and a relatively brief dossier. For most families, the process of completing this dossier takes about four months.
Once the dossier is completed, a legalization process begins, followed by translation, then review and approval by the Lithuanian government. Following approval and a matching process, a referral will be sent to the family including a photo, medical and description of the child. Allow another three months for this referral process except in cases of older children and sibling groups which may be selected from photos and descriptions already sent to this agency by the Lithuanian government. There are some adorable children waiting even now.
Upon acceptance of a referral, an introductory "get acquainted with the child" visit date is set, an invitation is issued and travel scheduled. Both parents will travel to the capital city of Vilnius, where they will be met by the bilingual representative of An Open Door and will travel together to the region where the child lives. You will be permitted to visit the proposed child (children) to observe the child in his living environment, school (if he/she is a school age child) and then to have individual time with the child in your apartment for approximately a week.
During this visit, you will have the opportunity meet with the direct care-giver, teacher (if applicable), the doctor, director of the orphanage, and the social worker in order to obtain thorough background information on the child. This is also the time in which the family decides if the match is a good match for their family. If family makes a decision that the match is the right one, then their representative will prepare, and the family will sign, a special application to the Central Authority for inter-country adoption - the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor - regarding the family's decision and their readiness to proceed with an adoption of the child.
An application to the Vilnius District Court is made, and then the family will return home to the U.S. The time between the 1st and 2nd trip can be as little as one month or as long as two or three months depending on the court availability and the time of year, which is affected by vacations of the judges. The Court date will depend on whether the Judge, after reviewing all documents for the case, may request additional documents. The Judge always indicates whether there is a need to receive additional documents prior to assigning the court hearing date.
Both parents must be present for the court hearing, which is always in Vilnius. The family will be represented by an extremely reputable attorney arranged for by the Open Door representative. This second trip is only four days in the country, after which you will return home.
Following the court and it's issuance of the Final Decree, there is an appeal period of up to 50 days after which one or both parents returns to Lithuania for their child. You will go with the Open Door representative to the town where the child lives to apply for his/her passport and pick up the child from the orphanage. The family may stay in the same town for a few days until the passport is issued or travel back and forth from Vilnius. After three to five working days, you will visit a U.S. medical clinic for your child's exit medical, as required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. You then visit the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, for a preliminary review of the child's Lithuanian documents. Finally you travel to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland to obtain the child's immigrant visa.
The Open Door's representative will accompany the family and provide ground transportation throughout their in-country adoption process. You will find the representative to be both personable and extremely knowledgeable of the adoption process - having previously served as Director of the National Center for Adoption herself.
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