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 Latvia Adoption
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The Children | Parent Qualifications | Travel Information
The Latvia Adoption Program
 Latvia offers an excellent opportunity to adopt school age Caucasian children through a very transparent process. Adoptions of younger children are also possible; however, Latvia's waiting list for babies is over three years. The older the child, the shorter the list of waiting families. There is little wait for school age children over age 7 or siblings groups of various ages. An adoption from Latvia offers the unusual opportunity to be surrounded by Christian staff, including government officials and orphanage directors at all levels of the process. Children are many times from small-town orphanages where they have been nurtured by directors and staff. Orphanage directors are so enthusiastic about the opportunity for their children to be adopted by Christian families in America that they sometimes offer both English language tutoring and Christian Bible camps in summer to introduce the children to our faith.
The Latvia 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 home study, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services application (formerly INS) and a relatively brief dossier. For most families, the process of completing this dossier process is about four months.
Once the dossier is completed, a legalization process begins, followed by translation, then review and approval by the Latvian government. Following approval and a matching process, a referral will be sent to the family including photo, medical and description of the child. Allow another three months for this referral process
Upon acceptance of a referral, an introductory "get acquainted with the child" visit date is set, an invitation is issued and travel scheduled. The family will travel to Riga, where they are met by the bilingual staff of An Open Door and proceed to the region where the child lives. Within a couple of days after arrival, a meeting with the local "Family and Children's Services” is set up, and the child is placed into the custody of the adoptive family. The child and family live together either in a private apartment or hotel, and during the 10-14 days together, a social worker will visit with the family and child and make a report regarding the bonding and relationship that she observes developing. This time is also the time in which the family decides if the match is a good match or not. After the social worker report is complete, the Orphan’s Court (1st court) hearing will occur which grants the family the right to adopt this specific child(ren).
After this first court is completed, the family will return home to the U.S. for one to two months to wait for the second and final adoption court to occur. Latvia requires approval of two separate courts to finalize an adoption. The second court trip can be as short as 48 hours in the country. After the 2nd court, there is a 20 day appeal period, which is mandated by Latvian law for all court decisions, therefore, most parents return to the U.S. for about 30 days before traveling to Latvia to bring the child home. Only one parent is required to travel for the 2nd court as well as for the final trip to bring your child home. This final trip is only five to seven days.
During the final step of a Latvian adoption, a two day trip to the U.S. Consulate in Warsaw, Poland is required where the family receives the immigrant visa for the child. Bilingual Open Door staff accompanies the family and provides ground transportation throughout their in-country adoption process. You will find the staff to be delightful Christians with a gift of hospitality.
Latvian Adoption Law
The Latvian adoption law has recently been changed to eliminate an important requirement for six months of visitation with the child before adoption. No specific visitation time is now required by law. Only approximately two weeks of living with the child prior to the first court is the new "norm". However, if the social worker deems that more time is needed to build a relationship between parents and child, then more time can be requested. This change has again made foreign adoptions feasible from Latvia.
There is no mandate of law that requires the second court to schedule hearings by any deadline. However, the Ministry of Education is well aware of the importance of minimizing the stay in Latvia. They have advised us to avoid adoptions in the capital city of Riga, where court delays can be months. In small town courts, they have agreed to try to schedule both the first and second court prior to travel, so the court dates are known in advance.
Contact Us
Click here to contact us for more information about An Open Door Adoption Agency and how we can help you fulfill your desire to complete your family through adoption.
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