International Adoption

What International Adoption Involves

International adoption, which the legislation calls intercountry adoption, is the adoption of a child who lives in one country by adopters who live in another. GOV.UK says you can adopt a child from overseas if the child cannot be cared for in a safe environment in their own country, the adoption would be in their best interests, and a UK adoption agency has assessed you as eligible and suitable.

The rules follow where you live, not your nationality. If you are habitually resident in the UK, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands you must follow UK adoption law, and GOV.UK warns that this can apply even while you are living abroad. Which rules apply depends on the child's country:

• Hague Convention cases: the child lives in a country where the 1993 Hague Convention on intercountry adoption is in force. It has been in force for the UK since 1 June 2003.
• Section 83 cases: any other case where a person habitually resident in the British Islands brings a child into the UK to adopt the child themselves, or brings in a child adopted abroad in the previous twelve months.
• Restricted countries: special restrictions that apply whether or not the country has joined the Convention.

Adopting a child who already lives in England and Wales is covered on our adoption page, and adopting your partner's child on our step-parent adoption page.

What Must Be in Place Before the Child Travels

Section 83 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 applies where a person habitually resident in the British Islands brings a child who is habitually resident outside them into the UK for the purpose of adoption, or brings in a child adopted under a non-Convention adoption made within the previous twelve months. Bringing the child in without meeting the requirements is a criminal offence.

Under the Adoptions with a Foreign Element Regulations 2005 you must:

• apply in writing to an adoption agency for an assessment of your suitability to adopt
• have written notification, before the child enters the UK, that the Secretary of State has issued the certificate confirming that you have been assessed and approved as eligible and suitable
• give the agency the child's details and the foreign authority's reports, and discuss the proposed adoption with the agency, before you visit the child
• visit the child in their own country (both of you, if you are a couple) and then confirm in writing that you wish to proceed
• accompany the child into the UK, unless it has been agreed that only one of a couple need do so

Convention cases follow a similar pattern through the Central Authorities of the two countries. The agency may not start the assessment process unless each applicant is 21 or over and has been habitually resident in the British Islands for at least a year, and the adoption proceeds only when both Central Authorities have agreed that it may.

The Department for Education charges a fee for processing the application and the agency may charge for its work. The amounts are on the GOV.UK page on adopting a child from overseas.

Is an Adoption Made Abroad Recognised Here?

Whether you also need an adoption order from a court here depends on how English law classifies the foreign adoption. Section 66 of the 2002 Act treats three kinds of adoption made outside the British Islands as adoptions:

• a Convention adoption: made under the law of a Convention country and certified under Article 23 of the Convention
• an overseas adoption: made on or after 3 January 2014 under the law of a country listed in the Adoption (Recognition of Overseas Adoptions) Order 2013, where law does not include customary or common law
• an adoption made under the law of any other country and recognised by the law of England and Wales

A child adopted in one of those ways is treated in law as if born as the child of the adopters. Adoptions made before 3 January 2014 are recognised if the country was on the earlier 1973 list. Where the position is in doubt, the adopted person may apply to the High Court or the family court for a declaration under section 57 of the Family Law Act 1986, if domiciled in England and Wales or habitually resident here throughout the previous year.

Recognition does not remove the section 83 requirements. They apply to a non-Convention adoption made abroad within the previous twelve months whether or not the law here recognises it, so the agency assessment and the certificate still come first.

Restricted Countries and Common Problems

Under the Children and Adoption Act 2006 the Secretary of State may declare special restrictions where there is reason to believe that practices in a country's adoption system make it contrary to public policy to further adoptions from there. GOV.UK lists six restricted countries: Cambodia, Guatemala, Nepal, Haiti, Ethiopia and Nigeria, with the published reasons for each restriction.

While a restriction is in force the authorities take no step to further an adoption from that country unless you satisfy them that they should. You do that by a written exception request to the Department for Education (or to the Welsh Ministers in a Convention case where you live in Wales), made after an adoption agency has approved you. The guidance sets a high threshold: the case must be exceptional, and there must be a need to adopt from that country beyond a general wish to adopt from abroad.

Problems that arise in international adoption cases include:

• a child brought to the UK before the assessment or the certificate
• an adoption made under customary law, which does not count as an overseas adoption under the 2013 Order
• papers the overseas authority requires to be notarised, legalised and translated
• the 14 day notice to the local authority missed after arrival
• doubt about habitual residence after a period living or working abroad

How the International Adoption Process Works

GOV.UK describes the process as similar to a UK adoption, carried out by a UK adoption agency. In outline:

1. Agency. You contact your local council, or a voluntary adoption agency that deals with overseas adoption, and apply to be assessed.
2. Approval. If the agency approves you, it sends your application to the Department for Education, or the relevant UK Central Authority, to check that it meets the eligibility criteria.
3. Certificate. The Department issues a Certificate of Eligibility to Adopt and sends it with your application to the overseas authority.
4. Matching and visit. Once matched, you visit the child in their own country and confirm in writing that you want to proceed.
5. Court and entry clearance. GOV.UK says you may need to go through court processes in the child's country and in the UK, and will need to arrange entry clearance: see our child visa page.
6. Arrival. Unless the adoption abroad is, or is to be, an overseas adoption under the 2013 Order, you give your local authority notice within 14 days of the child entering the UK of the child's arrival and that you intend to apply for an adoption order.
7. Application. You apply to the family court once the child has lived with you for the required period: six months in a section 83 case where the requirements were met, twelve months where they were not, and ten weeks for a Convention adoption order.

Applications to adopt a child from overseas are made by post. HMCTS publishes form A60 for a child brought into the UK for adoption and form A59 for a Convention adoption order, and the court fee is on the GOV.UK page on adoption court orders.

When Legal Advice Is Especially Important

Advice matters most where:

• the child's country is on the restricted list and an exception request is needed
• the child is a relative and you are unsure whether the section 83 requirements apply to you
• your habitual residence is unclear, the point on which GOV.UK itself recommends independent legal advice
• the adoption has already been made abroad and you do not know whether it is recognised here
• the child is already in the UK and the requirements were not met before arrival

Adoption in the other direction is regulated too. A child who is a Commonwealth citizen or is habitually resident in the UK must not be removed to a place outside the British Islands for the purpose of adoption unless the prospective adopters have parental responsibility under a High Court order made under section 84, or the removal is authorised under the Scottish or Northern Irish equivalents.

How RakLAW Solicitors Can Help

Our family solicitors at 42 Shad Thames in Southwark, a short walk from Tower Bridge, advise on international adoption as part of our adoption, surrogacy and fertility work. The assessment and the matching are carried out by adoption agencies and the authorities of both countries, not by solicitors: our part is the legal advice, the written representations and the court work. We start with a free 15-minute consultation.

We advise on which rules apply, whether an adoption made abroad is recognised and what must be in place before the child travels. We prepare exception requests, notices to the local authority and court applications, and represent you at hearings. Entry clearance and nationality are handled with our family immigration solicitors. RakLAW does not offer legal aid; our charges are on our fees for family law page.