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Albertans can apply to adopt a child who lives in another country.
Adopting a child from another country is extremely complex, and programs change as the requirements of the countries of origin change. With international adoptions, Alberta Adoption Services:
Alberta relies on the originating country to provide accurate information about the child in the matching referral. However, there may be little information available because the child may have been abandoned at birth, resulting in no birth certificate or health records.
The International Adoption Guidebook for Alberta Families is designed to help adoptive families understand the risks and challenges they may face when adopting a child from another country.
International adoption
Learn more about processes and timelines (PDF, 45 KB).
The Hague Convention regulates adoptions between contracting countries. It provides safeguards and procedures to ensure the adoption is in the best interest of the child, biological parents and adoptive parents. The child’s country must make reasonable efforts to place the child domestically before considering an international adoption.
You can view a list of current Hague Convention members. The Convention concerning Intercountry Adoption is Convention number 33.
The Hague Convention applies to every adoption, including relative adoptions, where the child lives in a Hague country and the adoptive parents live in Alberta. This is the case even when the adoptive parents are citizens of the child’s country and own property in that country.
Private Guardianship Orders are often granted in countries where there is no legislation to process an adoption. Guardianship orders are not equivalent to adoption orders, which create a permanent parent-child relationship.
Immigration regulations require that a permanent resident visa be obtained for a child for the purpose of entering Canada. Alberta Adoption Services has no role in obtaining permanent residency status for children and no authority in cases where guardianship is granted internationally.
You may wish to seek independent legal advice to determine if a guardianship order obtained in a particular country is equivalent to an adoption order as set out in section 73 of the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act.
There are 3 types of international adoption:
A permanent resident visa must be obtained before a child enters Canada. Privately arranged adoptions in Hague Convention jurisdictions that are finalized in the child’s country of origin do not meet the requirements of the Hague Convention, the Alberta Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act or Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
In all types of international adoption, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is responsible for the immigration process that allows the child you have adopted or intend to adopt to enter Canada.
In Hague Convention and Government international adoptions, Alberta Adoption Services is responsible for:
In order to comply with the legislative requirements of the child’s country of origin, the federal Immigration Regulations, the Hague Convention, and Alberta’s Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act, applicants should be aware of:
In international legal matters, there are no guarantees. You might begin the process to adopt a child, only to have the process or costs change or the program end without notice. You need to allow sufficient time for each agency and department to complete procedures and forward documents.
Most international adoptions take an average of three to four years to complete and cost between $15,000 and $40,000.
Adoptive parents are responsible for the cost of:
PDF form issues
Fillable PDF forms do not open properly on some mobile devices and web browsers. To fill in and save the form:
International Adoption Application (PDF, 2 MB)
This form is also accessible through licensed adoption agencies or submit your request online to have the form mailed to you. Please include your complete mailing address in your request.
Mail the completed application form to:
Adoption Services
Alberta Children’s Services
10th Floor, Sterling Place
9940 106 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2N2
Once Adoption Services authorizes you to proceed with a Home Study Report and pre-adoption training, contact a licensed adoption agency to begin the process.
The adoption agency will review the results of the Home Study Report with you and then have you sign the report. The adoption agency will then send the report to Alberta Adoption Services for provincial approval.
If you are proceeding with a private international adoption, see the Private International Adoption section for next steps.
Once the Home Study Report is approved, gather the report and all other required documents into an adoption dossier.
It is recommended to get help from an adoption agency or a coordinating agency authorized by the child’s country to compile the dossier.
You will need to have the dossier translated, notarized, authenticated and verified according to the legal requirements of the child’s country of origin.
If you are using an adoption agency or coordinator, they will arrange this for you.
Send the completed dossier and appropriate number of copies to Adoption Services.
If you are using an adoption agency or coordinator, they will arrange this for you.
Alberta Adoption Services will send the dossier to the adoption authority in the child’s country of origin (Central Authority for Hague Convention members or government organization for non-Hague countries) and request the dossier be provided to an approved agency to facilitate an international adoption.
Contact Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to complete the forms required to sponsor a child or apply for the child’s Canadian citizenship. The immigration website provides detailed information on the options available to you.
The adoption authority in the originating country sends a child referral to Adoption Services for your family. Matches are made considering the needs of the child and your ability to parent a child with such needs
In all cases, the biological parents of the child must have their guardianship permanently terminated before the child can be considered eligible for adoption.
Reasonable efforts must be made to place the child domestically before considering an international adoption. This applies to the adoption of relatives as well.
Newborns are not generally available because efforts must first be made to place them for adoption in their country of origin. The majority of children adopted internationally are older or have significant special needs.
Alberta Adoption Services reviews the “match”. If appropriate, Alberta Adoption Services provides the referral information to your Alberta licensed adoption agency. The agency proposes the match to you and forwards all information to you, including a “Letter of Acceptance/Decline”.
Discuss the information about your adoption match with your family doctor and appropriate specialists at the International Adoption Clinic.
Advise Alberta Adoption Services of your decision regarding adoption of the child by completing the Letter of Acceptance/Decline.
If Alberta Adoption Services approves the match and you agree to the adoption of the child, the child’s adoption authority arranges for finalization of the adoption in Court.
Once the adoption procedures are finalized, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada review your application for sponsorship or Canadian citizenship.
For more details about the adoption process, see the International Adoption Guidebook for Alberta Families.
Due to the complexity of requirements, it is recommended to use a coordinator for your international adoption. A coordinator can:
Alberta Adoption Services does not license, monitor or endorse individuals/agencies that arrange international adoptions in foreign countries. Families can hire an individual/agency of their choice to help prepare their family’s dossier and make travel and legal arrangements. It is the family’s responsibility to ensure they choose a reputable resource that is authorized to arrange and finalize adoptions in the child’s country of origin. For Hague Convention adoptions, families may only work with coordinators who are authorized by the child’s country and who have a working arrangement with Alberta Adoption Services.
Agencies licensed in other provinces to facilitate international adoptions do not have the authority to arrange adoptions in Alberta. They are considered to be coordinators in Alberta’s process and are only able to provide services as indicated above.
In the context of International Adoption, private adoption means the adoptive parents are responsible for arranging the adoption directly with the child’s country of origin, according to the legislation of that country. In addition, the adoptive parents must finalize the adoption and obtain the adoption order in the child’s country of origin.
Private international adoptions are only processed under the following circumstances:
There are 2 types of private international adoption:
In those countries where the Hague Convention has been implemented, Private Adoption is not possible.
For more information on the private adoption process, see the International Adoption Guidebook for Alberta Families.
There are three non-government, non-profit agencies that have been granted authority to arrange private adoptions in Alberta and to assist with international adoptions. These agencies are licensed by Alberta Children’s Services and must comply with the requirements set out in the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act and Adoption Regulations.
Agencies charge the adoptive parents fees for their services.
Phone: 780-421-1177
2020, Tower 1, 10060 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3R8
Email: [email protected]
Website: Small Miracles Adoption
Calgary
Phone: 403-270-8228
Toll free: 1-888-277-8228
Address:
#207, 5940 MacLeod Trail SW
Calgary, Alberta T2H 2G4
Edmonton
Phone: 780-433-5656
Toll free: 1-800-770-3023
Email: [email protected]
Website: Adoption Options
Address:
#304, 10109 106 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3L7
Calgary
Phone: 403-256-3224
Toll free: 1-877-256-3224
201B, 9705 Horton Road SW
Calgary, Alberta T2V 2X5
Edmonton
Phone: 780-438-3455
Toll free: 1-877-256-3224
Email: [email protected]
Website: Christian Adoption Services
Legal Advice – Lawyer Referral Service
Connect with Alberta Adoption Services with questions or comments.
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