Adoption process for Australians in Singapore

[shobhadsa]

Hi,

We are Australian Citizens (of Indian origin) currently based in Singapore on Employment Passes. We are looking at adopting a baby from India.

Would love some guidance / inputs from anyone who has also adopted from India, specifically Australians given the strict process involved in getting the child an Australian visa & citizenship in the future. Any recommendations of recognized adoption agencies in India would be most appreciated. We have the list of recognized agencies - what would help is a reference from someone with their personal experience.

We met up with the Australian Embassy here and were broadly told to adopt from an accredited agency in India.. check with Singapore & follow its policies to bring an adopted child into Singapore on a DP and then apply for a Australian Visa. Make sure there was no monetary transaction involved - with regard to the woman having a baby for money.

Sounds incredibly simple but were are really unsure about where to begin.

Are we required to adopt only babies born in Singapore or can we adopt from other countries too? How do we get information on the adoption process in Singapore? We understand it is MCYS that handles adoption related matters in Singapore. We checked the website, but were unable to really find specific information

We met up with some agencies here in Singapore - but they spoke about paying for the mother's maternity expenses, cost of delivery etc... also spoke about non-Singaporeans coming into Singapore and having their babies and putting up the child for adoption etc.

Is this standard practice for adoption of a baby in Singapore? We did not get a good feeling with these agencies....

Any help would be most appreciated!!

[offshoreoildude]

Adopting Singapore born kids is easy in Singapore. Find an agent you like and then do the adoption via the family court. Adopting none Singapore kids is slightly harder (you need to the do the home study etc) but your advantage for Australia is that while you are outside Australia (for at least 14 months and NOT for the purpose of adoption) you can do a private overseas adoption and then apply for an adoption visa for your child - adopting children INSIDE Australia is almost impossible now.

[canuckmum]

First time on this forum so not sure where this message will end up, but we are Canadian expats resident (EP and DP) in Singapore and looking to adopt a Singaporean child.
Do we need to do the HSR? Should we do so in case it's hard to find a Singaporean child to adopt and we need to adopt from overseas?
Can someone PM me about agencies they recommend?
And what VWO would you recommend for doing the HSR (I have contacted 2 - one that deals only with expats, the other well known in Singapore but have heard dodgy feedback about how they treat expats).
Thanks!

[offshoreoildude]

First time on this forum so not sure where this message will end up, but we are Canadian expats resident (EP and DP) in Singapore and looking to adopt a Singaporean child.
Do we need to do the HSR? Should we do so in case it's hard to find a Singaporean child to adopt and we need to adopt from overseas?
Can someone PM me about agencies they recommend?
And what VWO would you recommend for doing the HSR (I have contacted 2 - one that deals only with expats, the other well known in Singapore but have heard dodgy feedback about how they treat expats).
Thanks!

If you find an SC child through 'private' channels (i.e. a non MCYS agency) you can skip most of the home study BS, MCYS will do a cursory home and background check to make sure you're not a broke pedo and you're ready to go the Singapore family court - they issue an adoption order - then the judge orders the ICA to issue a new birt cert. Doing a private adoption of an SC is about 10% of the effort and 33% of the cost of adopting a non SC kid into Singapore.

Note - gheys are not allowed to adopt kids in Singapore.

[canuckmum]

If you find an SC child through 'private' channels (i.e. a non MCYS agency) you can skip most of the home study BS, MCYS will do a cursory home and background check to make sure you're not a broke pedo and you're ready to go the Singapore family court - they issue an adoption order - then the judge orders the ICA to issue a new birt cert. Doing a private adoption of an SC is about 10% of the effort and 33% of the cost of adopting a non SC kid into Singapore.

Note - gheys are not allowed to adopt kids in Singapore.[/quote]

Thanks! I guess the difficulty of finding a Singaporean baby. Apparently they aren't as numerous as foreign babies. Ah well, worth a try.

[offshoreoildude]

If you find an SC child through 'private' channels (i.e. a non MCYS agency) you can skip most of the home study BS, MCYS will do a cursory home and background check to make sure you're not a broke pedo and you're ready to go the Singapore family court - they issue an adoption order - then the judge orders the ICA to issue a new birt cert. Doing a private adoption of an SC is about 10% of the effort and 33% of the cost of adopting a non SC kid into Singapore.

Note - gheys are not allowed to adopt kids in Singapore.

Thanks! I guess the difficulty of finding a Singaporean baby. Apparently they aren't as numerous as foreign babies. Ah well, worth a try.[/quote]

I'd disagree with the last sentence - over 400 are adopted every year. pretty high no IMGO.

[offshoreoildude]

I'd add that you need to be careful about adopting a SC male - because of potential NS obligations!

[Vavis]

Having such problems finding a good agency. We are restricted to adopting a Singaporean child (our embassy won't issue a Letter of Assurance) so that eliminates maybe half of the adoption agencies on my list. Some others are just not going to work. I have had a couple of meetings with potential agencies and they didn't show up at all, no follow-up phone call, nothing. I found one woman who said it was likely to take 3 years to find a child (appreciate her honesty) but perhaps it is because her agency is new or inefficient?? I know the whole prospect looks very discouraging..... but if anyone has had a positive experience with any agency, please please please PM me. Thx

[offshoreoildude]

Having such problems finding a good agency. We are restricted to adopting a Singaporean child (our embassy won't issue a Letter of Assurance) so that eliminates maybe half of the adoption agencies on my list. Some others are just not going to work. I have had a couple of meetings with potential agencies and they didn't show up at all, no follow-up phone call, nothing. I found one woman who said it was likely to take 3 years to find a child (appreciate her honesty) but perhaps it is because her agency is new or inefficient?? I know the whole prospect looks very discouraging..... but if anyone has had a positive experience with any agency, please please please PM me. Thx

I've used an agent but I frankly wouldn't recommend them. Have a talk to Sanctuary House - they come across SC kids who sometimes need to be adopted. Also befriend some gynobs/GP's etc and tell them you're looking to adopt - they sometimes meet teens who want to give up unwanted babies.

[Addisongreen]

Having read through everyone's comments, nothing when going down this path appears like it is going to be easy by any stretch....

If anyone happens to have had a good experience with an agency for International Adoption (as per this post we are Australian) can they please PM me?

The High Commission apart from giving the rules about making sure of the legalities of the adoption in their eyes is unable to provide any further advice.

Thanks!

[offshoreoildude]

Having read through everyone's comments, nothing when going down this path appears like it is going to be easy by any stretch....

If anyone happens to have had a good experience with an agency for International Adoption (as per this post we are Australian) can they please PM me?

The High Commission apart from giving the rules about making sure of the legalities of the adoption in their eyes is unable to provide any further advice.

Thanks!

I would not adopt any nationality apart from Singaporean if you're living here. As an Aussie you have a 14 month waiting period before you can do a private adoption overseas as well. It's not impossible to find Singapore babies put up for adoption - there are over 400 adopted out every year.

[Addisongreen]

Thanks offshoreoildude. We are past the 14 month waiting period by a few years so we are ok on that front. However having approached a couple of agencies locally, they would not even add to the list for local adoption as they "have their quota" of people looking to adpot locally already. Thus my earlier comment about anyone that has a good story to pass on.

[offshoreoildude]

Thanks offshoreoildude. We are past the 14 month waiting period by a few years so we are ok on that front. However having approached a couple of agencies locally, they would not even add to the list for local adoption as they "have their quota" of people looking to adpot locally already. Thus my earlier comment about anyone that has a good story to pass on.

Keep trying. That story you've been told is a crock of BS in my experience. Don't go to the bigger agencies. Addon: As these agencies are pretty much unregulated.... those that pay more.... move up the queue.

[Dochas70]

Hi,
we're expats living in Singapore and luckily we can get a letter of assurance from our embassy here so we can adopt from Malaysia or Indonesia. I would love to get the name of an agency that someone can recommend. I've been reading all the threads here and it's obvious that there are some agencies that are to be avoided!
Any agency names PM'd, or any other advice at all would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
D

[offshoreoildude]

Hi,
we're expats living in Singapore and luckily we can get a letter of assurance from our embassy here so we can adopt from Malaysia or Indonesia. I would love to get the name of an agency that someone can recommend. I've been reading all the threads here and it's obvious that there are some agencies that are to be avoided!
Any agency names PM'd, or any other advice at all would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
D

What's your citizenship? I would not recommend kids from Indonesia unless you have different advice to the one I'm familiar with that states that Indo kids are never really 'given' up.