Ghana, Africa - New Hope Adoption

Ghana,

Africa

New Hope for Children has created a partnership in Ghana, Africa to provide loving homes for deserving infants and children through inter-country adoption.

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Ghana, Africa & New Hope for Children

New Hope for Children has created a partnership in Ghana, Africa to provide loving homes for deserving infants and children through inter-country adoption. Directors, Alisa and Tim Karwowski, have traveled to Accra and surrounding regions and have created a team of adoption professionals in-country. New Hope has attorneys, facilitators, drivers and translators for adoptive parents to work directly with while traveling. New Hope for Children is registered as an NGO and is accredited by the Central Adoption Authority to preform services related to international adoption. We are honored to have been given this opportunity to create or expand your family through international adoption and we are grateful to have developed professional and personal relationships with the people you will be working directly with throughout your adoption journey.

A Peek At Ghana, Africa

Ghana is located in West Africa and is sandwiched between Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Togo. The country is slightly smaller than the state of Oregon. The landscape consists mainly of plains and low plateaus covered by rain forests in the west and Lake Volta in the east. There are over 50 different ethnic groups in Ghana, each with their own customs and languages, but the country is harmonious and peaceful. They live mostly in villages and grow their food on farms. Ghanaians love soccer and built a large soccer stadium in the capital of Accra. Soccer is the national sport. Ghana is known for being a friendly and largely safe country.

Children Eligible For International Adoption

The orphan database in Ghana currently has over two hundred children listed as being eligible to be adopted by an international family. Children become adoptable by a US couple if there is evidence of one or more of the following documents:

Biological parent(s) relinquishment of custodial rights to the child, death certificate(s) of one or more parent, evidence of abandonment including documentation of attempt to locate parents for a period of time and evidence of not having a suitable local adoptive family.

Birth parents' death certificate(s)
Relinquishment of parental rights in front of a judge
Exhausted search efforts to find biological parents
In-country fostering period is one month long per Ghana law.

Process And Timeline For Adopting In Ghana, Africa

As our first clients adopting through Ghana are progressing through their process, we are learning more about working with the Ghanaian government. We are reaching out with more updates about the requirements that you will need to follow, and the estimated timeline in which you can bring your child home.

The Process And Timeline:

New Hope for Children will assist or guide your family through the Application process, document procurement, adoptive parent training, United States Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) and provide support and regular communication throughout the entire adoption process.
Social Worker your Local Service Agency will assist your family through the home study process including preparing and educating your family on adoption issues including: cross-cultural adoption, grief and loss, attachment and adjustment issues, adoption as a lifelong developmental process, and the risks in inter-country adoption.
New Hope for Children will assist you in preparing the dossier documents, registering your family with the Depatterning of Social Welfare (DSW), communicating with DSW and the orphanage where the child resides and providing the DSW and the in-country adoption attorney with your dossier.\
Central Adoption Authority (CAA) will identify children available for adoption, arrange for their adoption, secure the necessary consents and termination of parent documents, and secure background medical and social studies on children as well as provide with all medical and social information available for the children.
NHFC-Ghana in-country team (attorney, social worker and DSW social workers) work cooperatively together and with the prospective birth family, when applicable, to match the child with the appropriate adoptive family.
New Hope for Children will assist or guide your family through the referral process, submit acceptance paperwork to the DSW and the in-country attorney, submit paperwork to the ICPC office (when applicable), and provide travel information and preparation.
CAA and NHFC-Ghana in-country team oversee all Ghanaian legal requirements for the custody process to be - completed, obtain a birth certificate and valid passport for the child.
New Hope for Children will assist your family with travel throughout Ghana, accommodations, drivers, obtaining the immigrant visa medical examination, filing the 1-800, and processing the child's visa through the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana.
Department of Social Welfare (DSW) Social Worker will visit you a minimum of two times during the one-month in-country fostering period for the purposes of assisting the child with the transition to his/her adoptive family as well as offering support and guidance as your family attaches to the child. If concerns regarding the specific child arise during this time, you are instructed to contract your assigned social worker and the in-country attorney for immediate assistance and support. Should concerns persist and there is a potential for disruption, the New Hope for Children directors, NHFC Team, DSW social worker and CAA will be participating in that support and process. When necessary because of disruption before final adoption, New Hope for Children will be a part of assuming custody and providing (including facilitating the provision of) child care or any other social service pending an alternative placement.
Social Worker and New Hope for Children-assistance with counseling and referral services) your Local Service Agency will assist your family in providing post support, referrals to local resources such as an adoption lawyer or therapists, post adoption visits and post adoption reports according to the following schedule: The post placement reports will be due at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 36 months, 48 months and 60 months after adoption
New Hope for Children and Social Worker will be there to assist in the event significant concerns arise and a potential dissolution becomes necessary. The NHFC team and your local social will work directly with the family as well as other authorities as deemed necessary. NHFC will facilitate the placement of the child should that result.
New Hope for Children provide guidance regarding the finalization process in your state, review of post adoption reports and submission of those reports to Central Adoption Authority in Accra, Ghana.

Upon completion of the post adoption period and when eligible to file a petition for adoption in your state of residence, you will finalize or re-finalize the adoption of your child in the United States.
You, the adoptive parents, will be responsible for all medical, dental, emotional and physical care of your child upon adoption.

Post adoption supervision will include a minimum of five visits by your social worker (listed above) and seven post placement reports according to the above listed schedule. New Hope for Children reserves the right to require additional visits.

New Hope for Children will provide support and resources to include but not limited to counseling, gatherings with NHFC team and other adoptive families, professional trainings, seminars and readings.

US Citizenship for Foreign Born Children:

Since your child/ren will be adopted in-country, he/she will gain citizenship on point of entry into the United States per the Child Citizen Act of 2000. The Certificate of Citizenship is automatically mailed to you. It may take anywhere up to 8 weeks for this certificate to be delivered to you.

You will need to fill out a Validation of Foreign Adoption form. This link will bring you to New Hampshire’s form. If you do not live in New Hampshire, you will file this form in your state of residence. https://www.courts.state.nh.us/probate/servicecenters/checklists/checklistfiles/026Validationofadoption.pdf

Next, you can apply for your child’s birth certificate. You can find information for your state of residence online. This is the link for New Hampshire: http://sos.nh.gov/certcopies.aspx

Once you have obtained your child’s birth certificate, you can apply for his/her social security card. Here is a helpful link regarding obtaining a social security card: https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ss-5fs.pdf

Your child’s social security card number will be necessary for eligibility for the adoption tax credit. Tax benefits for adoption include both a tax credit for qualified adoption expenses paid to adopt an eligible child and an exclusion from income for employer-provided adoption assistance. The credit is nonrefundable, which means it's limited to your tax liability for the year. However, any credit in excess of your tax liability may be carried forward for up to five years. For 2024, the adoption tax credit is fully available in the amount of $16,810 if your modified adjusted gross income is equal to or less than $252,150.

Post adoption requirements for Ghana:

All foreign families who have adopted children in Ghana must agree to submit five post placement reports to the Government of Ghana for the first three years of placement. Failure to do this is a violation of international adoption agreement with Ghana; may result in our Agency’s accreditation revoked and your family being investigated by either government.

The first post placement is due not prior to 6 months and not later than 6 months after the court decision. The second report is due not prior to 11 months and not later than 12 months. The third report is due not prior to 23 months and not later than 24 months. The fourth post adoption report is due not prior to 35 months and not later than 36 months. The final post adoption report is due not prior to 47 months and not after 48 months post adoption.

Snapshot of the Process of adopting a child from Ghana:

Complete home study and application to Department of Social Welfare in Ghana Apply for I800A and gain approval of Petition to Adopt a Child Classified as an Orphan Submit Dossier, receive Article 16, the complete child study report and referral of a child. Once you accept the referral of a child, you may arrange to travel to Ghana to being the one-month fostering period.

Trip 1

• While staying in Ghana, you will need to have an inspection of the home or hotel that you are staying at. Prepare for the trip to be about three weeks. This is an amazing time for you and your child to bond while the child remains in a somewhat familiar environment.

• The Director of Social Welfare will meet with you shortly after arrival in-country. Once he has interviewed you, a clearance letter will be authored on your behalf and submitted to the Minister. This letter permits the beginning of the fostering period. During your fostering period, you will be visited by a social worker who will support the bonding process.

• Please understand that the bonding period does not begin when you land in Ghana, but rather when you meet the child.

• When you are not present in Ghana, power of attorney is given to our in-country attorney who will act on your behalf as necessary.

• Once you have completed important bonding period, the Director of Social Welfare will a petition the court for a hearing to grant the finalization of the adoption of this specific child/children.

Trip 2

• Apply for The I-800, which can be filed before the court date, should be completed simultaneously to expedite the process.

• Apply for the expedited process for the birth certificate and child’s passport.

• Apply for the child’s visa, including medical appointment and schedule interview at US Embassy.• You are now ready to return home with your newly adopted child/children!

• Return to the United States with your child. Once you arrive at the port of entry in the U.S., your child will officially be an American citizen, as per the Child Citizen Act of 2000.

• Complete post adoption visits and reports as directed by Ghanaian government.

New Hope For Children

Who Can Adopt

In addition to the USCIS eligibility requirements for prospective adoptive parent(s), Ghana has the following adoption eligibility requirements. If you feel you are not eligible to adopt from Ghana, please contact us for a free case-by-case consultation regarding your adoption

Citizenship: One adoptive parent must be a US citizen.
Age: Adoptive parents must be at least 25 years of age. The parent must be at least 21 years older than the adoptive child. Parents over 50 years old are considered on a case-by-case basis if one parent meets the requirements.
Marriage Status: Married couples and single Ghanaian woman are eligible to adopt. There are no prior divorce restrictions.· Previous Children: Smaller families with less than 5 children living in the home are preferred.
Income: There is no minimum income required. However, you must meet the income requirements provided by USCIS for the child to immigrate.
Criminal History: Applicants with a criminal history of child abuse, violence or domestic violence are not eligible to adopt.

Ghana adoption eligibility requirements are subject to change per Ghana’s adoption laws. New Hope for Children updates these guidelines as necessary.

Information provided by: State Department, USCIS, Inter-country Adoption.

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