Uganda, Africa - New Hope Adoption

Uganda,

Africa

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

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Uganda, Africa & New Hope for Children

New Hope for Children has created a partnership in Uganda, Africa to provide loving homes for deserving infants and children through inter-country adoption. Directors, Alisa and Tim Karwowski, have traveled to Uganda 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. 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 Uganda, Africa

Uganda is located in east-central Africa. About the size of Great Britain, Uganda is populated by dozens of ethnic groups. The English language and Christianity help unite these diverse peoples, who come together in the cosmopolitan capital of Kampala. Kampala is a verdant city that includes dozens of small parks and public gardens and a scenic promenade along the shore of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake.

The Swahili language unites the country with its East African neighbors Kenya and Tanzania. The tropical climate of Uganda is modified by elevation and, locally, by the presence of the lakes.

Uganda’s population remains basically rural, although the number of urban dwellers, constituting about one-sixth of the total population, is growing.

Children Eligible For International Adoption

Age of Adoptive Child: The adoptive child/children must be under the age of 18. Children who are 14 years old or older must consent to the adoption.
Waiting Period or Foster Care: Under Ugandan law, adoptive parents must reside in Uganda for at least one year. In addition, adoptive parents must have fostered the child in country for at least one year under the supervision of a probation and social welfare officer.
Relinquishment: The consent of both biological parents, if known, must be obtained and may be withdrawn prior to the pronouncement of the adoption order. The court also has the authority to require the consent of any person who has legal or customary responsibility for the child. However, per Article 47(2) of the Children Act, the court may dispense with parental consent if the parents are not capable of giving consent.
Abandonment: The probation and social welfare officers in the Ministry are responsible for certifying a child as abandoned in accordance with Ugandan law.

New Hope For Children

Who Can Adopt

The Children Act Amendments of 2016 require non-Ugandan prospective adoptive parents to spend one year living in Uganda fostering the child/children they intend to adopt.
Marriage: Married couples are not required to apply jointly, but both must consent to the adoption. Single parents may adopt, but they may not adopt a child of the opposite sex, absent the court's determination that special circumstances justify an exception.
Age of Adopting Parents: Applicants must be at least 25 years old and 21 years older than the child they plan to adopt. Uganda does not have an upper age limit for adoption. In the case of a married couple, it is sufficient for one spouse to meet these requirements.
Income: There are no specific income requirements for Ugandan adoptions, although prospective adoptive parents must be able to prove financial stability.

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

What To Expect

Once you have completed the fostering period for 12 months (be it living in Uganda or by proxy) the lawyers will complete and compile your documents and apply for a court appointment. Please expect 6 weeks to get a response from the court registrar that may give you an appointment for 6 to 8 weeks later.

Court Rulings have been taking an estimated few weeks to 6 months for the judge to grant an adoption hearing.

Our in-country facilitator is then able to obtain the passport for you and give it to the lawyers. This process is estimated to take 2 weeks to a month.

Once the passport has been obtained, the lawyers are able to submit your visa application for you to the Embassy taking up to a month. The entire Embassy investigative process can take up to 3 to 4 months and may require additional DNA testing for the child and his/her birth family.

Adoption Process & Anticipated Timeline In Uganda, Africa

Ugandan International Adoption Program

The Process:

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 and communicating with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in Uganda and the orphanage where the child resides on your behalf. NHFC will also help with preparations of the I600A form to USCIS.
Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) 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-Uganda in-country team (attorney and local 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 receive your formal referral of a child and present the Child Study report to you for your review and approval. You will then apply for the I-600 for this specific child.
NHFC-Uganda in-country team oversee all Ugandan legal requirements for the custody process to be finalized.
New Hope for Children will assist your family with travel throughout Uganda, accommodations, drivers, obtaining the immigrant visa medical examination, filing the 1-600, and processing the child's visa through the U.S. Embassy in Kampala, Uganda.
In-country Social Worker will visit you a minimum of once per month during the 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.
Once you have satisfactorily completed the one-year fostering period, you will be permitted to attend the Cares Panel and obtain a court date for the adoption petition which will be heard at the High Court, Family Division in Kampala, Uganda.
After receiving the favorable ruling, you will be permitted to complete the US Embassy medical appointment for the child and ultimately be granted an immigrant visa for the child to travel home

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 Uganda:

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

The first post adoption report is due prior to 3 months; the second prior to 6 months post adoption and the third being due prior to 12 months post adoption. New Hope for Children and Welcome Home require that all adoptive families self-report, to include recent photos, an update on the child and family twice annually until the child turns 18 years old.

New Hope for Children, and a local social worker will assist in providing post adoption support, referrals to local resources such as an adoption lawyer or therapists, post adoption visits and post adoption reports.

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