Yud,
Thanks for your reply.
I have been digging pretty deep in to those matters.
So you will have to bear with me going thru below explanations. :-)
I am specifically interested to hear from non-US national couples based in the US, who are interested in intercountry adoption and are been supported by their home country's officials and administration.
Let me explain further where my question comes from.
For intercountry adoption, US immigration laws oblige at least one partner to be of US nationality. This law is based on so called "ius sanguinis", by the right of blood.
US has agreed and implemented The Convention of The Hague for Intercountry Adoption, IAA, which is laudable.
However one of the key elements of Convention of The Hague is the adoption process is based on residence of the applicant (not his nationality), it is based on "ius soli", by the right of the soil.
This has huge implications: All couples of non-US nationals, resident in the US, can not adopt intercountry.
(still you need another discussion about residency: who is resident ? green card-permanent resident ? "habitual" resident ?
while the Hague is formulated on habitual residencyÂ…)
In practice, what this means:
We are a Belgian couple. If we were to reside in France, we could proceed with intercountry adoption in France. Because both Belgium and France are signatories of The Hague. We are Belgian nationals, and the French adoption process, in accordance with The Hague, lets residents in France, of any nationality, proceed with adoption. When we return to Belgium, the adoption process will be transferred to our home country thru a simplified procedure.
Living in the USA we are stuck. Non-US nationals can not adopt intercountry in the US.
Neither do our Belgian authorities provide us with any support, exactly, because we do not reside in Belgium Â… However aren't all Belgians equal before the law ? Yes they are Â…, but, so it seems, we are not Â… (we are in a court case in Belgium on this).
We do not have a solution in our home country for a procedure of last resort.
Now, and I come back to my call, from readings I understand France and Italy, and others ?, DO have such a procedure of last resort. French and Italian nationals, though residing overseas and being barred from intercountry adoption there, can resort to their home country's authorities to initiate & proceed with adoption. So i am very interested to hear from people who have experience in this.
If you are in such case, if you happen to know people who are in such case, I will be glad to get in contact.
Best
Tom
