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WHAT IS IT?
Most foreign adoptions are finalized in the foreign country. Upon returning to the United States, many adoptive parents go through the process of adopting the same child in an adoption proceeding here in their home state. Since the adoptive parents are already legally bound to the child most courts see this procedure as more of a "recognition of foreign judgment" and treat the re-adoption as a related adoption.
Section 750 ILCS 50/4.1(c) (8) States:
| (8) When a child is adopted in a foreign country and |
| a final, complete and valid Order of Adoption is issued in that country, as determined by both the United States Department of State and the United States Department of Justice, this State shall not impose any additional preadoption requirements. The adoptive family, however, must comply with applicable requirements of the United States Department of Immigration and Naturalization as provided in 8 CFR 204.4 (d)(2)(ii), as now or hereafter amended. |
IS IT LEGALLY REQUIRED?
The answer depends on the child's visa status when entering the United States.
IR-4 Visa: A child who enters the country with an IR-4 visa status means that they did not receive automatic citizenship status upon their adoption and their adoptive parents MUST initiate the adoption process in their home state. A child usually receives an IR-4 status if both parents did not travel to see the child they are adopting prior to the adoption becoming final in the foreign country.
IR-3 Visa: Here the child is automatically a U.S. citizen; nevertheless many adoptive parents choose to go through a re-adoption procedure even though it is not legally required of them.
WHY GO THROUGH A RE-ADOPTION IF IT NOT LEGALLY REQUIRED?
There are three main reasons parents elect to go through a re-adoption:
- Birth Certificate: The most popular reason is to obtain a U.S. birth certificate otherwise called "A Record of Foreign Birth". This is desirable because if the lose the foreign birth certificate they would have to travel back to the country of origin to get a new one but once they get a Record of Foreign birth they can always get another one through Springfield. Additionally it is easier to deal with schools when you have the English Record of Foreign birth and are not handing them copies of documents from China or Russia deal with school personnel who can find these documents quite confusing. Although parents can technically apply for this without going through a re-adoption by applying directly through the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) many choose not to because:
- IDPH requires that the parents send them their original foreign legal documents which parents (who usually only get one set of originals) do not want to part with.
- If parents wish to do a name change for the child they cannot do it through the IDPH but would have to initiate a separate legal proceeding to accomplish this. If you initiate a re-adoption, however, then the name change can be completed in the same procedure. This is especially the case in Guatemala where they almost never finalize with the name the adoptive parents would like the child to have and often place the mother's maiden name as the child's last name.
- When IDPH issues the birth certificate without going through the re-adoption process they reference some of the adoption information on the new certificate but if the certificate is issued subsequent to a re-adoption they do not mention the adoption on there at all.
- Jurisdiction: In the very unlikely event there is a problem with the foreign judgment a U.S. court is now involved and would have some jurisdiction over the matter.
- Full Faith and Credit: Not all states recognize foreign adoption judgments but they would have to recognize an Illinois one and give it full faith and credit.
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