Haiti Adoptions
(Non-Hague)
Haiti is known to be one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere. Due to poverty, civil unrest, lack of infrastructure and poor living conditions, infectious diseases, and a high mortality rate in child birth, many children are in need of permanent families.
Child Care: All child care is provided by the facilitator with whom families work. They all run their own foster homes as part of the license that they receive from the Haitian Ministry. They have onsite child care providers, medical staff and agency staff that assist with taking care of children as the adoption process is handled. Some agencies allow the adoptive family to travel to the country during the adoption process to meet their child as the processing time is quite lengthy.
CAFAC prepares all dossiers after the family has gathered the required documentation for the country. Translation services are also provided through CAFAC.
- Parent requirements: Under Haitian law, at least one prospective adoptive parent must be 35 years or older. For married couples, one prospective adoptive parent may be under age 35, provided the couple has been married for ten years and has no biological children.
- Applicants who are 35 to 43 years of age may be proposed a child(ren) as young as possible (infant) or 0-36 months at the time of referral. .
- Applicants who are over 44 to 50 years of age, even if only one is over 44, may be proposed a child(ren) 3 to 10 years of age at the time of referral.
- Applicants who are 51 to 55 years of age, even if only one is over 51, may be proposed a child(ren) 5 years of age or older at the time of referral.
- Applicants over 55 will not be accepted.
- It is recommended that families should submit a preapproval form to Haiti prior to sending their application there. Particularly if they have children already in their family or have health issues that may be a concern to Haiti.
Children: All children are racially Black, and range in ages from a few weeks old to 10 years old. All are tested for HIV, Hep B, TB and VD. Siblings are available and sometimes twins. Sibling groups range in age from 1 year to 10 years old. Child proposals usually come to the family within 1-9 months after the file is in the country.
Waiting Time: Child proposals usually come to the family within 1-9 months after the file is in the country. The proposal will come with as much information as is known about the child, medical examination results, laboratory findings, and photos. The family provides written consent to accepting a particular child, and post placement reports as part of the adoption process. The family needs to be prepared that it could take up to 24-30 months to complete an adoption from Haiti.
Travel: The agency provides travel preparation and accommodations for all adoptive parents, either alone or in travel groups, and can range from $44 USD to $66 USD/day in the orphanage, guest house or hotel. Travel to the country is only advisable if Haitian agency directors indicate it is safe for the family to come. Stay in the country is 10 to 14 days in length. The adoption is finalized prior to travel.
Fees: Couples report that the complete cost for the adoption process and travel ranges from $25,000 - $45,000 CAD depending on exchange rate, price of plane tickets, number of parent trips taken and number of children adopted. The Haitian country fee is different for each facilitator so it is best to be in contact with us directly regarding this.
Immigration: The Canadian High Commission is located in Port au Prince, Haiti. All visas are reviewed and issued in this office.
Facilitator Agencies CAFAC works with:
God's Littlest Angels- www.glahaiti.org
Foyer de Sion - www.foyerdesion.org
Children of the Promise - www.childrenofthepromise.org