Adoption can be a wonderful way to grow your military family. If you adopt a child from another country, you'll need to get smart on readoption when you return to the United States. Readoption is the legal process that can affect your child's school enrollment, inheritance rights and Social Security benefits. The process may be required or voluntary depending on your state. Either way, you’ll probably want a lawyer to help you through it.
In many cases, the adoption of a foreign-born child is finalized overseas, and parents receive an adoption decree and birth certificate from the foreign government — usually with English translations. The federal government and 26 states recognize adoptions finalized overseas.
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Readoption
Unless your adoption is through the Hague Convention, adoption professionals typically recommend readoption for these reasons:
- You can avoid the confusion of having to readopt later if your family moves to a different state that doesn't recognize the foreign adoption.
- You can request a state-issued birth certificate, which will replace your child's foreign birth certificate (and associated translations) and make it easier to request copies or a certified original birth certificate from your state's vital records department. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to get an original copy of a foreign-issued birth certificate if it's ever lost.
- You can change your child's name when completing your readoption paperwork.
Your installation legal assistance office can help you determine whether or not your state requires readoption. If the adoption isn't finalized overseas, you'll need to finalize it in your state of residence.
Adoption finalization
Adoption finalization is different from readoption. Finalization is necessary only if your child's adoption wasn't completed overseas. If the adoption needs to be completed in the U.S., the child will travel to the U.S. with an IR4 visa. Finalization may be required under these or other circumstances:
- Adoptions may not be recognized by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services if the parents don't travel to meet their child overseas. The adoption would need to be finalized in the U.S.
- Some countries don't finalize international adoptions, though they give parents custodial rights. In these cases, the adoption must be finalized in the U.S.
The readoption process
The processes for readoption or adoption finalization vary from state to state. It can take as long as the original adoption in some states, but it's relatively simple in others. In many cases, you'll need an experienced attorney to help you file the necessary paperwork with your local family court:
- Make sure your attorney is experienced with readoption of foreign-born children.
- Check with your installation's legal assistance office to see if they can help you find an experienced local attorney.
- Find the nearest legal assistance office by visiting the U.S. Armed Forces Legal Assistance website.
To learn more about readoption, visit the Child Welfare Information Gateway. You can also learn more about foreign adoption by reading Military OneSource's article on international adoptions.