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1. Where does my dossier go? What are the legal steps in Haiti?
| Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) |
2-4 weeks |
First Legalization (1st Legal). This is where all of the papers are authenticated.
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| File prepared for IBESR (Concurrent with MFA) |
1-4 weeks |
When the paperwork is at Foreign Affairs, your lawyer must prepare your file for IBESR. IBESR requires that the paperwork be in a certain order. The social history and psychological examination required by IBESR for your child must be made during this period. It involves putting the child's social information into a home study format with your home study information.
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| IBESR |
2-6 months |
Your child's paperwork is put together with your documents and the file is then presented to IBESR (Haiti's Social Service Department) where a social worker will look over all of your documents and decide whether to approve your adoption request.The director of IBESR, the IBESR lawyer, the head of adoption services at IBESR, and the IBESR social worker must all sign off on your dossier. This is four stages of approval.
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| Parquet |
2-12 weeks |
This step involves one person(?) releasing the child(ren)'s file(s). Parquet is the head commissioner. He is intertwined with court.
He asks all of the birth parents to come for
interviews to make sure that they understand that
there children are being adopted. Apparently there
was some fraudulent activity going on and he wants to
protect the birth parents interests. i.e. make sure
they are in agreement.
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| Civil Court Legalization |
2-8 weeks |
The adoption is finalized. After this point, the children are legally yours. (2nd Legal)
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| Minister of Interior Affairs (MOI)/Haitian Immigration |
2-14 weeks |
The file is submitted into the passport process. The passports are printed in the adopting parents last name.
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| DHS Processing (U.S. Parents) |
1-3 weeks |
I-600 is filed by adopting parents. File is reviewed and approved by DHS
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| DNA Testing |
0-6 weeks |
May or may not be necessary. Depends on DHS' opinion.
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| Consulate/Visa Appointment |
1 week lead |
Child receives visa in preparation for travel to their new home
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2. Is there a file number for every dossier?
Yup! But there's a catch. Not all dossiers are for adoption.
Dossier is a french word for "papers." The papers submitted into IBESR are for all social services matters - not just adoption. Think of IBESR like your local department of family services, department of social services, or department of human services - depending on where you live. These departments handle care of all children, families in need, and disabled adults. If a child is found in a prostitution ring, that child is assigned an IBESR number.
So, yes, every file has a number, but it's not just for adoption cases.
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3. Are the file numbers issued in consecutive order?
Yes. Sometimes, when a new director comes in, they will skip several hundreds numbers ahead. However, this is a rare occurrence.
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4. How did a file 200 numbers ahead of mine already come out?
Why hasn't my file come out?
Several reasons! This is one reason why many orphanages and agencies have stopped telling parents what their file number is. It's so easy to get in such a tizzy when you see a file hundreds above yours released from IBESR before yours.
Using file numbers 10,249 - 10,283 - and 10,434 as examples, this is a brief explanation of what can happen and why.
File: 10,434 In IBESR: June 5 Out of IBESR: June 25 TTL: 20days
Dossier is for a very ill 6 month old baby boy. If this baby doesn't get out of the country and into proper medical facilities, he would die soon. This file was flagged as urgent so he can receive the care needed as soon as possible.
File: 10,249 In IBESR: January 5 Out of IBESR: August 25 TTL: 8months
Dossier is for a little girl. When first submitted into IBESR, it was discovered that the child's psychological exam was not signed. They could not locate the original doctor that performed the exam, so the examine had to be redone. This added several weeks. When the file was corrected, it was discovered that the homestudy had been misplaced. Another copy of the homestudy was submitted, but again, several weeks had lapsed. The birth father was not sure that he wanted his little girl to go to another country so it took many weeks for him to sign the necessary papers when he reached his final decision. The adopting parents knew nothing of the problems this file encountered.
File: 10,283 In IBESR: January 15 Out of IBESR: June 25 TTL: 6months
Dossier was in perfect condition, no errors were found.
Of course, these are just examples, but it should shed some light on how and why files come and go in such a sporadic order.
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5. Can I Call IBESR and see what is taking my file so long?
Can you? Yes. Should you? NO!
The last thing you want to do is accidentally tick someone off when the future of your child(ren) is at stake! It is very easy to offend someone completely by accident. The people within the office are very busy. The more time they spend on the telephone, the less time they have to sign files! If everyone called them, it would be a disaster!
There are serious problems parents encounter throughout the adoption that require them to call IBESR. That is only reason the telephone number is posted on this blog.
Do NOT call IBESR to find out what's up with your file! ONLY call them if your orphanage or agency instructs you to.
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