Overview of our international adoption process:
- After you’ve done your research and are ready to begin the adoption process, you should do is go to the Adoption Application page. You should complete and submit this application as soon as possible along with the application fee.
- After submitting this application, a member from our staff will review it and notify you within one week, of your application status.
- If Small World will be handling your home study, we will start that process at this time. If Small World is not performing your home study, you should start that process at this time with a licensed Hague accredited agency, that will perform your home study. Small World is a fully Hague accredited agency and can be of great help to you and your home study agency for those living outside TN and MO throughout the process.
- Once your home study is complete, you will begin working on a file (called a “dossier”) to present to the foreign country. You will also begin the first phase of immigration paperwork with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). All of these documents will be submitted to the foreign country once completed. Once you have completed dossier, you will submit them along with your home study and your CIS approval to Small World. Small World will then prepare your Dossier to be submitted to the government.
- In most countries, after your documents are submitted, you will enter a waiting period to receive a referral of a child. Once we receive a referral of a child to be matched with you, you will have the opportunity to review the child’s information and consider accepting the referral. If you accept the referral of a child, you will complete and submit to Small World the acceptance forms. If you do not accept the referral of the child, you may deny acceptance, and another child will be referred to you at a later date.
- At this point, Small World will work with foreign authorities to complete your adoption and arrange for a travel date. This process varies in timeframe and procedure from country to country. When you travel to the foreign country, Small World’s in-country representatives will help you complete all legal matters, and you will bring your child home. In most cases, USCIS has a process to allow your adopted child to receive US citizenship automatically upon arrival in the US.
- Small World suggests that in all cases you then complete re-adoption in your home state.
- You will need to complete post adoption reports as required by your child’s country of origin. These reports will be submitted to Small World and then to the foreign government.