Jamaica Adoption Rules Under Review UPDATED
“Jamaica’s 50-year-old Adoption Act is under review in an effort to make the process of adopting children more in line with international norms and less tedious.
Child Protection Specialist at the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Janet Cupidon Quallo told reporters and editors of The Sunday Gleaner that the review should remove some of the obstacles.
“Adoption (in Jamaica) is a very tedious process, very off-putting. A consultant has been taken on to work with the process,” said Cupidon Quallo, hours before she attended the first meeting of the Adoption Board Review Committee.
For years there have been concerns that persons wishing to adopt a child in Jamaica have to endure a tedious process which has caused many to give up on the idea.
Under Jamaican law, any person, between the ages of six weeks and 18 years old is eligible for adoption .
Any person, 25 years and older can adopt a child or children. However, the law allows persons who are 18 years old to adopt younger relatives.
Individuals interested in adopting a child or children must first complete a pre-adoption form, which is provided by the Child Development Agency (CDA) and is used to determine if the person is suitable.
If suitability is determined, agents of the CDA will contact the prospective adopter and given an adoption application form and a medical form to be completed.
The CDA will provide a list of the required documentation to be presented to the agency.
The documents include birth certificate, marriage certificate, character references, and letters of responsibility (which transfer guardianship of your adopted child to another adult or adults in the event of your death).
HOME STUDY
A month-long home-study assessment, involving home visits, interviews and counselling sessions, is conducted by the CDA, and if the assessment is positive, the person will be assisted in finding available children for adoption.
After being paired with a child or children, social workers from the Adoption Board undertake an in-home supervision programme for a minimum of three months.
If they are satisfied with the relationship between child or children and the prospective adopter, the adopter will be instructed to make an application to the Family Court for a licence and or Adoption Order hearing.
On the day of the hearing, the adopter, under the guidance of a case-worker, will address a Family Court judge, giving arguments in support of the adoption of the prospective child or children.
The judge will grant or deny the licence or Adoption Order at the end of the process.
If granted, the adopter assumes full guardianship of the adopted child or children.
If a child is identified for an applicant early in the adoption process, the entire process should take between four and seven months to be completed from the time all documents are received at the Adoption Board’s office to the time of the Court hearing.
However, there have been reports of cases taking more than 18 months to be completed.
Residents of Commonwealth countries, Sweden, Denmark, and the United States can adopt Jamaican children, but they require a home study from a licensed social-service agency in the country and a commitment from the agency that it will send periodic reports to Jamaican authorities.”
[Jamaica Gleaner 6/23/13 by Erica Virtue]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Jamaican adoptions to the US peaked in 2011 with 100 placements. In 2012, the placements decreased to 43. Jamaica is currently not a Hague Convention country.
Update: US DOS issued a notice about UAA. See it http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=jamaica_1 and pasted below
“Notice: New UAA Country Specific Guidance for Jamaica
The Department of State recently provided new country specific guidance for intercountry adoptions from Jamaica. This guidance reflects that as of July 14, 2014, the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012 (UAA) affects the provision of adoption services in non-Convention adoption cases, including those from Jamaica. The published guidance explains the impact of the UAA on adoption cases in Jamaica, taking into account the role of Jamaican public authorities in the different types of intercountry adoption processes available there. More information is available on the UAA Country Specific Guidance page and the country information sheet for Jamaica.”
Um… those requirements sound pretty reasonable and child-centered to me, despite Jamaica NOT being a Hague convention country. Or am I missing something?
My guess is the 3 month observation period is the issue. From US agency sites, it appears this is waived as many advertise one five to seven day or one 10 day trip but domestic adopters may have to go through that which may inhibit domestic adoptions and they are trying to equalize it, perhaps.Usually UNICEF tries to reduce the barriers to domestic adoption. As one agency site says “Adoption Licenses allow for a Jamaican citizen orphan to be taken to a “scheduled country” (the United States is a scheduled country) and adopted there. For parents seeking an Adoption License , there is no residential requirement. ” Adoption orders issued for domestic require the observation.
Oh! I was assuming that ALL adoptions had the three month observation period requirement– including international ones.
This strikes me as a great idea, BTW. I think they SHOULD require it of international adoptions as well– that’d certainly equalize things! There’d undoubtedly be fewer disruptions and child deaths, for one thing. And PAPs wouldn’t be able to get away with lying on their home studies any longer.
I realize that child-collecting, fund-raising, train-up-a-child, following-God’s-Law-not-man’s PAPs would absolutely hate such a policy. I view this as a strong argument FOR implementing it! ;-D
” I was assuming that ALL adoptions had the three month observation period requirement– including international ones”
IN FY2012 26 of the 43 adoptions were the Adoption license variety in which the child entered the US on IR4 visa and the adoption was finalized in the US.