Adoption Appel

Adoption Process

Psychosocial Assessment (Home Study)
Before considering adopting a child abroad, you must first complete and return the "Request for opening a file» form. Appel will then contact the Secretariat à l'Adoption Internationale (SAI), and you will then be assigned a dossier number. The psychosocial assessment, undertaken by a professional psychologist or social work, determining your suitability as an adoptive parent, will be submitted to Appel and the SAI. A list of professionals specializing in international adoptions is available through your local youth protection service.

Building your Dossier
Once the psychosocial assessment has been completed and you have been approved for international adoption, you may begin building your dossier.

*For more information on building your dossier you can download the Guide pour les parents.

Basically, the package includes:

1) Birth Certificate of both parents
2) Marriage certificate or proof of common law relationship or divorce certificate
3) Psychosocial and psychological evaluations
4) Medical certificates (2)
5) Letter from adoptive parents employers
6) Letter of economic solvency (drafted by your financial institution)
7) RCMP security clearance certificates (2)
8) Parent general information form: Appel Inc. (French)

9) Parent general information form: ICBF (Spanish)

10) Parent presentation letter for the ICBF

11) Recent photos of the couple and their environment (home)

12) SAI letter of approval (Letter 15)

13) Appel Inc. letter of approval

14) Letter of Commitment from Appel Inc. for reporting progress

All these documents must be originals and their date of issuance shall not exceed six (6) months.

Notarization of documents through the Chamber of Notaries of Quebec
You must forward the first eight documents so that the organism can ask the SAI letter of approval. Thereafter, Appel will prepare the two last documents and will complete the next steps at the notary along with the certification of the dossier at the Colombia consulate.

College of Physicians:
The two medical certificates must be stamped by the College of Physicians, certifying their right to practice. This step must be made by applicants.

Authentication at the Consulate of Colombia
When the above files have been notarized, they must then be authenticated by the Consulate of Colombia. This step is made by Appel inc.

Sending the dossier in Colombia
Once the file is complete, Appel will send the file (by express courier) to the representatives in Colombia , who then:

1) Authenticate the signature of the consul in Montreal by the Ministry of External Relations;
2) to translate documents by an official translator and;
3) Take the file to the authorities in Colombia.

Waiting for the acceptance of the dossier
Once the dossier is reviewed and accepted by the Colombian authorities, we will send a letter to you confirming that the dossier is on the waiting list. This stage usually lasts from 3 to 4 months.

Sending the proposal from Columbia
Waiting times are between two (2) to three (3) years. When a proposal is made to prospective parents, our representative will share the information contained in the proposal regarding the Child, which includes:

1) The social history of the child: why and how long he/she has been declared abandoned.
2) The medical history of child: including diseases known and present overall health, vaccines and treatments received since arrival at the orphanage or foster family.
3) Some photographs.

Steps following proposal
This part of the process begins with the preparation of the trip, and complete the closure of the file, The process is divided as follows:

1) From proposal until departure for Colombia
2) The stay in Colombia
3) Return to Quebec

From proposal until departure for Colombia
This step lasts about a month and consists of obtaining a "pre-visa" for the child, issued by the Embassy of Canada in Bogotá, to complete the case to be submitted to the judge. In order to obtain a “pre-visa”, the Embassy requires that the child undergo a medical examination in Colombia. The process is as follows:

1) Once you accept the proposal for the child (by letter), Appel will receive the birth certificate and forward it to SAI.
2) The SAI then sends to you "a non objection letter" and an Immigration Canada kit.
3) You then must send the completed form and payment to Immigration Canada.
4) Immigration Canada advises Immigration Quebec.
5) You then must make an appointment with Immigration Quebec, who will send a fax to the Embassy in Bogota to allow a medical examination.

Our representative in Colombia will accompany the child to the doctor for the medical examination. For an additional fee of $ 30 USD, the child can be tested for HIV and hepatitis, which are not required by the Embassy.

Important to note is that if the child comes from a city other than Bogota, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla, there will be extra fees for transportation and an escort, in order to visit a doctor in one of the cities authorized by the Embassy.

The results of the examination will then be sent to a doctor outside of Colombia (in Mexico, Brazil or Trinidad Tobago) to be confirmed. The answer is then faxed to the Embassy.

Once the Embassy receives the results, it will issue a "pre-visa", a document allowing permission for the trip.

The one month calculated for this process (between the proposal and departure for Colombia) includes two weeks for approval from Immigration Canada and Immigration Quebec, and approximately two weeks for the medical examinations.

The stay in Colombia
While waiting for the medical certification, it is advisable to begin shopping around for your airline tickets. Given that your stay in Colombia (Medellin) will be approximately three weeks, you are advised to purchase tickets that are open for 30 days (travel agents can advise you what tickets will be the most appropriate, but open tickets are often more expensive than simply changing the date of the return ticket). Meanwhile Appel will find a hotel or room and board for you, as well as an interpreter who will accompany you during your stay in Colombia.

Upon your arrival at the airport, the interpreter will be waiting with a sign with your name on it and will accompany you to the hotel. By the next business day, you will go to the CIFW or the private orphanage to pick up the child or children.

Approximately three (3) days later, you will be accompanied to sign the documents signifying your acceptance of the child or children and authorization for the commencement of the hearing, which triggers the adoption process.

The judge may take approximately two (2) weeks to make the judgment and in the meantime, you should stay with your child or children. In Colombia, judges must verify records before agreeing to start the hearing itself, and there is no deadline for such verification. However, the waiting period for the hearing may last longer than 10 available days.

While you may visit the city during this waiting period, you are responsible for your child's security during this time of transition.

Your interpreter will communicate with you when the judgment is made and accompany you to:

1) The judge's chambers to sign the award
2) The notary office to change your child or children's birth certificate
3) The passport office

Once you have your child's passport, you can travel to Bogota to obtain his or her visa at the Embassy, which will enable your child to enter Canada. You must bring documentation with a photo to enter the Canadian Embassy.

Therefore, if we calculate approximately three (3) days at the beginning of your stay, plus two (2) weeks of waiting for the judgment and two (2) days for the passport and visa, we arrive at three (3) weeks stay in Colombia.

Back in Quebec
Before leaving for Colombia, we advise you to make an appointment with your family doctor and request a health insurance card (an application will still be handed over to you by Immigration Quebec when you return). Thus, when you arrive, you'll be able to take your child to the doctor for his or her first follow-up medical appointment in Quebec. At the same time, you must also submit the « Certificate of Compliance » to the SAI, document that you obtained by through the Colombian authorities. The SAI will then make the necessary arrangements with the Civil Services to issue a new birth certificate.

In your contract with Appel, you agreed to provide progress reports until the nationalization of the child. These progress reports are to be prepared by the same professional who prepared your psychosocial assessment, or another person qualified to make these types of assessments. Your case file will be closed once your child has Canadian citizenship.

Click to See Orientation Guide