Taiwan Adoption Program

A Helping Hand offers a Taiwan adoption program through our affiliate agency Nightlight Christian Adoptions.

Children Available

In Taiwan we work with individual orphanages which are supported by individual foundations. All are private, supported by donations coming through the specific foundation. Children are placed in the orphanages because they are relinquished by their birthparent(s) or because they are removed from the birthparent(s) care. It is possible to adopt boys or girls and in some cases siblings are available. They range in age from about 2 years to teenagers.

Eligibility To Adopt

Adopting parents must be at least 20 years older than the child they are adopting and in most cases not older than 55. The upper age limit has some flexibility when the couple is adopting an “older” child. Couples must have been married at least 2 years and be in good health.

Process

There are two programs for those adopting from Taiwan: one for families who would like to adopt a non special needs child of 2-5 years of age and one for families who are open to adopting an older child or one with some special needs. If a family would like to adopt a non special needs young child, the length of time to adopt is approximately two to three years. The family will complete their homestudy with Nightlight or an approved homestludy agency in their state if they do not live in Southern California, Colorado, or South Carolina. The homestudy will be sent to Taiwan and the family will wait for a referral. If a family is willing to adopt an older child or a child with special needs, they may make a decision on a waiting child that Nightlight will have information on.

All families will need to compile a dossier for the orphanage (which will be reviewed by a panel from the foundation supporting the orphanage), and all must file with U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (CIS). In Taiwan, the child’s U.S. visa will be processed by the American Institute in Taiwan, AIT, as there is no U.S. Embassy in Taiwan. If the family agrees that the child they have been matched with is the one they would like to adopt, the official proceedings take place. Waiver of Preliminary Trip form must be signed if the family chooses not to travel to meet the child before the adoption proceedings take place. The official adoption proceedings take about 6-8 months to complete; then the family will be able to travel to Taiwan to finalize their adoption.

Travel

After the court proceedings have taken place, the family travels to Taiwan to register the adoption with the Taiwan government and obtain the child’s U.S. visa from AIT. This trip will take approximately 1 week.

Costs

The program fee for a Taiwan adoption is $25,250. Additional estimated expenses of $6,700 – $10,100 will bring the total cost to approximately $32,000 – $35,500.

If you would like print materials about the program, download the Taiwan Adoption Overview. For further information about this program please click here or contact Laura Godwin at 864-268-0570 or [email protected].