These group meetings cover basic information about the adoption process, as well as program specifications.  The informational meetings are optional and free.  Registration is preferred but not required.  To register, you may call Edina: 952-831-5707 or Hudson: 715-386-5550 or e-mail: jill@crossroadsadoption.com.   �

You may also schedule a private meeting Monday – Friday between 8am - 4pm. If you wish to schedule a private inquiry meeting or if you have further questions, please call:
 Edina: 952-831-5707
 Hudson: 715-386-5550

Crossroads Adoption Services Statement Regarding International Adoption

The news media has published several stories on international adoption over the past few months. The reporters have been critical of the international adoption system and have specified several agencies and various countries in their stories. Given the work of Crossroads Adoption Services in the area of international adoption, Crossroads has been referred to in some of the stories.

Crossroads was specifically named in an article this past weekend in the Star Tribune.  Due to our ethical requirement to respect client confidentiality, we are unable to comment on the specifics of the case.  When contacted by the Star Tribune reporter, Crossroads tried to provide evidence about accurate information while maintaining confidentiality.  We are disappointed and concerned that the reporter composed the article with only the family’s version of the story.  This article contained partial, and sometimes inaccurate, information.  Although Crossroads is unable to provide or make public the complete and accurate details of the case mentioned in the Star Tribune article, please be assured that we continue to work in an ethical, professional and caring manner with our families and the children we assist each day.  We are proud of the 33 year heritage and the over 3,500 children who have found loving permanent homes with their forever families through Crossroads Adoption Services.

Since many of the general adoption articles have demonstrated a misunderstanding of the basic facts of international adoption in India, we believe that a better understanding of the process of international adoption is needed.

Crossroads’ Role in International Adoption

             While Crossroads works with the family to ensure that they are ready and able to move forward with an adoption, the child’s country of origin is responsible for ensuring that the child is legally free and fit for adoption.  The determination as to whether a child is available for adoption can only be made by the child’s country of origin.  While Crossroads remains informed about those processes, it has no involvement in those determinations, nor can it guarantee the actions of a foreign country.

            Crossroads is bound by legal and ethical duties to maintain the strict confidentiality of all client information, and, as such, it is prohibited from giving case-specific information or publicly responding to individual examples.  Moreover, each country that Crossroads works in uses a somewhat different process to ensure that the child is adoptable.  Nonetheless, a general description of international adoption should provide additional understanding of the process.  Most countries, especially Hague countries, have adopted a rigorous review process, requiring multiple layers of scrutiny and approval. India is one such country.

 An Example of the Country of Origin’s Role in International Adoption

            In India, a child usually comes into orphanage care through parental abandonment.  As such, there is typically no official birth record or other background information.  A police report is filed on each abandoned child, the child is examined by a physician, and a birth date is assigned based on all available information.  Next, the Indian Child Welfare Committee attempts to find the child’s birth family or any other relatives that would be able and willing to provide a home for the child.  If that effort is unsuccessful, the process begins to secure an adoptive family for the child.

            First, the Indian orphanage prepares a child study report, completed by a social worker and a pediatrician following an examination of the child.  This report includes all available information about the child, including the child’s birth date, how that date was determined, and any known medical, behavioral, or social history.  While as much information is provided as possible, it is important to remember that often these children come without any known history or any related adults who could supplement or verify this information.

            The child study report is then sent to CVARA, the Coordinating Voluntary Adoption Resource Agency, an Indian government agency.  CVARA reviews and authenticates each portion of the child study report.  Once CVARA approves the report, the child becomes available for adoption.  

            In India, additional efforts are made to find an Indian family able to adopt the child.  If those efforts fail, agencies from other countries are free to submit home study reports and supporting documents (known as the dossier) on potential adoptive families.  The report prepared by the family’s home study agency in the United States, determining that a family is able and willing to support the child.  

            The Indian orphanage then matches the potential adoptive parents with a child.  The child study report is sent to the potential adoptive parents, and if those parents agree to adopt the child, additional steps are taken by the Indian government.  Both the child study report and the family’s dossier documents are sent to CARA, the Central Adoption Resource Authority, India’s central adoption authority, another government agency.  CARA reviews each of the reports, ensuring that the child is free for adoption and confirming that the family will care for the child.  CARA then issues a No Objection Certificate, indicating its approval of the adoption.

            Following issuance of the No Objection Certificate, the adoption proceeds through the Indian court system.  There, a judge reviews all the materials and makes specific findings—both about the child and about the adoptive family.  As to the child, the Indian courts determine the child’s legal age, provide any available background information, and declares that the child is adoptable.

            Once the Indian courts have approved the adoption, they transfer guardianship of the child to the adoptive parents who then travel to India to meet their child.  While in India, the family continues the U.S. immigration process.  As part of that process, the child is taken to a U.S.-approved doctor for verification of health information and approval for travel to the United States.  The family and the child also go to the U.S. embassy, where the child attests to his or her age and willingness to travel to the United States.  The adoptive family swears that they will care for the child and provide all necessary support, finalizing the adoption in the United States within two years.

            After each of these processes is complete, the child and the family return to the United States where they can begin their life as a family here.

Crossroads Cannot Guarantee Information Provided by a Foreign Agency

            While Crossroads ensures that each step of the process is followed in the child’s country of origin, and that every required governmental agency verifies the information provided, Crossroads itself has no involvement in that process nor can it guarantee the accuracy of any information that has been provided.  Crossroads does, however, provide the adoptive families with all information that it receives. 

            Given the realities of international adoption, Crossroads makes sure to inform and educate potential adoptive families about the limited information that might be available.  For some adoptive children, there is simply limited or even no history about their ancestry, their birth, or their medical background.  As such, Crossroads makes every effort to ensure that potential adoptive parents are aware of these limitations.  These limitations are clearly set out in the agency agreement and other documents that potential adoptive parents must read and sign.

            Crossroads remains committed to international adoption, helping to find homes for the world’s orphans and abandoned children and helping potential parents find children to join their families.  Even when international adoption comes under scrutiny, Crossroads remains committed to its mission:  “To serve children, youth and families in creative and humanitarian ways with a special concentration on maintaining or establishing permanence for children without arbitrary restrictions and operating in a client-centered environment.”