adoption

[Taetag girl 0]

My husband and I were recently married in August (but have been together a year and a half) - I have 2 young children who were abandoned by my ex when he left, and my husband is now known to them as daddy. We are back in Canada now but are trying to begin the cr1 process and hoping to be together soon. My children have been granted a legal name change already by the canadian government, and now have my (present) husband's name on their birth certificates. My husband would like to adopt my two children along with me (their biological dad has no access & no rights). Does anyone know if he needs to wait until the children become legal citizens before we can begin the adoption process? Any chance that the immigration process could be slowed down or sped up if we got the adoption done first (or is that even possible when the kids and I are Canadian and the adoptive father is American)??

Any advice?? Visa Journey has been the most helpful online information source we've found, but I still find it all quite overwhelming and a bit confusing with what seems like conflicting information at times, depending on the poster and the date posted.

Thanks so much!!

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

You may have actually muddied the case by having your husbands name on the birth certificate without an adoption. They will see that , assume the children have a claim to US citixenship so aren't eligble for a visa, ask for dna which they will fail and then the headaches begin. This is worse case but probable.

[Anh map 2,098]

Duplicate thread in other forum removed.

OP, keep the conversation in one thread so that you generate cohesive responses.

[Taetag girl 0]

It is a legal name change. It says on the birth certificate that their names were different from birth and were changed. My husband is also not listed as the birth father on the certificate.

[Taetag girl 0]

Duplicate thread in other forum removed.

OP, keep the conversation in one thread so that you generate cohesive responses.

The reason I posted it in the cr1 forum is because that's the route we are going for immigration. I just wondered if adoption can be accomplished during the cr1 process or if it might hinder it, and whether or not it is possible to adopt at all before they are citizens or if we need to wait until after the cr1 visas are granted.

If there is some other route we can consider keeping in mind that our goal is for my husband to adopt my children along with me as soon as it makes sense, please let me know, but from what we can tell the CR1 process is likely the best for the three of us as we are currently Canadians.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

I believe it would be tidier/ easier if you did the adoption after you all immigrated on spousal visas.

[Anh map 2,098]

The reason I posted it in the cr1 forum is because that's the route we are going for immigration. I just wondered if adoption can be accomplished during the cr1 process or if it might hinder it, and whether or not it is possible to adopt at all before they are citizens or if we need to wait until after the cr1 visas are granted.

If there is some other route we can consider keeping in mind that our goal is for my husband to adopt my children along with me as soon as it makes sense, please let me know, but from what we can tell the CR1 process is likely the best for the three of us as we are currently Canadians.

Spouse visa is the proper path for immigration.

[Taetag girl 0]

You may have actually muddied the case by having your husbands name on the birth certificate without an adoption. They will see that , assume the children have a claim to US citixenship so aren't eligble for a visa, ask for dna which they will fail and then the headaches begin. This is worse case but probable.

I hope it will not cause issues, but I can't see how it could muddle things too badly, at least after an explanation. We have no intent to hide anything or pretend that my husband was the biological father - it is a legal name change. It says on the birth certificate that their names were different from birth and were changed. My husband is also not listed as the birth father on the certificate, though he would like to legally adopt them as he is their dad, dna or not.

The reason we had their names changed to my husband's name is because it is expensive to change their names and their biological father now has no access to them at all, so it made no sense for them to keep his last name and was causing extra issues at the border since they did not share my last name (we have lots of supporting evidence, the no access agreement etc etc but still it was raising eyebrows, so we decided we should probably have it changed). I could have had it changed to my maiden name, but now I am married to my husband and have assumed his last name, so it makes sense for all of us to have the same name.

(therefore rather than change it twice and pay twice, once to change to my maiden name and then again to change to his name after he has legally adopted them, it made more sense to us to just do a legal name change to his name first, since my name has already been changed to his)

I believe it would be tidier/ easier if you did the adoption after you all immigrated on spousal visas.

Okay, thank you.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

So your husband files I`30's one for each person. Be sure to be very clear about the birth certificate issue. If the bio dad has had his rights legally terminated then you will not need his permission for the children to move. Otherwise you may need to get his permission or court ordered permission.

[Taetag girl 0]

So your husband files I`30's one for each person. Be sure to be very clear about the birth certificate issue. If the bio dad has had his rights legally terminated then you will not need his permission for the children to move. Otherwise you may need to get his permission or court ordered permission.

Thank you, yes his rights have been terminated.

We were wondering if my husband needs to fill in his section of the paperwork all three times or if he can send one copy of his info with all three as a package rather than going through it all three times??

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Each package could be separated. Any page that contains a signature MUST be original.

[Alaska2012 462]

The adoption itself can be done now already, it won't mess anything up with the process. It will be the same. Just make sure you have all the paper work to prove everything you are good to go.

[Taetag girl 0]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Is there anyone that actually has any experience with adopting their spouse's children while in separate countries?? Any ideas as to how we could go about this? I have checked with the local adoption agency, they gave me info for an international agency, and the international agency referred me back to a local agency so it's a dead-end cycle. I'm sure this is not unheard of nor that uncommon but not sure who to contact. Both types of agencies I contacted don't work for our situation as it is within family/marriage and in our case it isn't considered international either. (Again, we are in Canada, my husband is in the States)

Thanks!!

[aaron2020 11,651]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Is there anyone that actually has any experience with adopting their spouse's children while in separate countries?? Any ideas as to how we could go about this? I have checked with the local adoption agency, they gave me info for an international agency, and the international agency referred me back to a local agency so it's a dead-end cycle. I'm sure this is not unheard of nor that uncommon but not sure who to contact. Both types of agencies I contacted don't work for our situation as it is within family/marriage and in our case it isn't considered international either. (Again, we are in Canada, my husband is in the States)

Thanks!!

This is a stepparent adoption. International and local adoption agencies don't handle stepparent adoptions. Stepparent adoptions are handled privately with a single private lawyer and a petition to the court with jurisdiction over the child. That's why you can't get an answer from those agencies, they don't handle stepparent adoptions.

Your husband cannot file in the US because the US court will not have jurisdiction over a foreign child who lives in another country.

Your husband might be able to file in Canada in your local court. Find yourself a local lawyer who does stepparent adoptions. You can start gathering information by using Google - "stepparent adoption + name of your province." Here is the one for British Columbia; http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/adoption/step_par.htm