 CANADA DOES ALLOW THE INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS! Welcome, and congratulations on your desire to adopt or sponsor a child with Down syndrome (or other special needs) internationally! This whole "family of families" here at Reece's Rainbow is thrilled to have you.
Reece's Rainbow is excited to announce RRC! Charitable status has been submitted and is pending. This will make it possible for donations from Canadian citizens to also be tax deductible! (we appreciate all of you have donated over the years even without this benefit!) However, regardless of tax status, CANADIANS CAN STILL DONATE FOR AND ADOPT MANY OF OUR WAITING CHILDREN.
Canadians are invited to participate in ALL of our programs, including Prayer Warriors, Connecting the Rainbow, Family Sponsorship, our Yahoo group...Reece's Rainbow is truly a global ministry and open to advocates and donations from all nations.
Your acting RRC Director is Shannon Stepanek. She is located in Ontario, and has done an incredible job of building agency partnerships and researching the Canadian adoption process for the growth of this program. RRC continues to grow, and is always in need of help and volunteers. They are essentially starting from scratch in Canada to seek out agency partners, province by province, to assist families wishing to adopt the children listed on our Reece's Rainbow website. Many months of research and relationship-building has led to this information page and accompanying links for Canadian families! This is an ongoing effort, just as it is ever-evolving in the US too. Please check back often for updates!
At this time, we have established partnerships for adoption in Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Mexico, and Taiwan, and we are actively working on a relationship to serve the children in Bulgaria as well. One main difference is that regardless of a country's Hague status, all Canadian adoptions must be processed through licensed agencies, even for Ukraine and Serbia.
*** Prior to inquiring about a child or country program, please read *carefully* below to determine your eligibility and financial preparedness to adopt internationally.***
1) Sign up to support the ministry through your online shopping at IGive.com!
2) There is no minimum immigration income requirement for Canada. (however, your home study social worker will require financial stability)
3) If you are married, at least one of you must be 25 years of age and a legal Canadian citizen.
4) Consider any criminal history you have, no matter how long ago it happened, and speak confidentially with your new family liaison about which countries may approve you and how to best document those events.
5) Consider any mental health issues that you have, including even minor depression, anxiety, post-partum depression, ADHD, bi-polar, suicidal thoughts, etc. Backgrounds such as these do not automatically disqualify you to adopt, but it is crucial that you share this information upfront to help us best guide you through the process. If you have a *current*diagnosis of any of these and are on medication for them, please also share that confidentially upfront.
6) You must be in a stable financial position to begin an international adoption. There are many grant and loan foundations out there which *may* be of help, but it will not be upfront. other granting and loan foundations typically require a compelted home study before you can even apply, and are usually used for final travel costs and agency fees. Upfront costs include: 1) your home study (approx CAD2500) and 2) initial agency fees (approx. CAD 4000+) in order to make an official commitment for a child.
7) If you live in a rural area, far away from adequate educational and medical resources (children's hospitals, therapists, other medical specialists), please only consider children who are relatively healthy, whose needs you can more reasonably and realistically meet without major travel burdens or other frequent, necessary medical interventions.
8)Military families are WELCOME! We have had many military families adopt with us, including those families stationed abroad. But please note that if one parent is currently deployed or a deployment is scheduled soon, it will not be possible to begin the adoption process until that parent has safely returned home.
9) At this time, there are NO foreign countries which permit same-sex couples to adopt internationally. The site for domestic Canadian adoption is http://www.canadaswaitingkids.ca/
10) Determine the best country options for your family from our Program Comparison Chart 11) Read about the International Adoption Process 12) Learn more about travel abroad, it is so exciting!! 13) Order and read the book The Connected Child, by Karyn Purvis
14) Learn about your options for financial assistance and fundraising (grants, loans, tax credits, etc) 15) Read about the other families who are currently adopting a child with Down syndrome through Reece's Rainbow 16) Read about the children who are already home! 17) Don't know much about Down syndrome? Read these books! 18) Join our Yahoo group, to join our "family of families", lean on others going through the same process you are, and to stay abreast of news, needs, and announcements If everything looks good for your family based on the pre-commitment requirements listed above, we invite you to further discuss country programs and waiting children. We will respond promptly to help you determine which country program and child/children is right for your own family dynamics and travel abilities. There are programs available for larger families, older parents, and single moms!
Reece's Rainbow provides many wonderful ways you can still make a life-saving difference, even if you're not able to adopt yourself!
Please CLICK HERE for more important info specific to Canada!
Shannon Stepanek, RRC Director
Reece's Rainbow Down Syndrome Adoption Ministry www.reecesrainbow.org |
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