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VideosThe first step in an international adoption in Spain is to attend an informational meeting, which in our case, was held by the Instituto Madrileño del Menor y la Familia (IMMF), the government agency which handles adoptions in Madrid.
Both April and I were expecting the informational meeting to be, well, informative, answering some of our basic questions: which countries are we able to adopt from, what is the average cost and time frame for a Spanish adoption, are we eligible as residents (not citizens), and if so, what is the next step in the process?
While most of these questions were answered in the Q&A afterwards, the actual meeting itself was something else entirely. An in-house psychologist named Reyes Gonzalez spent almost two hours counseling us on adoption, asking questions about our motivation for adopting and clarifying what adoption is and is not.
I left the meeting with a healthier perspective, one that I believe will help me focus less on what I want, and more on the needs of the child I will adopt. Here are a few thoughts I scribbled down:
- Adoption is not about a parent's right to have a child. Adoption is about the right of every child to have a family.
- The goal is to protect children. The best case scenario for any child is to stay with her family in her own culture. Adoption is a last resort, when a child has been abandoned or cannot be cared for by her biological family.
- The biggest commitment in an adoption is not the paperwork, it's the time it takes to be a parent.
- We are eligible to adopt through the Spanish system as legal residents (or at least we will be once my residency process is completed, which will hopefully take no more than six months).
- 55% of the people who attended the informational meeting will not go on to adopt a child
- 90% pass the home study, which means the government says they're suitable to adopt
- We have 23 countries to choose from--China, Ethiopia, Columbia, and Panama are highly recommended.
- Many countries will not consider us for an adoption because we already have a child.
- We will not actually meet our child (or even see a picture) until we've made a commitment to adopt him or her.
3 comments
that is SOOO cool
very interesting. glad to hear it's progressing (albeit slowly!), and of course if you need any more help or info on your residency stuff, don't hesitate to contact us (and now that I think of it, once Rodrigo gets home, I'll double-check if he sent you his response to your question last week--I know he'd finished it, but he wanted me to edit his English--see, we're not the only ones w/language concerns, haha).
As an adoptive momma to three children, I am SO glad to hear about the information/knowledge you gained at this meeting. Adoption needs to be focused on the needs of the child, and thorough examination needs to be made of parents pursuing adoption.
May God bless you as you journey on this road of providing hope, healing, and a home to a child.
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