WE ARE NOT CURRENTLY ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE LATVIA PROGRAM.

What’s Unique about Latvia? Aside from the wonderful children awaiting adoption in Latvia, a beautiful country to explore during the adoption trip, the amazing culture? The thing that is different in this program than many others is that from the time you meet your child/ren to returning for the final immigration process, the child will be in your care – both in Latvia as well as traveling back to the US with you after the first visit. This is a wonderful opportunity for the child and prospective family to get to know one another and really bond prior to finalization of the adoption.

Children Available: According to adoption laws of Latvia, children available for adoption will be ages 9 and older living in an orphanage, or part of a sibling group of three or more children, or children with moderate special needs of all ages.  Often in a sibling group of three or more children where one is older than 9, one or more additional siblings may be 3-6 years old. It is no longer possible to adopt children who live in a foster home.

Children will have mild to moderate, correctable or non-correctable special needs including medical, developmental, behavioral and emotional needs. Occasionally children are available who are considered healthy with typical developmental delays due to institutional living, being older or part of a larger sibling group. Children with more permanent conditions include down syndrome, blind, deaf, cerebral palsy, limb differences, severe medical or psychological needs that require ongoing rehabilitation or treatment.  We do request that all prospective adoptive applicants review and complete a special needs checklist to help you identify acceptable special needs for your family and situation.  The good news is that the medical information available on the children is more extensive than many other countries. This is primarily due to good administrative requirements in Latvia, but also because the children are older and thus medical and emotional conditions have already been identified and documented.

Children have entered the care system for many reasons including abandoned or relinquished by the biological family due to inability to provide for the child, unwed parents in a culture where this is not acceptable, or due to the health problems of the parent or child. Children may also have been removed from the parental home by the government due to abuse or neglect.

Latvia does maintain a very good database of children available for adoption which helps provide organization and transparency to the process from the Central Adoption Authority. Latvia is a Hague Convention country for adoption.

Adoptive Parents Requirements: Adopting parents may be married, single women, widowed or divorced, and if single must be a US Citizen. If married then one or both spouses must be a US Citizen. Latvia does not allow adoption by LGBT persons.  If married then both spouses must be registered for the adoption.

There is no minimum length of marriage for married couples, although as an agency we prefer at least one year of marriage plus evidence of a stable relationship prior to marriage.

Parents should be at least 18 years older than the and be between the ages of 25 and 55 years old. Some age exceptions for older parents may be made depending on the age of the child.

There is no prohibition against larger families although all applicants should be prepared to demonstrate significant financial strength to the court. Families living on a tight budget with limited financial resources might have a difficult time in court as Latvia’s child welfare system as well aware of the cost of providing care for a child with special needs over the course of a lifetime. Prospective adoptive parents should consider resources for special schools, college, whether a child requires significant medical care above and beyond what insurance may cover, multiple extensive physical or emotional therapies, and possibly needing to provide residential or private care giving for the child once he/she is an adult and in the case of the death of one or both parents.

Prospective adoptive parents should not currently be diagnosed with any life-threatening illnesses or significant contagious diseases or mental condition.  Latvia does not accept petitions from prospective adoptive applicants who have conditions such as anxiety or depression, bi-polar or schizophrenia, current or past drug or alcohol abuse or addiction, autism or aspergers, dementia, delusional disorders, epilepsy, tuberculosis, acute infectious diseases, sexually transmitted infections, diseases of the organ system, etc.

Pre-adoption education and training: In 2018 Latvia ammended its education and training for adoptive applicants. All prospective adoptive applicants must complete 40 hours of in-person training plus 16 hours of practical experience. They have specific areas which they want prospective families to be educated about, and A Love Beyond Borders will provide you with assistance to meet those requirements.

Timelines: The average adoption in Latvia can take between one to two years depending upon the age and level of special needs of the child the person is seeking to adopt. This is not a program for families seeking to adopt a healthy child.  All wait times are from the time the dossier is reviewed and approved in Latvia and the family goes on the waitlist.

Three trips are required to adopt from Latvia. The first trip is approximately four weeks. During this trip you will meet your child, spend time in the three week bonding process, and upon recommendation from the social worker you’re expected to receive approval from the orphan court for the adoption process to continue. Trip 2 is just a few days in length and at least one parent must attend to go to court and the child must travel from the US back to Latvia with you. If the child being adopted is 12 or older he/she will also attend court to consent to his/her adoption. The final trip is just about a week and one or both parents must travel once again, the child will travel with you from the US to Latvia for this final process. During this part of the process you will file your child’s paperwork to obtain their visa before returning to the US.

Trip one: 4 weeks in length, both parents must be in Latvia the entire time.

Trip two: A few days in length, only one parent and the child must travel.

Trip three: Approximately one week, only one parent and the child must travel.

Adoption Process: Three trips are required to adopt from Latvia. Both parents must make the first trip to meet and confirm acceptance of referral of the child, go through the three weeks bonding time, and make first court appearance.

The length of each trip is an estimate and actual length of the trip will be determined at the time of the trip. As much as we understand and sympathize with the need for adoptive parents to plan for absences from work and family, and plan financially for the length of trip, please understand we are not in control of the process abroad. All applicants in this program must be flexible, adaptable and ready to do what is needed, when it’s needed and for how long it’s needed as the process is not typically flexible to your needs.

That said, generally, the first trip is four weeks and is to meet the child proposed as a match. The child will be in your care during the bonding process as well as court. Once the orphan court approves the adoption to move forward you will be approved to return to the US with your child while the next part of the process continues in Latvia. The adoption is not final at this point, and the child is under your guardianship. At least one parent and the child must return to Latvia for the second and third trips to complete the legal adoption and secure immigrant visa for the child.

A Love Beyond Borders US based staff and Latvian facilitator will guide you through the process, providing instructions and documents for the process, translations, submissions to the various authorities, provide ground transportation and a translator for adoption and immigration related appointments, coordination with adoption authorities, and general assistance, guidance and troubleshooting as need be.

Post Adoption: There are a total of ??? post-placement reports required for Latvia. Each report must be written by a social worker based on a visit with your family. You will be required to provide at least six (6) pictures of the child with adoptive parents to accompany each report.