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Post placement supervision and reports are required for most international and domestic adoptions. All of our post placement reports are written to agency and country specific standards. Post placement supervision and reports are not part of the home study fee. Post placement supervision is for those families who have a child placed with them but the adoption is not finalized. This is the case especially for US domestic adoptions. Post adoption is for families who have completed the adoption process and the child holds an adoption decree. This is the case for most international adoptions. Contact our post placement coordinator Jaime Groat, LSW at jaimegroat@randybarlow.com for any questions or concerns.
There are many decisions to be made about how to immigrate the child as a U.S. citizen once the adoption is completed in-country. The US Citizenship Act of 2001 changed immigration procedures for children adopted in a foreign country. Be sure to look at the U.S. Citizenship Act 2001 at the CIS website for the latest information.
If you plan to go directly (or at least within six months) to the U.S. with your child, you should try to obtain an IR-3 visa. Under the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2001, a child who enters the USA with an IR-3 visa may become a US citizen upon entry to the USA. Your child is eligible for an IR-3 visa if BOTH parents (in a joint adoption application) physically see the child prior to a finalized adoption, and you have a valid 171H and the child is legally considered an orphan by the courts of the child's homeland. With an IR-3 Visa, your child is eligible to obtain American citizenship upon entering the U.S. at any point of entry. Since 2009 USCIS has changed some of the requirements for automatic citizenship for many Americans living abroad. Please see these citizenship requirements for more details.
An IR-4 visa is issued for adopted children who do not meet the IR-3 requirements.
If only one parent sees the child prior to the adoption, you are not eligible for an IR-3, but are eligible for an IR-4 visa, which means you must complete a USCIS form 864 (Affidavit of Support) and re-adopt the child in the U.S. before he/she will be granted U.S. citizenship. In other words, if your spouse is unable to accompany you to adopt your child, your child is not automatically granted U.S. citizenship upon entering the U.S. Also, if the country in which you adopt does not issue an “adoption decree” but the court document states the child is in your “legal custody” then you will also receive an IR-4 visa. Only court issued “adoption decrees” will be recognized as fully adopted by USCIS. First, the child must be re-adopted in the U.S. The process for obtaining US citizenship for a child that is issued an IR4 visa is quite different than the child who receives an IR3 visa. You should be aware of this difference and understand that the IR4 visa process will require additional steps.
If you are planning to return directly back to your country of residence with your child before traveling to the USA to immigrate him/her and get a U.S. passport, you have several entry options depending on your residence status overseas. More Information
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Post adoption consists of the post placement visit and report. The post adoption/post placement is a follow-up with the adoptive family as required by your agency. This report is required by most agencies. We provide resources for post adoption issues.