"Adopting" my niece

[suarezn]

OK, here's the situation. My niece has a daughter, who was born out of wedlock. The little girl is now 6 years old. Her "father" has not been involved in her life at all and just recently put his name on the birth certificate after much begging from my niece's part, so that her daughter can go to school.
I want to adopt her, so I can bring her to The US and hopefully give her a better life. My niece and the father of the child both have no problem with signing over their rights to me, but I have no idea on how to go about this, without having to go through the normal adoption process, which I've heard is a nightmare and takes forever in The DR.
Is there a simpler way to go about this? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[jsizemore]

I do not know about the DR laws. A friend of mine is going through this ordeal with his nieces in the Philippines The Immigration people have a requirement of the children living in your household for two years before you can bring them over. His wife is Philippine but has her US citizenship so he volunteered for sea duty and asked for every deployment he could while his wife went to live in the Philippines with his adopted daughters. Now two years later he is retired and his wife is back in the US and his adopted Daughters are still in the Philippines awaiting a visa that was applied for in May of 2003.
I am no expert nor do I have any answers but I know unless someone has a trick I have never heard about it is going to be a mess.
John

[Mephs]

except that the deadbeat dad of my niece had refused to add his name to the birth certificate. We asked around and in order to do what you described I had to appear with my wife and sister-in-law so that she could "transfer" guardianship to us. Since I'm married the office refused to just give me the custody of the child without my wife being present. I was going to pursue this further, but the kid's dad found out what I was up to and finally added his name to the birth certificate just to object to the process.

I didn't check into the process for bringing the child to the US, as I intended to do so at a later date. Without an adoption decree this process may be slow and require additional paperwork.

[miguel]

Originally Posted by suarezn

OK, here's the situation. My niece has a daughter, who was born out of wedlock. The little girl is now 6 years old. Her "father" has not been involved in her life at all and just recently put his name on the birth certificate after much begging from my niece's part, so that her daughter can go to school.
I want to adopt her, so I can bring her to The US and hopefully give her a better life. My niece and the father of the child both have no problem with signing over their rights to me, but I have no idea on how to go about this, without having to go through the normal adoption process, which I've heard is a nightmare and takes forever in The DR.
Is there a simpler way to go about this? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I believe that the best person to help you, other than those posters that have had the same experience, is your State Representative. A friend of mine(a US citizen) was trying to bring his wife to the US and after waiting for 3 years, I mentioned to him to call the State Senators and when he did, he was referred to the State Representative and in 2 months, he had his papers for his wife. I know that your situation is different, but if does not hurt to try. Good luck.

Ps: Just remember, while dealing with the dominicans that could help you, that money talks and the american dollar is of of the ones that TALKS THE LOUDEST!!!!.

[Hillbilly]

I can almost make book on this case.

The father "recognized her" and she therefore is his heir, carries his last name, and can only be put up for adoption under really complex circumstances, that you just don't want to get into.

Now, you can oversee her education here, all the way through college, if she has the gumption to get that far, which, considering the family situation, is doubtful. But you could push for it an it might happen, who knows.

Good luck,

HB

[Dolores]

I think your best option is to become the child's guardian and tutor. If both parents consent, I think the children's court would see this as in the child's favor and could approve the guardianship and you being the tutor. I believe then the child could travel to the US with you.

[Fabio J. Guzman]

Dolores' suggestion is a possibility.

Another one is going through the adoption process. However, at present we are advising our clients to wait until September or October 2004 to start new adoptions in the Dominican Republic due to the fact that a new statute will be in place beginning August 2004.

[suarezn]

Originally Posted by Fabio J. Guzman

Dolores' suggestion is a possibility.

Another one is going through the adoption process. However, at present we are advising our clients to wait until September or October 2004 to start new adoptions in the Dominican Republic due to the fact that a new statute will be in place beginning August 2004.

Thanks all for your comments. Does this new statute speeds up/facilitates the adoption process at all? Is there anywhere where I can find a copy of what the new rules are?

[Fabio J. Guzman]

No, it makes it more cumbersome.

You may find the text of the new statute, in Spanish, in my website: http://www.drlawyer.com/txt/articlesadop.html

A translator is working on the English version.