INFORMATION ABOUT ADOPTING FROM COLOMBIA
Effective November 16, 2011
Introduction
The Colombian Family Welfare Institute (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar) (ICBF) is the Colombian government entity in charge of protecting children and guaranteeing their rights.
The adoption program of the ICBF intends to provide stable families for children. The ICBF assesses and studies applications of prospective adoptive parent(s). The adoption process requires administrative steps before the ICBF and judicial actions before a Family judge or by a judge having combined jurisdiction (Promiscuo de Familia).
Adopolis is accredited by the ICBF as a full service international agency for work with Colombia. Adopolis is responsible for assisting and preparing the family through the adoption process and providing post-adoption reports to Colombia.
Adopolis also works with Fundación Los Pisingos and Casa de Maria y el Niño, two private organizations in Colombia. Both of them operate children's homes and have provided adoption services under authorization of the ICBF for many years.
The Children
Boys and girls, infants, toddlers and older children are in need of adoption. The children have either been abandoned or relinquished to the ICBF. Children tend to have light brown skin, dark hair and eyes and can vary in age from 6 months to teen age. Most of the children are in good health.
Waiting Children
Older children, sibling groups and children with special medical needs are also in need of adoptive families. These children have higher priority in the adoption process. We will be happy to tell you about these children if you have room in your home for them.
Requirements of Adoptive Parents
Couples must be married for at least three years. Couples married fewer years will be considered with documentation of infertility.
Prospective adoptive parents must be older than 25 years of age. Parents over 38 years of age are not eligible to adopt healthy children under 3 years old. For each year over 38 there is a corresponding increase in the age of available children. Children 9 years and older can be placed with parents over 48 years of age. Children of all ages with special needs are placed with families depending on individual family circumstances.
Waiting time until referral
Families in which at least one parent holds Colombian citizenship have priority for a placement and the waiting time can vary between 6 to 12 months. The Adopolis application fee will also be reduced by one half in this case. You may be eligible to claim Colombian citizenship if one of your parents was a Colombian citizen. For other nationalities waiting time can be 30 months or longer for adoption of a healthy infant.
For special needs, older children and sibling groups the waiting time is shorter.
Waiting time from referral until travel
4 to 5 weeks.
Travel
Parents must obtain special visas before traveling to Colombia for purpose of adoption. Both parents must travel for an interview with the ICBF. One parent can return home after one week and the other must remain in Colombia for another 4 to 6 weeks until the completion of the adoption.
In-country Costs
$5,500 (Includes translation of documents (English into Spanish), legal and administrative fees.
Humanitarian Aid Contribution
$1,000 (For families adopting through ICBF, adoptions through private orphanages may require a higher contribution, yet to be determined.)
We encourage families to support humanitarian projects to benefit children who are not adoptable due to medical condition, special needs or age.
Fees are subject to change, and may increase while the family is waiting for the referral of a child.
