 Children's House International received our renewal license from Poland and we are now excited to assist legally adoptable children find loving US homes. Our program will be focusing on children with medical needs, older children and sibling groups.
Please contact me if you would like more information on our Poland program. E-mail: chi4adopt@aol.com or call 360-383-0623.
About our Poland Program:
Poland is a European country, bordered by Germany, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic Sea. The capital city is Warsaw. CHI has an agent working in Poland who will guide you through the process while in-country. Poland is Hague Treaty program and CHI is a COA/Hague Accredited agency, approved to assist you through the process. If you would like to be considered for the program, a pre-application is available to help us assess your family situation in view of the Polish requirements.
Children Waiting For Families:
 Polish children are available in our program between the ages of 14 months to 14 years old. This includes both boys and girls. The majority of our referrals at this time are for older children and children with medical needs, and sibling groups. The children may be living in loving and supportive foster care families or in orphanages depending on their level of need.
Children are available for adoption because of poverty, inability to parent a child with special needs, abandonment or rights having been severed by the Polish courts.
A referral is accompanied with a medical history and pictures of the child, if available. The family is encouraged to seek professional medical opinions on the referral information of the child. Once a referral is presented to a family, they have 2-3 weeks to make their decision. We will then inform the government in Poland about their decision.
If the family decides to adopt the child, CHI will provide forms for you to fill-out regarding that referral. The parents will also need to write a personal statement about their desire to adopt the child, which CHI will send to the government. Approximately 2-3 weeks after the paperwork is received in Poland, the commission will let CHI know if the family is approved to continue the process. CHI will then assist the family as they make arrangements for travel to Poland.
Polish Government Requirements:
Single women are allowed in some areas of Poland
Parents must be 25 years of age or older
No more than 40 years difference between the child they wish to adopt
Parents must be married at least 5 years prior to adoption
Parents who have been divorced in the past will not be allowed to adopt from Poland
Families with Polish heritage will have preference over other foreign families
Two trips are required for a total of 4-5 weeks stay in Poland
I-800A CIS approval
International Home Study approval
A list of other documentation will be provided upon entering the program
 * Rules regarding age difference between parents and child, birth order, and length of marriage are general, and are flexible for children with special needs.
We would be glad to assist you in filing your I-800A CIS and setting up arrangements with a home study agency to complete your international home study and education. Home study agencies must be pre-approved by CHI.
Time Frame:
Two to three weeks after your completed adoption documents are sent to Poland, the commission will contact Children's House International with family approval. Referrals can come anytime after that. Waiting children referrals can be immediate; non-waiting children referrals may take 9 months.
Travel:
Parents will travel 2-3 days before the first hearing, to meet the child and have 'First Contact' with him or her. The "First Contact "the Adoptive Parents will travel to the town where the child resides, and will have a meeting at the local Adoption Center. During this meeting parents are informed about the health situation of the child, his/her physical and psychological development, prognosis for the future and so on. Usually a representative of a local Adoption Center, psychologist, medical doctor, educator, and legal guardian of the child are present, so the Adoptive Parents can ask them questions. The Polish side will also ask some questions - just to get know the family. Parents will then go directly to the orphanage to see the child. They will be able to spend the rest of the day with the child, and visit him/her in the orphanage over the next few days. A representative of the Adoption Center will prepare the opinion regarding your First Contact with the child, which is then submitted to the court.
 After this process, the first court hearing takes place and the Judge sets a trial/waiting period, (usually 2 weeks). The second hearing date is set for the end of that trial period.
The Judge may decide that the first hearing is a closed session, which means you do not take part in the court. In this case the Judge will send our agent formal information about the trial period (when and how long it is going to be) and the date of second hearing.
During the trial/waiting period, parents will stay at the hotel or in an apartment, if possible,
In case of an adoption of a small child, Adoptive Parents are allowed to take the child for the entire trial period, on the condition that at least one of the parents will stay in Poland for the entire trial period.
If at least parent does not intend to stay for the entire trial period, they are allowed to visit the child and even take the child out for the entire day. However, Adoptive Parents must bring the child back at nights.
In case of older children in orphanages, the situation is more flexible, because older child can understand that parents go home and then will come back in a short period of time. For a small child it would be difficult to understand why she/he has to come back to the orphanage after spending 2 weeks with mom and dad.
 During the trial period, the Adoptive Parents and child are visited, (usually twice), by a professional appointed by the Judge (this is usually a representative of local adoption center, or a social worker), to evaluate the parent-child contact, and prepare a report for the Judge.
At the second hearing Adoptive Parents are asked about their final decision regarding the adoption. (Until this time parents have the right to change their decision, and stop adoption procedure). If Parents say "yes" they want to adopt this child, they officially become the legal parents for the child.
After the second hearing, the Appeal Period begins (14 or 21 days, depending on judge's decision), and the Adoptive Parents may go home.
Our agent will receive the court's final decision, and the new birth certificate from the Registry is given, based on court's decision, (we will need appropriate POAs signed by the Adoptive Parents for this).
Second Trip
After the Appeal Period the Adoptive Parents will travel back to Poland to apply for passport and visa for their Adoptive Child. They will have to fill in a passport form, and both parents must sign it in the presence of the passport office worker. If both of the Adoptive Parents are unable to return to Poland, one of the parents may apply for the passport, if they have a Power of Attorney from the spouse who could not travel.
When the passport is ready the parents can pick it up from the passport office. Once they obtain the passport, they need to take the child to the medical doctor appointed by the Embassy. The parents can then make an Embassy appointment for the American visa.
The second trip usually takes 8-12 days: passport procedure takes 7-10 days (depending on the passport office), and the doctor appointment and visa appointments take about 1 day.
 CHI's Experience in Poland:
CHI has experience working in Poland. This is not a pilot program.
Thanks again for your interest!
If you believe there might be a child waiting for you in Poland or have questions about any of our other International Programs, please contact CHI at (360) 383-0623.
Fees:
Please click here to receive information on the agency contract, financial agreements and statistical information on: the number of adoption placements per year for the prior 3 calendar years, the number of placements that remain intact, the number of families who apply to adopt each year, and the number of waiting children eligible for adoption.
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