Adopting from Chile

Marcela - posted on 03/24/2012

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Congrats Georgiarose and Lainie, good luck in Chile and my best wishes in this part of the process.

Marcela

Lainie - posted on 03/24/2012

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Hi everyone,
Just to let you know that my husband and I have been approved to adopt a sibling group up to the age of 8 years of age from Chile. It was a long process but now we are getting ready to send our file to SENAME. Then, we wait for the Chilean Gov's approval and hopefully we'll be well on our way to adopt.
Hoping everyone else is doing well.
xo Lainie
(Australia)

Georgiarose - posted on 03/23/2012

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We have just been approved to adopt from Chile. Can you tell me what older children were like because we are told only children above 6 years old are available to nzers. Thank you

Nemili - posted on 03/09/2012

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Hello! So glad to have found this forum! Right now I can't seem to figure out where to start with this whole process for Chile! I'm adopted myself and have lots of adopted people in my extended family, but this process has changed a lot since my folks when through it back in the early 80s. :) Can anyone help me sort this out a little bit? My husband and I are from the States. When I look at other websites, everything says "start here first..." I'm confused as to whether I start with SENAME approval or the Chilean Embassy here in the States. Any suggestions?

Lainie - posted on 01/30/2012

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Hi Marcela,

We have yet to send our file to Chile, as at the end of last year we decided to be re-assessed in Australia for children up to the age of 8 years. At this stage, we are approved up to 6 years of age but as the information we have gleaned from other Australian States and overseas, the children are older than 6 years.

According to SENAME, it takes up to 6 months for the Chilean Government to approve you. So, lets hope that when our files do finally make their way to Santiago, that we'll have a quick approval time. :)

All the best,
Lainie

PS. Keep in touch.

Marcela - posted on 01/29/2012

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Hi Lainei,

I don't know about another groups. I'm searching the same, if I found any I'll let you know.
Did you got the approval? I'm asking because it give me a time guide. I'm just in the first step, sending the forms.

Thanks

Lainie - posted on 01/28/2012

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I have noticed that there are several NZ families in this thread looking to adopt from Chile... do any of you know of another Google or Yahoo forum group where you contact each other? In Australia, there are not many who are going through the Chile adoption program so it is difficult to find connections. Please message me if you would like to connect - I think it is important that we all share our information and ensure that the Australia/NZ/International Adoptive parents adopting from Chile get the same support as others IA parents.

Marcela - posted on 01/28/2012

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Hi All,
We are Chileans living in NZ. We are starting the adoption process to adopt a child from Chile just we are in the first step we sent all the forms to CYF and we are waiting to be contact.
I would like to know other experiences adopting Chilean children. How long does it take after to be approved from CYF to be contact by the Chilean institution Sename to allocate a child? any one lived this experience.

If some one needs some help with the Spanish or information about Chilean culture we are happy to help.

Regards
Marcela

Anna - posted on 09/18/2010

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If you can read Spanish, then all the information you need, on Chile's end at least, is on this website www.sename.cl You'll have to click on the "adopcion" link.

Anna - posted on 09/18/2010

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As I said originally, we are US citizens, living in Chile. Since we have permanent resident status in Chile, we were able to adopt through their national program. We were treated as Chilean citizens. That is how we were able to adopt a child so young (5 months when he arrived). The process is different for people adopting from other countries. Sename, the government agency in charge of adoptions, prefers to keep kids inside the country and will only look to foreign families as a last resort. So, as Shelley said, the kids available for adoption internationally are older. As far as Chilean orphanages go, I can only tell you my personal experience. The orphanage my son lived in was clean. There were about 20 babies and toddlers living there (up to about 5 yrs old). The children were well fed and well educated. He was sent daily to a special preschool / daycare where he received a lot of personal attention. I think that this special attention helped a lot, and is the reason that he was up to date on his emotional and intellectual development (alert, interactive, etc). However, it was still an institution and I don't think that any group home can replace the attention and care offered by a loving family. Despite the quality care, most of the children have respiratory problems (bronchitis, constant colds) and are underweight. The babies have bald spots on the back of their heads from laying down in a crib so much. Since adopting my son, I've been able to visit and volunteer twice at his orphanage. The kids are extremely loving and crave attention. They all want to sit on your lap, be held, hugged and kissed. I've never visited an orphanage for older kids. Some children live in foster homes, with families and I think that they have less health and attachment issues when this is the case. If you would like more info, then I can send you a private message with my email.

Shelley - posted on 08/11/2010

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It was a happy face that I posted! Happy that I was helping someone by giving them information.

Jennifer - posted on 07/16/2010

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Thanks! I have already contacted CFO, We have been married for almost 3 years now... (wow! time goes fast!)

Shelley - posted on 07/16/2010

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You need to be approved by CYFs in NZ first which takes around a year to do so its worth contacting them first to get the ball rolling. A great website is www.cfo.org.nz - if you contact them they will give you access to all the criteria. It looks as though you need to be married for 2 years. Most of the children are over 6 years old. (:

Jennifer - posted on 07/15/2010

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We are living in NZ and we are currently looking into adopting from Chile. My husband is half Chilean and I grew up with adopted brothers and sisters and have always wanted to adopt so we are very interested in information on Chilean adoption. How old do you need to be? How long do you have to be married for?

Shelley - posted on 07/04/2010

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Hi Anna
We are in NZ and considering adoption from Chile which we have been told will take aroud 24 months in total. I would love to hear any advice you have for us and information on the orphanages. It would also be nice to hear how your adoption went (:
Thanks
T

Lainie - posted on 05/15/2010

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Hi Anna. My husband and I are in the process of adopting from Chile - we had our last interview last month and are waiting to be approved. We are in Australia and it feels as if we are the only ones adopting through Chile. The information we have is limited and in Spanish - which I can almost translate but its not precise. The process in Australia is long winded but we are getting closer to our file being sent to Chile (once its approved of course!). My question is really about the children, as we cannot seem to get a straight answer. Are there many orphans? What about sibling groups? What are the orphanages like in Chile? Do the children have special needs and institutionalised behaviours that we need to learn about? We feel very alone in our journey at present, so any information you can provide would be great. Talk soon. x Lainie

Anna - posted on 03/08/2009

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We're US citizens, but are currently living in Chile, so that's why we chose here. We originally wanted to adopt from Bolivia, bc there are sooooo many orphans there. But, they require Americans to live in their country for 2 years before they're allowed to adopt. If you're interested in S. America, Chile is known as the least corrupt. Our experience has been that they are very professional and are looking out for the best interest of the kids. It is easy to adopt from Chile bc they have very straight forward rules. I think it would be easy to do it independently, especially if you understand Spanish, or have a friend who can translate. "Sename" is the name of the government adoption agency. They have a website where the whole process is explained. Information in English can also be found through the US embassy in Chile. It's a small country, so I don't imagine that many have adopted from here.

Jessica - posted on 03/04/2009

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Anna-Is chili adoption a small program?  I hadn't heard of it before.  I just found out about a mongolia program that I didn't know was there either :-)  Did you go through an agency or independent? 

We are getting ready to bring our son home from China, but I am always thinking about if we decide to adopt again :-)

Jess