Adoption process can present challenges for would-be parents

Getting a UAE residency visa for an adopted child can be unpredictable for parents, experts say.

DUBAI // For expatriates who adopt while living in the UAE, obtaining a residency visa for their child is the top challenge.

Families have described the difficulty in the visa process, either waiting for months or sometimes having it rejected.

The process of getting a visa for an adopted child can be unpredictable, said Dr Andrea Tosatto. The psychologist runs the international home study programmes at Synergy Integrated Medical Centre in Dubai and has helped hundreds of families to adopt.

If a couple returns from the adopted child’s country with his or her passport, the child can immediately get the visa. But some countries do not immediately issue a passport.

“In this gap, the child has a birth certificate bearing the name of the parents who have adopted, while the passport is an original one and does not match,” said Dr Tosatto.

“Some children had to stay on a visitors visa until it matched.”

Overall, the procedures should go smoothly, but for parents the biggest challenge was “a feeling of fragility and unpredictability about the processes”, he said.

Raising an orphan or fostering a child is allowed and encouraged in Islam, but adoption is not recognised. Many Emiratis foster children and can approach the Community Development Authority in Dubai to do so.

However, the child must use the family name of his or her biological father, and is not accepted as a child of the adoptive parents.

“In Sharia, adoption is not allowed. Fostering is allowed,” said lawyer Huda Rostom Alfalamarzy. “If someone adopts in another country it is fine.”

Expat adoptive parents must have a document stating that the child is theirs, something they cannot attain in the UAE, she said.

To start the process, those who want to adopt must first be tested by a psychologist to verify that the couple are mentally healthy.

The couple can then take the psychological report and necessary documents to the country where they wish to adopt, where they contact a lawyer or facilitator who can help them find a child in an orphanage.

Next, they must go to a court in that country to certify the adoption, and then to their own country’s embassy to legalise the process.

Dr Tosatto said that up to 30 couples a year came to him seeking help with adoption.

“They are mainly British, but there are people from everywhere in the world,” he said.

His work involves checking documents such as salary certificates, medical fitness tests, financial statements and marriage certificates.

“After that I ask for three letters of recommendation, ascertaining that they are a good couple,” said Dr Tosatto.

In his experience, education and health benefits were provided to adopted children as long as a job contract covered the family.

“There are companies in the UAE that give maternity leave to mothers who adopt. Whether or not a single person can adopt depends on their country’s laws,” he said.