Hello & can I ask a question about adoption

[gratik]

Hi,
Just a quick post introducing myself before I get to the point of my post, as I have been reading the forum for a while and have found reading this forum to be full of useful information but thought it was time I introduced myself.

Anyway my name is Barry and I am currently dating a wonderful Filipino woman, We have been together since August last year she was previously married for six years to a Belgium man because of that is a Belgium citizen, so we have no issue with her living in the UK.

But we are now looking to get married in the relatively near future and for reasons I would rather not go into we are unable to have children together but as much as we both want children and a family we have not let that come between us.


In the past few weeks my partners niece in Philippines has asked her to adopt her new born Son, and my partner and I think this is an amazing opportunity given our situation and how much we both desperately want to start a family.

So I am sort of hoping someone can give us some advice as to where we should start, should we rush through getting married first (we were not in a hurry previously), should she apply to adopt the child herself, to make things more or maybe less complicated her niece has put my partner down as the Mother on the birth certificate in the Philippines, my partner tells me this is normal, I am worried it will make things more complicated and after seeing the little boy I just want to do everything I can to adopt him legally and bring him to the UK as soon as possible.

Sorry for the length of the post but I am truly hoping someone can give us some advice and will appreciate any replies and suggestions

I should add that we had both resigned ourselves to not being able to have a family and believe this opportunity is a gift that we should not ignore

Regards

Barry

[Mrs.JMajor]

Not in a good position to give so much advice, but................. that putting your partner in a birth certificate will help in processing of adoption of the child, took her words its common in Philippines, she is right there

So now she is the mother in child's B.C, next thing is.... you will stand as a father, I hope they didnt put any name of the father in child birth cert...and all you have to do is ask for a lawyer for legal adoption in PI, then get married two of you.

[Tawi2]

I know a couple,the guy is english in his mid 60's,his wife is pinay now in her mid 50's,when the lady was 51 or 52 her 17 year old niece in Pinas became buntis,the pinay lady flew to pinas a few days before the birth and had her name put on the birth certificate That was around five years ago?They ran into some form of complication,I never found out the full story but the child isnt classed as adopted or whatever here and they had problems and were refused a visa for her.

[IainBusby]

Not in a good position to give so much advice, but................. that putting your partner in a birth certificate will help in processing of adoption of the child, took her words its common in Philippines, she is right there

So now she is the mother in child's B.C, next thing is.... you will stand as a father, I hope they didnt put any name of the father in child birth cert...and all you have to do is ask for a lawyer for legal adoption in PI, then get married two of you.

I wouldn't bother trying to get your name added as the father in the Philippines as I have looked into that and into adoption in Phils and it'll take forever and cost you an absolute fortune. Your partner must already have an immigration record, at least as far as Belgium is concerned, so I think she would have to go back to Phils and go to the Embassy of Belguim there and apply for a passport for the child. Once the child is in the west I'm sure you can adopt him/her here. You don't say if your are both in Belgium or both in the UK or she is in Belgium and you are in the UK.

The main problem she may have is that of proving she was actually in the Philippines at the time the child was born.
Iain.

[johncar54]

Regarding falsely showing names on a legal document in Phil. I cannot believe that it would not be a criminal offence; it would certainly be in UK.

If it is not 100% legal I think that would severely affect any application for the child to go to UK.

Before you take any steps to show the wrong name/s on the birth Cert. I would recommend that you obtain a written advice from a Filipino lawyer. The fact that some people may have shown wrong names on the birth Cert in the past does not mean it is legal nor advisable or that you will get away with it.

(In Spain people’s illegal houses are being demolished. For years it was accepted that an illegally built house would never be demolished. Tell that now to the owners who have only a heap of rubble).

[gratik]

No we both live in the UK now, The practice of putting my partners name on the childs birth certificate made me very uncomfortable, which is why I was asking especialy as I know she was not in the country at the time the child was born.

So I am left wondering if we should just follow normal adoption procedures, to get the baby boy into the Uk as I definately want everything to be 100% legal and above board.

By the way thank you all for your quick replys, I really was not expecting such a fast response.. I appreciate it!

[Mrs.JMajor]

Well as far as I know and your partner as well being filipino citizen, yes some people done that, but I would agree to some post here, look for a Lawyer for the best thing to do, Good luck po

[johncar54]

By the way thank you all for your quick replies, I really was not expecting such a fast response.. I appreciate it!

Maybe it shows just how busy some of us really are !!!!!!

[Tawi2]

From what I have been told its common practice to falsify documents in pinas with the collaboration of a duplicitous lawyer,money talks,but in the case of the lady I know no immigration official in his right mind,nor consular staff either would believe a 50+ year old lady landed in Pinas and gave birth in less than a week,I dont know the full story,I just know her "Daughter" still isnt in the UK after 5 years

[joebloggs]

problems is your g/f's passport, where was she when the baby was born in the phils, in the uk ? , and is a father mentioned on the birth cert?

it wouldn't take an Einstein to realise your g/f could not be the mother, if they looked at her passport, and realised she was never in the phils when the birth happened.thou you never know, you could get away with it


if you apply for a visa using the British immigration rules or even using a EEA family permit, if the embassy get suspicious they can ask for a DNA test, but that's only a small chance they would.


thou if i was her, i would apply for a family permit for the baby, cost nothing, less hassle than using the British immigration rules.

[gratik]

problems is your g/f's passport, where was she when the baby was born in the phils, in the uk ? , and is a father mentioned on the birth cert?

it wouldn't take an Einstein to realise your g/f could not be the mother, if they looked at her passport, and realised she was never in the phils when the birth happened.thou you never know, you could get away with it


if you apply for a visa using the British immigration rules or even using a EEA family permit, if the embassy get suspicious they can ask for a DNA test, but that's only a small chance they would.


thou if i was her, i would apply for a family permit for the baby, cost nothing, less hassle than using the British immigration rules.

I agree with you I don't think we should risk this chance by lieing about my partner being the birth mother, She was not in the country at the time the baby was born that much will be instantly obvious.
I think I will see if my partner knows any one she can get legal advice from in the Philippines, my only worry now is that I have heard adoption from the Philippines may not be an option for a while as we are not married yet and I believe that being married for two years is a requirement and its a very long expensive process....but even saying that I guess the ultimate goal will definitely make it worth any bureaucratic red tape and hassle.

Barry

[beppe]

I can speak from my corner, am married to a Filipinos lady in Canada. In the process to adopt my step daughter, the first question the lawyer asked was the situation with the biological father. Then she said adoption is granted with preference to married couple because the welfare of the child is the paramount concern.
Being an international adoption, not so much for the Philippines government, but for Western countries there are tight laws out of fears of human trafficking.

A word of caution, it is a lengthy and costly process, western embassies in Manila are aware of the situation in the Philippines so my suggestion is play by the rules.


Try these links:
http://www.dswd.gov.ph/faq.php
http://www.dswd.gov.ph/faqdetails.php?id=49

[miss.piggy]

Hi Gratik,

Falsification of public document is a criminal offence. For sure, there will be someone from the Philippines who would reckon that your gf is not the mother of that child. You wouldn't want to get involved on something like this when there is a legal way to adopt the child.

Beppe posted a couple of links for DSWD. I suggest that you actually speak with this department as they can tell you what's legal and what's not. And I wouldn't recommend giving any "sweeteners" to anybody just to expedite your possible application.