Adoption in Chile, Part One

I understand that not everyone may be interested in this topic, but if is helpful for me to write out what I am learning and thinking as I go along. Having said that … This is what I understand so far about adoption in Chile.

All adoptions are centralized, meaning that adoptive parents and birthparents must work with only the handful of agencies certified by the Chilean government. Adoptions are closed, and birth parents do not have any say in who will parent their child(ren.) Private adoptions between birth and adoptive parents are illegal and punishable by law.

Within the capital city of Santiago, there are 3-4 adoption agencies. The largest of these, SENAME, works throughout the entire country and would be comparable to our state agencies such as DCFS in the United States. Children who are in the care of SENAME live in hogares de niños (as I mentioned in a previous post.) Couples adopting through SENAME must work with the office in their respective region, but may apply to adopt a child living in any of the regions throughout the country as long as they are willing to travel.

In Santiago, adoptive couples have the choice of working with SENAME or with one of the other agencies. The other agencies are smaller and the children often are placed in foster homes rather than in group homes. These babies also tend to be placed for adoption at younger ages. The cost of adopting through these agencies is higher but still only a fraction of the adoption fees related to agency adoptions in the States.

Outside of Santiago, there is only one choice for couples who hope to adopt and that is SENAME. Depending on the region, working with a smaller office may be a positive thing since adoptive couples receive more individualized attention. On the other hand, sometimes the smaller offices are not as well-run and the wait to adopt can be even longer.

In comparison to adopting in the States, there seem to be many more “hoops” to jump through in Chile. While gathering information on the steps to adopt here, I discovered that we could possibly have up to a dozen separate meetings with different individuals before even finding out whether or not we are “approved” to adopt!

To be continued …