Conditions vary from country to country. For example, there could be conditions related to the age of the adoptive parents or the age difference between the child and the adoptive parents. Some countries ask adoptive parents to provide a certificate of infertility; others require adoptive parents to be married and to have lived together for a specific number of years, or even to be childless.

No Quebec law prohibits single, gay, or lesbian people from adopting. However, the conditions imposed by some countries make it difficult for single people and same-sex couples to adopt.

You must also respect the requirements of the Civil Code of Québec and the Youth Protection Act. This includes undergoing a psychosocial evaluation to determine your ability to act as a parent.

Contact the Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale to obtain information about a number of subjects related to international adoption, including what the child’s country of origin requires from adoptive parents. At the Secrétariat, you can meet with an adoption counsellor who can help you decide from which country you wish to adopt.

In Quebec, there are two ways to adopt a child from a foreign country:

• Retain the services of an accredited organization
  
  Organizations accredited by the Minister of Health and Social Services act as an intermediary between the adoptive parents and the country from which they want to adopt a child. They guide the case along in the child’s country of origin, ensure that necessary requirements are met, and follow up on the case with different authorities;
  
  
• Request authorization from the Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale to adopt without using an accredited organization
  
  Staff of the Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale help and advise individuals who wish to adopt a child from abroad, and ensure that their adoption plan respects the law.

Because it is the option most frequently chosen by adoptive parents, only the first option is discussed in this Infosheet.

The Secrétariat can direct you to an accredited organization (an organization that is recognized and authorized to act as an intermediary). This organization will provide you with specific information about requirements that you must meet, procedure to follow, costs, travelling and duration of stay, etc.

A psychosocial evaluation is a mandatory requirement. Adoptive parents must pay the cost of their evaluation.

Where the child lives in a country that is a member of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention), the psychosocial evaluation will be conducted by the staff of a youth centre.

On the other hand, if the adoption judgment must be delivered outside Quebec in a country that is not a member of the Convention, the evaluation can also be conducted by a psychologist or a social worker in Quebec. The adoptive parents can choose the psychologist or social worker from a list of names that can be obtained from the relevant professional order. The Secrétariat à l'adoption internationale also has these lists available.

However, it is possible that certain countries that are not members of the Convention require that the psychosocial evaluation be performed under the State’s authority. In this case, you must contact a youth centre.

You must obtain documents that will be placed in your file and sent by the accredited organization to the foreign authorities. The adoptive parents’ birth and marriage certificates as well as a certificate of good conduct from the RCMP are the documents most frequently requested by the child’s country of origin.

You must also contact Citizenship and Immigration Canada so that your child will obtain immigration status upon entering Canada.

In most cases, once contact has been established between the foreign country and Citizenship Canada, you must go to that country for a fairly long period of time. In all, it may cost you between $10,000-$20,000, including travel expenses, the cost of an interpreter and payment to the orphanage where your child was living. During your visit you will have to contact Canadian authorities in the area and have a temporary visa issued so that the child may enter Canada.

The adoption of a Chinese child is regulated by a special legal procedure. You must have the adoption approved by the Youth Division of the Court of Québec before going to China to pick up your child.

You must follow Quebec’s standard two-step adoption procedure.

First, the Director of Youth Protection, together with you, will ask the Youth Division of the Court of Quebec to order that the child be placed in your family for six months. After that, you yourself must ask the Court to grant the adoption if the child has adapted well to your family. To find out more, read the Infosheet entitled Adopting a child in Quebec.

If the country from which you wish to adopt is a member of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, the Court of Quebec will also issue a certificate, which will establish that the adoption meets the requirements of the Convention.

Once the child arrives in Quebec, the procedure to follow to have a foreign adoption judgment recognized varies according to the child’s country of origin.

If the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) is in force in that country, the adoption judgment can be recognized administratively by the Secrétariat à l'adoption internationale.

This recognition has the same effects as if the adoption judgment had been rendered in Quebec. The Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale will advise the Directeur de l’État civil, who will then draw up a birth certificate for the child.

If the Convention is not in force in the child’s country of origin, the judgment must be recognized by the Youth Division of the Court of Quebec in order for the adoption to be official. Therefore, the adoptive parents must, either by themselves or through a lawyer, present a motion for recognition of the adoption judgment. At the same time, the adoptive parents can ask that the child be given a new name, if they wish.

To find out more, read the Infosheet entitled Adopting a Child in Quebec.

Not anymore. Before January 1, 2006, adoptive parents had to respect the specific rules found in the Act respecting adoptions of children domiciled in the People's Republic of China.

Since January 1, 2006, the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) has been in force in China. The Convention came into force in Quebec in February 2006. Since this date, adoptions in China by adoptive parents from Quebec are subject to the same rules as those of other countries where the Convention applies.

However, adoption plans approved by the Court of Quebec before February 1, 2006 are still subject to the old rules. Therefore, the Secrétariat à l’adoption internationale recommends that adoptive parents who received approval for their adoption plan before February 1, 2006 visit the clerk of the Court of Quebec to receive a certificate of registration.