Intercountry adoption can be a complex journey, but our expert support and adopter programmes can help to streamline this process.
Countries with intercountry adoption
Not all countries place children overseas for adoption in the UK, and some only allow family (kinship) overseas adoptions. Our free Advice Line can offer information on whether your country of interest allows overseas adoptions. Whichever country you choose, it is important to only make arrangements through an accredited agency or body in that country.
An international treaty called the Hague Convention was created to ensure that the intercountry adoption process is ethical, transparent and child-first. You can find an up-to-date list of the Hague countries here.
If you haven’t decided which country you are interested in adopting from, you can discuss this further with our advice team. You must have chosen before beginning the assessment.
Restricted countries
There are some countries that the UK Government has placed restrictions on, meaning that it is not possible to adopt from them. You can read more about the reasons for these restrictions on the Department for Education website. The current restricted countries are:
- Cambodia
- Ethiopia
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Nepal
- Nigeria
In some circumstances, you can apply for an exception to these restrictions. You can also read about this on the Department for Education website. You can speak to our Advice Line team for more information about a particular country and what to do if there are restrictions in place.
UK adoption
Coram IAC works with partner agencies in the UK to deliver domestic adoption through parallel planning.
If you are only thinking about adopting in the UK for now, details of a local adoption charity can be found via CVAA or You Can Adopt where you can also find local authority adoption services and lots more information about adopting in the UK, including short films and podcasts.
Coram IAC programmes
We have three accredited country programmes, which means we work with the central authorities directly. Coram IAC is the only agency in the UK to have developed these working relationships and to have achieved recognition from overseas countries. We may open more programmes with overseas countries in the future so keep an eye on our website and social media for more information.
We are currently working with:
India
India can offer prospective adopters with Indian heritage the opportunity to adopt a child of the same background. Prospective adoptive parents who are not of Indian heritage are also eligible. Our India Country Programme is our most popular and successful programme to date.
South Africa
Coram IAC is the only adoption agency in the UK able to offer a service to prospective adopters looking to adopt from South Africa, including those seeking to adopt unrelated children and those who have already identified a child in South Africa.
The Philippines
Currently The Philippines is seeking to find families for children with physical or mental disabilities, aged 8+ and sibling groups through their special home finding programme.
Speak to our friendly team
Contact us to find out more about which countries you might be able to adopt from. You can also use our free Advice Line service for further information on how to get started and what to expect from the adoption process.