Adopt from Peru

Peru is South America's third largest country, covering 1,285,215 sq. km. It is located along the west coast of South America and borders Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Bolivia. Peru is a beautiful country with a rich history. It is perhaps most well known for Machu Picchu, the ancient Incan city ruins. Ancient Peru was the seat of several prominent Andean civilizations, most notably that of the Incas, whose empire was captured by the Spanish conquistadors in 1533.

Economic hardship, with estimated 54% of the population below the poverty line, and high birth rates have led to a large number of street orphans and abandoned children in Peru.  There are an estimated 600,000 orphans in the capital city of Lima alone.

 

Due to poverty and high birth rates, there are many children in Peru who have been abandoned or live on the streets. The numbers are staggering, as hundreds of thousands of children are in need of a permanent home. Peruvian adoption is an excellent way for families and single parents alike to add to their families and provide a child a loving home.

The Ministry for Women and Social Development (MIMDES) is Peru’s governing body of adoption and overseas all adoptions from Peru. At this time A Helping Hand works solely with Peru’s Waiting Angel’s Program. The Waiting Angel’s Program is designed for children who are considered harder to place. This program includes children older than five years, sibling groups and younger children with medical special needs. Both boys and girls are available for adoption through this program.   Children as young as two years old and as old as sixteen are available for adoption.

The Children
 

• AHH will begin its work in Peru as a participant in the Waiting Angels program.  The Waiting Angels program consists of children who are harder to place such as children with minor and major medical special needs, children 5 years and older, and sibling groups.
• Prospective adoptive parents have the opportunity to be matched with a child/children off the Waiting Angels list.
• Both boys and girls are available for adoption.
• Children as young as two years old and as old as sixteen are available for adoption.

Travel to Peru
 

• Both adoptive parents are required to travel to Peru to adopt their child. However, one parent may be able to leave before the adoption is completed.
• The average length of stay in Peru is from 23-27 days.
• Adoptive families will be accompanied by a translator while in Peru.
• Once the adopted child enters the U.S., he or she automatically becomes a U.S. citizen.

Requirements

Prospective parents must meet the following criteria. These policies are the requirements of the Peruvian adoption system; they are not requirements imposed solely by AHH. If you have any questions regarding any of these requirements, please contact us.

• Applicants to adopt must be at least 18 years older than the child they are adopting and no more than age 55, with some exceptions.
• Applicants must be married for at least one year.
• Both married and single applicants may adopt from Peru.
• There are no restrictions for having other children in the home.
• Peru requires a licensed social worker to submit post-adoption reports to MIMDES every 6 months for the first 4 years after the adoption is finalized.
• For fees and estimated costs please contact us.

Risks

We will gladly assist you with state, federal and Peruvian legal and social work associated with applying to the MIMDES for a child. Although problems with dossiers are extremely rare, we cannot guarantee a particular result with respect to that application. Any sovereign nation exercises its own discretion with respect to adoption applications, can establish new guidelines as to the type of child which is adoptable or the type of couple that can adopt, can partially close its program, or can even stop international adoptions altogether.

Additionally, medical and/or developmental delays may exist in internationally adopted children, including children adopted from Peru. Orphanage medical reports will be brief and less sophisticated generally than medical reports prepared in the United States. We did not prepare these reports and cannot guarantee their contents.

We suggest that adoptive parents talk to as many other couples who have completed the adoption process as possible and we predict that you will find very positive responses to health questions, but please check for yourself the experiences of others.

Finally, institutionalized children may have experienced some developmental delays that are almost unavoidable. These precious children may not have been nurtured as you will nurture them, given the generally understaffed and under-funded status that most orphanages find themselves in.

Some of the problems that can possibly arise and have arisen in children adopted from Peru are:

• scars,
• milk intolerance,
• low or high grade heart murmur,
• defective heart valve that requires surgery,
• rickets,
• scabies,
• crossed eyes,
• cleft lip and/or cleft palette,
• hepatitis A, B or C,
• parasitic infection,
• colds and pneumonia,
• attachment delays or problems,
• under stimulation/delayed development,
• undiagnosed congenital problems,
• effects of institutionalization,
• vision and hearing problems, and
• malnutrition.

By proceeding with A Helping Hand, families certify that they have considered the risks mentioned about and as such assume all health, developmental or governmental risks associated with the adoption.

 

 

A Helping Hand partners with Lifeline Children's Services, a licensed child-placing agency, to work in Peru.