Richard P. Lindsey
rlindsey@webb-firm.com

Parents of children adopted internationally should have the foreign adoption decree domesticated by the superior court of their home county. Oftentimes, this process is referred to as "re-adoption." While the domestication process is not actually a re-adoption, the practical end result my have the feel of such as the process provides the new parents with a final order and decree written in English and signed by a Georgia superior court judge and also provides the adopted child with a State of Georgia birth certificate also written in English. Getting a Georgia birth certificate is worth the effort of domesticating the adoption by itself. However, there are other benefits of domesticating an international adoption.

First, the domestication of the adoption ensures that the adopted child will be entitled to survivor's benefits which are provided under the social security laws of the United States. Also, with the domestication of the foreign decree, the child will not experience any problems under the Georgia inheritance laws.

Second, the domestication of the foreign decree will assist the parents in obtaining a passport and other federal documents which a child may need at some point in the future. With the ever-increasing restrictions and burdens resulting from Homeland Security, having a domesticated order for the international adoption may prove to be very valuable in the future.

Finally, the domestication of the international adoption and the resulting Georgia birth certificate and final order and decree issued by a local superior court judge will surely make the task of enrolling the child in school simpler for the parents. Likewise, the tasks of obtaining a driver's license and a voter identification card will be much simpler with a Georgia birth certificate than with a birth certificate written in a different language and issued by a foreign government.

Domesticating an international adoption usually takes only about two to three months to finalize. Oftentimes, if the domestication is done shortly after the child is brought to the United States, the parents can avoid the cost of obtaining a new home study and may use the study already in place for the foreign adoption.

Our attorneys are well-versed in the domestication of international adoptions and have handled such domestications of adoptions originally issued from many countries located throughout the world.