Good Questions

At this time, we have placed more than 140 children. We work with the three largest USA contacts with long-term experience in the field of intercountry adoption and who have mediated many intercountry adoptions to the Netherlands in the past. Long-term analysis show that 30 to 40 children come to the Netherlands on average. Some years there are more children arriving, and some years there are less children arriving in the Netherlands. We do not know what these figures will be in the future. We do not look for children for parents, but parents for children.

Yes, this is possible. In that case, the youngest partner must be under the age of 40, and the permit in principle must also be in the name of the youngest partner. You can send the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice a request for this. Please contact us to discuss your individual options.

As an adoption license holder we always put the child’s best interests first. For that reason, we carefully assess prospective adoptive parents who come to us with a medical condition. There are also certain requirements that PAPs have to comply with. We have to make sure that a child, after being taken out of an unstable situation, does not end up in the next unstable situation. We have written a specific flyer about the possibilities. Please contact us by email to request this flyer.

The procedure is clear. Our focus is on finding parents for children, and not children for parents. Looking back on the past years, we see waiting periods of 2 weeks to 2.5 years. The past few years, the average waiting period was 10 to 15 months. However, averages are utterly useless in individual cases, because how much time shall pass until the moment of placement strongly depends on a complex combination of factors, including your level of openness, what you can handle, your profile and your lifestyle on the one hand, and what the biological parents are looking for on the other hand. And the most important factor of all: what the children need.

An American adoption procedure is expensive, because the expenses in the sending country are at a Western country’s level. Read here about the costs of an American procedure, or contact us to request the flyer “Basic Information”.

To date, the birth families have always been involved in the adoptions of children from the USA through ANW. As long as they have parental rights, this is also the right they have. Sporadically, it happens for biological parents to make an adoption plan for an older child. In reality, if the biological parents are unable, do not want to, or are not allowed to take care of their (older) children or infants, the government places them in foster care. There are approximately 500 000 children currently in foster care. Some are placed temporarily and some permanently. If the parental rights are being terminated, the government will decide the future of these children. Every year, approximately 120 000 children are being classified as adoptable, which means that there are possibilities to adopt these children from foster care through government organizations. This also happens on a large scale in the USA: approximately 60 000 children per year find a new family in their own country. The other 60 000 stay in the foster care system. This especially concerns the older children, whether or not as a part of a sibling group, and children with special needs (socially and medically). For these children there are not always adoptive families available in the USA. The large number of adoptable children within foster care proves this.

ANW would like to contribute to this, but unfortunately this is easier said than done. It is clear that it concerns a very time consuming and challenging process. Just like in the Netherlands, the child and youth care is strongly decentralized. It is almost impossible to help these children internationally to new families. For further information about this subject and the current situation, please contact us: info@anewway.nl

The specific open character of the American adoption procedure, the background of the future adopted child, and the permission for a possible special need/medical increased risk. There is also a flyer available about this. Please contact us to request the flyer: info@anewway.nl

Yes, it is possible to transfer to us, provided that you comply with the right requirements (for example the age requirement). Always contact us first before transferring. You can contact us by sending an email explaining your situation, so that we can provide you with the right information. If you are certain that you want to transfer, you can already ask your current license holder to send your permit in principle and home study report to ANW. Always send us an email to inform us of your intension, so that we have your contact information and can reach you as soon as we have received it through the post.

Yes, it is currently possible for couples who are on a list for a Dutch adoption to also register with ANW. This is now possible, because the Dutch Child Care and Protection Board has changed the procedure, so that ANW can check in the USA if a couple’s profile is being assessed at a certain time by a biological parent or not. The PAPs must now that their procedure in the USA goes on hold during the selection process of a Dutch biological mother. Please contact us for further information about the procedure and the risks: info@anewway.nl

ANW regularly receives requests for interviews, internships, student-for-a-day programs, and graduation internships. We are happy that so many students are interested in adoption, but our primary goal is to find solutions for children. We are unable to facilitate internships or student-for-a-day programs, and unfortunately we cannot comply with all the requests for information. Information about our organization and USA adoptions can be found on our website. Do you want to know more about adoption in general? Please go to www.adoptie.nl of the Foundation Adoption Services (SAV). This site is very informative and provides you with good information.