Programs

VARIETY   CHILDREN & FAMILY  SERVICES (Human Services Agency)
CHANGING LIVES__________________________________________________________________________
5107 PRAIRIE GOURD MEADOWS, MANVEL, TEXAS 77578,  U . S. A  – 832 584 9650
18 PENINSULA ROAD,GODERICH, FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE: Phones: + 232 78 455841/+232 76716037
Website: www.varietychildrensl.org
Facebook: variety children Sierra Leone

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ADOPTION OF A CHILD

INTERNAL ADOPTION ONLY

Variety Children & Family Services is an adoption support agency which works in compliance with the rules and  regulations of the Ministry of  Gender & Children’s Affairs. All persons interested in adopting a child from Variety Children & Family Services must meet the following requirements:

1. Must be a certified foster parent of Variety children & family services with a valid foster parent license for a minimum period of six months and must belong to Variety Foster Parents Association with full compliance with the association policies.
2. Write a letter of intent to adopt and addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of Variety Children & Family Services.
3. Acquire the services of an attorney or Lawyer who will write a letter of intent on your behalf to adopt a child and addressed to the Chief Social Services Officer or the Director of Children’s Affairs at the Ministry of Gender & Children’s Affairs.
4. Work with Variety Children’s clinical staff and management to acquire all documents needed for the supervision court order such as the child’s birth certificate, two passport photos, death certificate of any biological parent who is deceased, copy of home inspection report of the adoptive parent and copy of a certified foster parents License.
5. Certified declaration of surviving parent of unconditional intent to give the child (ren) for adoption thereby relinquishing up all his/her parental rights before a justice of peace or a peace officer of the family support unit of the Sierra Leone police.
6. Parental consent to be signed by any surviving biological parent or guardian or incase of death of both parents, by a grand parent in the presence of the CSSO or the Director of Children’s Affairs or their representative and witnessed by the CEO of Variety Children or his representative.
7. Once the parental consent is signed at the Ministry of Gender & Children’s Affairs, the care of the child becomes a guardianship. There and then the adoptive parents must pay to Variety Children’s Home a guardianship fee of Le 500.00 and Le 500.00 Monthly until the adoption becomes final.
8. Pre adoption counseling of adoptive parents and post adoption requirements are discussed prior to issuing a formal letter of Declaration of Intent to adopt your child, pre and post adoption commitment letters with instructions.

VARIETY   CHILDREN & FAMILY  SERVICES (Human Services Agency)
CHANGING LIVES__________________________________________________________________________
5107 PRAIRIE GOURD MEADOWS, MANVEL, TEXAS 77578,  U . S. A  – 832 584 9650
18 PENINSULA ROAD,GODERICH, FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE: Phones: + 232 78 455841/+232 76716037/+232 88278004/+232 88278005
Website: www.varietychildrensl.org
Facebook: variety children Sierra Leone

                                        REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ADOPTION OF A CHILD
                                                    EXTERNAL ADOPTION ONLY

1. Adoption Category A : Must be a certified foster parent or have a relative become a certified foster parent of Variety children & family services with a valid foster parent license for a minimum period of six months.(See Literature for Internal Adoptions). Registration for such process is SLE 100.00 (One Hundred Leones) per child.. No Monthly child welfare and maintenance charges are levied for such adoption category.
2. Adoption Category A1: If you are an educational sponsor of any of our children in High school, tertiary education or university and express an interest in adopting that child, registration for that type is SLE 500.00. No monthly child maintenance charges are required but may be discretional should the sponsor desire to do anything for the child when he/she is at the children’s home during holidays. Initial Guardianship charges are $ 50.00. No reoccurring guardianship charges until the adoption is final. Should the sponsor require more time for immigrant document processing and want the child to stay in the home, a monthly child maintenance charges are required for $50.00 per month until the child leaves the facility.
3. Adoption Category B. Have the option to adopt a child directly from Variety Children’s Home without becoming a certified foster parent or have Variety Children supervise a post adoption child while immigrant application is in progress. Registration for such process is $ 100.00 (One Hundred Dollars) per child and monthly child welfare and maintenance support of $ 50.00 per month for each child while the adoption process is in progress until the final adoption order is acquired from the High court and the child is taken out of the home. Should the adoptive parent need more time to process immigration documents for visa, the monthly support will continue until the child finally leaves the home.
4. Adoption Category B1: International adoption agencies which identify a child for adoption directly from the children’s home for International adoptive parents, registration for such adoption is $ 100. and a monthly child maintenance charge of  $ 50.00. When the child is matched with a family  the monthly child maintenance  charges will be $ 125.00 until the parentl consent is signed by the surviving biological parents .  When the Parental consent is formally signed by the surviving biological parents, a guardianship fee of $ 125.00 is charged and monthly thereafter until the final adoption order is acquired from the High Court of Sierra Leone. Should the adoptive parents need more time for the child to be at the children’s home while the immigrant visa is in process, the monthly charges continue until the child leaves the home.
5. Adoption Category B2. Have the option to identify a child at Variety Children’s Home for adoption with the desire to take that child out of the home to live with you while the adoption process is initiated. Registration for such adoption is $ 100.00. Initial Documents required for such adoption is a police clearance of all adoptive parents, medical report and home inspection report prior to taking the child out of the home. Monthly supervision charges of $ 25.00 or its equivalence in New Leones is charged every month until the adoption is final.
6. Adoption Category C. You can also adopt through Variety Children an orphan child of a deceased relative living with an extended family member who is incapable of providing support for that child or a Human Services partner to Variety Children referring a child for adoption. Registration for such adoption is $ 100 per child and a monthly charge of $ 25 or it equivalence in new Leones for  supervision and administration through the entire adoption process..

A declaration of intent to adopt that child is then issued to the adoptive parents for their lawyer. The adoptive parents may choose their own lawyer or pick from a pool of lawyers of Variety Children who will then write a letter to the Director of Children’s Affairs, Ministry of Gender & Children’s Affairs to adopt that child. A copy of that letter must be sent to Variety Children with a request to provide available biometric documents on that child such as Clinic card, original birth certificate, ID cards of the biological parents. The adoptive parents are responsible for the registration and acquisition of all new national civil registration documents such as the NIN Number, New birth certificate and death certificates of deceased parents.  Once a date is set for the signing of the parental consent, Variety Children will invite the surviving relatives of that orphan child to Freetown for the signing of the parental consent. The adoptive parents are responsible for transportation to and from Freetown and within Freetown, accommodation and feeding while in Freetown for that process. After the signing of the parental consent by the surviving relatives, a guardianship fee is charged as follows:
Adoption Category A –SLE 500.00 and SLE 250.00 monthly until final adoption order.
Adoption Category B – $100.00 and $ 50.00 Monthly child maintenance charges until final adoption order
Adoption Category B1– $ 100.00  and $ 125.00 monthly child maintenance charges  until the final adoption order or on completion of all immigration documents for the child.
Adoption Category B 2 –$ 50.00 and $ 25.00 ( Leone Equivalence)  monthly administrative supervision fee  until the adoption is final and the international adoption agency initiates immigration application requirements with the country of residence of the adoptive parents.
Adoption Category C – $ 100.00 and $ 25.00 ( Leone Equivalence)  monthly administrative supervision fee  until the adoption is final and the international adoption agency initiates immigration application requirements with the country of residence of the adoptive parents.

7. Once the parental consent is signed by the surviving biological relatives and the Director of Children’s Affairs at the Ministry of Gender & Children’s Affairs, the Lawyers of the adoptive parents will then file an application with the High Court of Sierra Leone for the final adoption order. When the application is approved by the judge of the High Court , the lawyer registers the order at National Civil Registration Office, give one copy to the adoptive parents and one copy MUST be given to Variety Children to be filed in the child’s(ren) file.
   Note: The Lawyers must ensure that all bills owed by them and the  adoptive parents  to Variety Children & Family Services are paid in full prior to receiving the final adoption order. Any breach of this contract will be legally  or professionally pursued.
8. Once the adoption order is acquired from the High Court of Sierra Leone, the adoptive parent(s) must contact an international adoption agency to initiate the process of a Home study and  filling with  U S A immigration (USCIS)( USA adoptions Only)  for immigrant Visas. Variety Children’s partners for international adoption
   ENQUIRIES : International Adoptions– Please contact  Adoption Center of Illinois. Website:www.adoptioncenterofillinois.org/adopting-a-child/international. Primary provider services Sierra Leone. Email address: jturner@adoptionillinois.org. Office Line: 773-321-0300
   CAUTION: Adoption cases are only accepted by this international adoption agency after a thorough initial professional assessment and investigations of the authenticity of all your adoption documents. Should there be any suspicion of discrepancy, your case will be turned down. Variety Children does not have any control over their professional decisions.
9. ii. For Italy, please contact our partner AVSI INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION AGENCY AT +339 340 527 2956

Iii. For Europe and other parts of the world, the adoptive parent(s) must contact an international adoption agency in their jurisdiction which is in compliance with the Hague Convention on international adoptions and have the agency work with Variety Children & family Services with Proof of all documentations including a detailed Home study.
i v: You can also contact John Kandeh  ( CFO of Variety Children & Family Services ) at 832 584 9650

( U S  A   applicants only.)
vi. All applicants must comply with the adoption laws of Sierra Leone..

9. For adoption agencies adopting on behalf of external families, once the child has been matched with a family and accepted, a letter of declaration of intent to adopt that particular child and all accompanying documents are issued to a representative of the adoption agency for the lawyer of their choice. The retaining lawyer by the adoption agency will write a letter of intent to the Ministry of Gender & Children’s Affairs to adopt that child and send a copy to Variety Children in preparation to invite any surviving parent or relatives of that child to Freetown for the signing of the parental consent. ( Note: The adoptive parents are responsible for the transportation, accommodation and feeding of those relatives while in Freetown for that exercise until they return to their destinations)
10. The adoption agency will then make an arrangement for the adoptive parents to make their first trip to Sierra Leone to meet the child for two weeks (Required by Law) while the adoption application process is in progress at the High Court of Sierra Leone.
11. This starts the guardianship stage and the adoptive parents pay a fee of $ 100 for each child per month until the adoption is final. Should the agency representing the adoptive parents or the adoptive parents themselves need extra time for the child to stay in the Children’s home for immigration processing, the monthly support of child’s welfare and maintenance of $ 100 will continue until the child finally leaves the home. For the child in an extended family home during the immigration application process, the monthly administrative fee is $ 25.00
12. Post adoption commitment report for six years starts when the child finally reaches the destination of the adoptive parents and report must be sent to the government of Sierra Leone by an adoption agency or a duly certified professional in adoption in the country of residence through Variety Children.
13. Monthly administrative and supervision charges of $ 25.00 will then be terminated once the visa is acquired for immigration of the child to his/her new parents.

•   ADOPTION COURT APPEARANCE CHARGES BY VARIETY CHILDREN.
• . If CEO or  CFO or a  senior management official are required to appear in court on behalf of the adoptive parents, the charges are as follows.
  A.. First appearance $ 50.00 or its equivalence in Leones per day.(International adoptions Only)
• B For Local adoptions SLE 1,000.00 per day
• C. Local Translator from VCFS SLE 1,000.00 per day
• All other appearances, same charges.

For enquiries please  call  for appointment +232 75 024199/+232 76 122669/+232 88963972
NOTE: ON behalf of the Board of Directors, Management, Staff, Certified foster parents and all  the orphans and vulnerable children in our care, we sincerely thank you for your interest in adopting a child from Variety Children & Family Services. We are also grateful to the government of Sierra Leone and specifically the Ministry of Gender & Children’s Affairs for creating this generational platform of immense opportunity and bright future for these children and for our country.