El Salvador
NOTE: For all families in the process that have not submitted dossiers and been approved by OPA (Office for Adoptions) they are requesting that families submit birth certificates and general physical examination forms for any children in the home. Please contact your family coordinator if you have any questions on this.
There is an increase in the estimated wait time from dossier submission to referral for El Salvador. America Word’s current projections are 12-18 months for this wait time. There are a number of factors contributing to this increase: lack of resources in El Salvador to process children this year, the closing of other Latin American countries causing an increase of interest in El Salvadoran adoptions, and Hague implementations to come in the United States. This could certainly change in the months to come as El Salvador takes measures to improve their processing system to declare children adoptable and as other NGO’s pour aid into El Salvador.
The United States’ State Department posts that there is a 1 year residency requirement for families adopting from El Salvador. This is not the case for families adopting through the government, such as those working with America World. If you have questions on this, please contact the Latin America Program Director.