Inter Country Adoption

1. Introduction

Applications for overseas adoption can only be accepted from residents of the five Local Authority areas covered by Adopt North East. Applicants must be resident in Gateshead, Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside or South Tyneside at the point of Enquiry.

2. Responding to Requests for Information and Assessment

Adopt North East commissions the Inter-Country Adoption Centre (IAC) to act on its behalf for all requests for information, for the assessment of prospective adopters and for support of adopters until the child enters the UK with their adopters. Adopt North East commissions IAC to ensure that prospective adopters receive the highest quality service relating to issues outside of the normal practice of Adopt North East, including specialist knowledge of UK immigration laws and the legal framework of the child's host country.

By way of a Service Level Agreement, services provided by IAC include provision for first time adopters, adopting again, and kinship applicants or those who have already identified (and sometimes adopted) the child abroad.

In the North East of England, IAC works with ARC Adoption North East to provide a more localised service. However, the Registration of Interest is taken by IAC and IAC retain overall responsibility for the case. This ensures that IAC's specialist knowledge of adoption procedures and practices in different countries and involvement in the adoption application up to the time the child arrives in the UK brings clear benefits to adopters in this complex and niche service area.

Further details about IAC, including IAC's Contact Details, Statement of Purpose and Fees are available at: www.coramiac.org.uk/.