29 ago 2007
|
Who is N.A.A.A. | ||
|---|---|---|
| N.A.A.A. (No-profit Network for Aid, Assistance and Acceptance) is an Association which was founded by adopting parents. Our purpose is to offer a sincere, correct and disinterested help to all those italian families who are dealing with procedures and projects of international adoption. The working method we use is based on a punctual and systematical activity which provides a personalized information and training service to adopting families; this gives us the possibility to follow the whole process of the adoption procedure by means of services which are carried out by members of a qualified staff, operators who personally lived through one or more experiences of international adoption, achieving some valid and positive results. N.A.A.A. grants the utmost commitment to all families who join the association, because our activities are not only meant to overcome all the possible difficulties which may arise during the procedure of international adoption, but also we arrange an activity of subsidiarity and solid support. It is nevertheless necessary to underline that the main goal of our association is to give a family to a child who was left without his/her own native family, and that we do discourage any kind of “selection” which is based on certain “features” such as the baby’s native country, the ethnic origins, the costs of the procedures and similar. | ||
|
Competence and Acknowledgments | ||
Starting from July 17th
2002 our Association has the right to operate on the whole national territory.
Our association received
the following acknowledgements:
|
||
|
The Countries where N.A.A.A. can operate | ||
Our Board is authorized to
operate on the whole national territory and in the following foreign countries:
|
||
|
The road with us | ||
| It is important to specify right away that the procedures which should be carried out in order to be entrusted with an international adoption are demanding and quite complex. Besides, the final outcome depends on a remarkably large number of varying factors, which we cannot always foresee (for instance: limit of the decree, limits of acceptance by the applying families, “dynamics” and “crisis” of the interested Countries, decisions by local governments and so on). As a consequence, the length of period which is required to achieve the positive result of the adoption procedure does not depend on the Association. On the other hand, the Association can grant You the full and unconditioned commitment for the solution of any possible problem and for the accomplishment of the positive outcome of the procedure itself; this is the commitment which enabled us to make hundreds of couples happy adoptive parents. Therefore, we ask you to be patient and we confirm that , from our side, we will always be fully willing to help and give any clarification or piece of information which You may need, so that You have the possibility to follow “at close quarters” every development. Your main task is to get ready to become adoptive parents: we can assure You by personal experience that it’s not an easy task. N.A.A.A.’s main purpose is to give a family to a child who is deprived of it, taking care of all the legal and organization aspects of the procedure. We do want to underline immediately that the commitment by our Association is to help You and assist You, while the whole activity is performed according to the baby’s superior interest, whose wellness and happiness are the Associations’ main goal. | ||
|
The information and training courses | ||
| The main purpose of the information and training courses is to face all the possible problems, either evident or hidden, which refer to international adoption. The meetings are arranged by adoptive parents who are members of the professional staff of N.A.A.A. association: there are volunteers, psychologists, welfare workers but most of all – it’s important to stress this point – there are many adoptive parents who will involve you into the subject of adoptions, thanks to their own personal experience with this subject. N.A.A.A. studied a course made of a series of five steps: 1. What shall we do after we receive the decree or if we are waiting for the matching with the baby?Contents: Multi-medial information meeting about the italian laws and about the real possibilities to adopt through N.A.A.A. Association.Place: the meetings take place at the national headquarters and in the local seats. Families: maximum 10 couples, with or without the decree of suitability. 2. The adoption puzzle (1st level training) Contents: a training course made of two stages, having a total length of 16 hours, aimed to the enrichment and to the information of the couples who are at the very beginning of the pre-adoptive process.The couples get to learn the basic principles that regulate international adoption, to face the main difficulties connected with subsidiarity towards minors who live in poverty. We analyze the stages, the laws, the procedures and the timing of International Adoption, according to the rules of the various foreign countries.We offer the opportunity to meet some other couples who have already been through some real experiences of adoption.Place: the meetings take place at the national headquarters and in the local seats. Families: maximum 12 couples, with or without the decree of suitability. 3. Zig Zag (2nd level training)Contents: how to reach the necessary awareness and how to detect the Country where the couple will adopt the baby. How to understand the roles, the emotional and behaviour features of all the characters who play their part within the adoption procedure. How to tell and compare the various realities about the children who live in institutes, according to their own peculiar native birthplace, from the ethnic and cultural point of view.How to look upon the different ethnic and cultural environments offered by NAAA’s adoptive programmes.The couples will get in touch directly with some histories of couples who had real experiences of adoption. Place: the meetings take place at the national headquarters and in the local seats. Families: maximum 10 couples who already obtained the decree of suitability. 4. From the decision to adopt up to the meeting Contents: multi-medial meeting about some psychological, educational and practical aspects of adoption, with the purpose of getting ready to meet the baby whom the couple will adopt; the meetings are regularly attended by couples who have adopted young babies (from 0 to 2 years old), or babies in their pre-school age (from 3 to 6 years old) or kids in their school age (from 6 to 10 years old). Place: the meetings take place at the national headquarters and in the local seats, if the number of families who enrol to the courses is large enough. Families: maximum 8 couples who all selected the same destination. 5. So many countries, so many customs Contents: specific multi-medial meeting about the Country where the baby, whom the couple plans to adopt, is native from. We give useful pieces of information about the main cultural, law, logistic and practical aspects of the Country. Some families who have recently adopted a child [in the same Country] will be present at the meetings. Place: the meetings take place at the national headquarters and in the local seats. Families: maximum 8 couples who all selected the same destination. | ||
|
Adoption with NAAA | ||
|
Our procedures of
INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION are basically carried out with those Countries where a
central authority for adoption already exists, which we may address to all our
documents for the matching with a baby who is already declared as deserted.
When the children are mentioned to the applying couples as available for the matching, they already find themselves in a status of declared adoptability, in compliance with the contents of article 4 of Hague treaty of 1993. Our adoptions are mainly arranged by proxy and we require that the applying couple should accept in advance the baby who is offered for the matching; in order to do this, we transfer to the couple some material made of documents about the baby and also pictures (when they are supplied). In this way, we enable the couples to reduce to the minimum their stay in the child’s Country of origin. Therefore, the adoptions arranged by NAAA present the minimum risk and the best possible result, always considering that all our activities are always carried out in the superior interest of the child. As for those rare cases when the native Country submit a proposal of adoption to the applying couple directly, N.A.A.A. association shall inform the couple about the exact date of the meeting which is fixed by the Competent Foreign Authority. Adoption procedures are subject to several remarkable variable factors, which cannot be always foreseen (for instance: limit of the decree, limits of acceptance by the applying families, “dynamics” and “crisis” of the interested Countries, decisions by the local governments and so on). In case it should happen that, after the family’s willingness to welcome a minor was clearly proved, N.A.A.A. Association finds out that the adoption matching cannot be carried out as it was originally proposed, because of some difficulties which have arisen, then the family shall be informed as soon as possible. |
||
|
Preparing the documents | ||
| As a first step, the family shall prepare all the necessary documents required by the foreign Country and then the family shall take part to the 4th and 5th stage of compulsory training, as established by law 476/98; the association will support the couple during the arrangement of the documents required by the foreign Country. The list of the specific documents is different from Country to Country, but there’s a certain common “bureaucratic language” which You will have to face, while getting all the papers ready. The documents will have to be submitted in original (such as the Residence Certificate) or else by means of a certified copy (such as a Presentation Letter); in both case, the office which applies the last stamp must have his/her signature registered either in the Attorney’s Office or in the Prefecture. In order to certify the documents’ authenticity and their validity abroad, the documents themselves will have to be legalized in the relevant italian accredited representative offices. Therefore, the documents must be legalized: this is an operation which takes places in the Attorney’s Office in some cases, or in the Prefecture office in some other cases: we will give you the specification about which office you should contact for the legalization, together with a list of the required documents. The legalization procedure may also take place in the form of an apostille: this is a special square stamping which certifies the legal position of the Authority that issues the document (in compliance with Hague treaty dated October 05th1961); this legalization is required by a few Countries only. As soon as all the papers are ready, they will be submitted to the Consulate of the destination Country, where a legalization stamp shall be applied to the papers; the documents are eventually forwarded to the offices of the competent authority, by means of courier. In general, the arrangement of all these documents is easier when it comes to deal with Countries where some Bilateral Agreements are in force. | ||
|
Proposal for a Meeting (matching) | ||
| The reference Foreign Authority which receives the documents about the applying couple shall insert their name into the waiting list for the matching with the minor and shall also supply to N.A.A.A.’s local reference person the exact matching they propose. Therefore, the so-called “waiting lists” are arranged at the Central Boards or Institutions or Authorities of the children’s native Countries, which keep in due consideration all the documents and the candidacy of all the applying parents from all Nations, who declared their wish to adopt a baby native from a certain Country. N.A.A.A. does not interfere with the decisions taken by the Foreign Authorities as regards the children whom should be proposed as available for the adoption; N.A.A.A. only keeps to the declarations of availability for minors, issued by the local Authorities / Boards / Institutions. In most cases, N.A.A.A doesn’t even get in touch with the adoptable minors, unless the documents submitted about the minor at issue mention that the minor suffers from medical pathologies and the applying family requires that some specific clinic investigations should be performed. As soon as the communication about the matching is received, N.A.A.A. will submit the adoption proposal to the applying family, together with all the relevant documents which were received about the minor. After the adoption proposal is accepted, the family will have to undersign a special declaration, where the partners’ signatures will be authenticated, stating that the proposal was duly accepted; this declaration will be transferred to the foreign authority, to the Commission for International Adoptions and to the italian Juvenile Court which is competent within the relevant territory. Then the family may leave for the foreign destination Country. | ||
|
The Journey to the baby’s country | ||
| A local reference person will meet the couple in the Country where the adoption procedure is fulfilled; this person will support the couple as regards the carrying out of all the necessary bureaucratic papers and with the visit to the children. According to the Nation which the couple is visiting, it will be possible for the partners to be hosted by a local family, in a residence or else in a hotel; the couple will have to behave according to the local culture, laws, habits and usages. Besides, the partners will have to stick to the instructions specified by the reference person and also to the information offered by the local person in charge for the adoption procedure, as regards all the tasks which they are supposed to fulfil in the foreign Country.As a general rule, in case you have friends, acquaintances or friends of acquaintances in the Country where the adoption procedure will take place, you shall NOT involve these persons by no means, nor meet them during your adoption procedure in the Country. | ||
|
The after-adoption period | ||
| When the family comes back to Italy together with the newly-adopted baby, they shall submit to the local Police Headquarters – Foreign Office – a copy of all the documents which were released abroad, including a copy of their passport, and three card-size pictures of the baby. This procedure must be carried out within 3 days after the return to Italy and it is required in order to issue the permission to live in our Country. Meanwhile, it’s also necessary to get IMMEDIATELY in touch with the Association. The complete set of documents relevant to the adoption procedure, as received from the foreign Country, shall be handed over to the Association in 3 certified copies; the family will keep the original. After checking the documents issued by the Country where the adoption took place, the Association proceeds as follows: - one copy will be returned to the family, together with a covering letter; these papers shall be sent to the competent Juvenile Court; - one copy shall be sent, directly by the Association, to the Commission for International Adoptions; - one copy will remain in the Association’s offices. Starting from the date when your family returns to Italy, your Post-Adoption Programme will start; it will include a series of reports which should be drawn by the adopting parents, according to a specific scheme supplied by the Association, and a set of certificates and detailed documents, which are specified in the programme itself that is delivered to the adopting families in the moment when the programme begins. Together with the activity which requires a periodic collection of your reports, the post-adoption psychological and pedagogical programme will begin as well; this will accompany the family through the various evolutive stages of the adopted child and it’s called “IN-FORM” programme.Besides, the Association shall keep in touch with the competent Juvenile Court and the Office for Social Services, in order to point out every possible particular aspect which may arise during the management of the adoption and of the relations with the family, as established by Law 476/98. In case the partners decide to renew their trust and co-operation willingness to the Association, this will keep giving its support on a free-of-charge basis, for all those families who are in need of help during the post-adoption period. The Association will offer the opportunity to have some meetings with specialists, who will help to make the integration of the child with the new family as smooth as possible, paying a particular attention to those family units where another minor is already present. As regards the arrangement of the after-adoption procedures, the couple will mandatorily have to follow the requirements established by the minors’ native Country and by the CAI costs tables. | ||
|
Cost Table for year 2007 – you can download it here in pdf format. |
