Spence-Chapin team members Lauren Jiang, LMSW, E. Stefani Moon, LPC, MA, TBRI Practitioner, and Jane Krol recently contributed their expertise to a new resource published by the National Council For Adoption: Navigating International Relative Adoption: Guidance for Adoptive Parents and Professionals.

International relative adoption, also known as international kinship adoption, allows a child to be adopted by a relative or, in some cases, another person with whom they already have an established connection. While these existing family relationships can be meaningful for children, families pursuing this path must still navigate the requirements of intercountry adoption in both the United States and the child’s country.

The new National Council For Adoption resource helps families and adoption professionals better understand those realities. It explores topics including the international adoption process, expected timelines and expenses, legal and immigration considerations, supporting children while an adoption is underway, and preparing for the transition from parenting or supporting a child from afar to daily family life.

The article also emphasizes the importance of working with an experienced, Hague-accredited adoption service provider. International kinship adoption can involve complex legal, immigration and country-specific requirements, and each family’s circumstances are unique.

Read Navigating International Relative Adoption: Guidance for Adoptive Parents and Professionals from the National Council For Adoption.

Families considering adopting a relative or a child known to them internationally can also learn more about Spence-Chapin’s International Kinship & Kinship+ Adoption Programs and the support available throughout the process.e exposure, with permanent, loving families while waiving all professional placement fees. Since the program’s inception in 1995, Spence-Chapin has placed over 550 medically fragile children with their forever families.

Spence-Chapin provides free, confidential and nonjudgmental counseling for new and expectant parents, regardless of circumstance or immigration status. The organization connects women experiencing unplanned pregnancies and crisis situations to housing, healthcare, legal and community resources and provides financial assistance for pregnancy-related expenses as permitted by state law.

Spence-Chapin also offers temporary newborn respite care through its Interim Care Program, which provides short-term care for infants while birth parents maintain their parental rights, allowing them additional time to consider their options. The organization also provides domestic and international home study and comprehensive post-placement services.

Beyond its domestic adoption programs, Spence-Chapin’s global impact extends through its International Adoption Programs, which connect children from South Africa, Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean with loving families across the United States. The organization’s humanitarian initiatives also include the Granny Program, which benefits more than 500 children living in orphanages in Colombia, South Africa and Ghana each year. The program trains and matches “Grannies,” caregivers from local communities, with children in institutional care to provide consistent one-on-one nurturing and support, helping them reach developmental milestones and thrive.

“At Spence-Chapin, adoption is not a single event but a lifelong journey,” said Katy Zaragoza, manager of adoption services at Spence-Chapin Arizona. “Families need support before, during and long after placement, and expectant parents deserve access to unbiased information, resources and compassionate care that empowers them to make the decisions that are best for themselves and their children.”

For more information about Spence-Chapin’s Arizona services, visit www.spence-chapin.org/arizona or call 480-207-5050.

About Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children

Founded in 1908, Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children find loving, forever families and providing counseling and support to children and the families to whom they have been born or entrusted. Licensed in Arizona, New York and New Jersey, the organization serves families through domestic and international adoption programs, birth parent services, home study services, post-adoption support and humanitarian initiatives that support children around the world.