I am going to squeeze one more post out of the letter "W" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Waiver - While this is not an adoption topic that will affect the majority of families that adopt internationally, it is an issue that is near and dear to my heart and is something that is affecting more and more adoptive parents all of the time.

The "waiver" is an extra step to the immigration process that is required for a child that is HIV+ (there is also a waiver required for children who test positive for TB). At most embassies, a medical is done as part of the immigration part of the international adoption process, and at most of those medical appointments, an HIV test is done. It used to be that when a child tested HIV+, he was no longer allowed to immigrate to the United States like other adopted children. However adoptive parents can now complete the U.S. Immigration form I-601, the "Application for Waiver of Ground of Excludability".

In a nutshell, the waiver form is signed by the adoptive parents, a doctor and a public health officer, and the form and supporting evidence shows that the adoptive parents are aware that the child that they are adopting is HIV+, that they want the child despite that and that they have medical care and medical insurance in place for the child.

The waiver was originally put into place to prevent the spread of communicable disease on airplanes and in the U.S. (and we now know that people who are HIV+ are no risk to others on an airplane) and it was also put into place to prevent immigrants from coming into the United States and becoming a drain on the public health system. Since adoptive parents go through multiple layers of "checks" in the adoption process, showing that they have income suitable for raising another child, showing that they have health insurance that will cover an adopted child, etc., the waiver really should not apply to children who are being adopted by United States citizens and will be U.S. citizens themselves upon arrival in the U.S.A. or shortly thereafter.

While a few more sheets of paper are not a big deal to most adoptive parents because of the high load of paperwork involved in an adoption anyway, the thing that makes the waiver so frustrating to adoptive parents (beyond the current $265 fee which is about to almost double after July 31) is the time it can tack on to the adoption process.

While some countries that allow the adoption of HIV+ children process the waivers fairly quickly, others do not. When we adopted Belane, we could have traveled with the rest of our court group to Ethiopia to bring her home in early September if it wasn't for the waiver, but since the waiver was required and was taking so dang long to process, she did not come home until early November (and that was with some heavy pressure from our Senator to get the waiver done "quickly").

A bunch of us moms adopting HIV+ children decided that we had had enough of waiting months extra to bring our children home. We decided that it was not acceptable for our children to be living months longer in orphanages than they needed to be, when they needed to get home and get medical care and the love and attention that only a parent can give as soon as possible.

We started a group called Project HOPEFUL (Helping Orphans and Parents Eliminate Further Unnecessary Loss), and we started sharing our stories with as many as would listen (and might have the power to change things).

We got the ear of some people in Washington D.C. who were already interested in adoption immigration matters and who had contacts very "high up" in the political world, and the next family adopting an HIV+ child from Ethiopia only had to wait two additional weeks because of the waiver (the family previous to that waited 14 weeks for their waiver to be processed). The next family also waited two weeks, and the family after that waited four business days. Things that were being sent via DHL are now being sent electronically (instantly). Things that were sitting on desks for weeks and months are now being handled almost immediately. Kids that were waiting months too long to come home are now being united with their parents as early as possible.

While we are still working on eliminating the extra paperwork, stress and cost involved with the waiver, big process has bee made. Our experience shows what adoptive parents can get accomplished when they are passionate about something and dedicated to making positive change.

More information:

HIV+ Children Can be Adopted

Project HOPEFUL

An Emotional Day Part One and Part Two