Adopting from Tonga

[teine]

My husband is Tongan, his cousin (from Tonga) whom was 17 at the time gave birth to a baby girl in 2009 and since she had no money or no way to take care of the child, she wanted us to adopt her.

My husband and I do not have any children and when this opportunity came about we jumped at it. We didn't educate ourselves about US Immigration. We thought, we could just go there and adopt her and bring her back.

Long story short, we went to Tonga, went with his cousin to Tongan court and she gave up all her parental rights and made us her child's legal guardians to adopt. In Tonga, you can only adopt an illegitimate child. We got her passport, then was told we needed to get a Visa for her. We went to Fiji, went thru the interview and of course was denied.

Her mother got married and left home while the child is still living with her grandparents and we have been supporting her from here (sending money, clothes, etc).

NOW, we want to file a petition to bring her to the US and do the adoption here in the US.

Not sure which form to file...the I-600 or I-600A AND do we have to do it with an adoption agency or can we just do it on our own (find someone to do our home study on our own rather than an agency look for one)?

Please help. Thank you.

[VNK]

My husband is Tongan, his cousin (from Tonga) whom was 17 at the time gave birth to a baby girl in 2009 and since she had no money or no way to take care of the child, she wanted us to adopt her.

My husband and I do not have any children and when this opportunity came about we jumped at it. We didn't educate ourselves about US Immigration. We thought, we could just go there and adopt her and bring her back.

Long story short, we went to Tonga, went with his cousin to Tongan court and she gave up all her parental rights and made us her child's legal guardians to adopt. In Tonga, you can only adopt an illegitimate child. We got her passport, then was told we needed to get a Visa for her. We went to Fiji, went thru the interview and of course was denied.

Her mother got married and left home while the child is still living with her grandparents and we have been supporting her from here (sending money, clothes, etc).

NOW, we want to file a petition to bring her to the US and do the adoption here in the US.

Not sure which form to file...the I-600 or I-600A AND do we have to do it with an adoption agency or can we just do it on our own (find someone to do our home study on our own rather than an agency look for one)?

Please help. Thank you.

Sorry, but that's not how it works. You have already adopted the child. You can not "re-adopt" the child in the US.

If the biological father is alive, there is no way for you to bring your adopted child to the US. The US has very strict rules about adoption and immigration. The child must be an orphan or have only one living parent who can not care for the child under local standards to even begin to qualify for a visa. There is also the Hague Convention. Since this is not a Hague Convention adoption, it would require you to live with the child for 2 years abroad.

You need to undo the adoption, or live with the fact that you have an adopted child that you can never bring to the US.

Sorry.