New statewide foreign adoption registration rules
| 29 Sep 2011 | 09:25
HARRISBURG The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has issued new rules to assist parents who adopt a child from a foreign nation by standardizing procedures to complete the adoption registration process. The new law designed to make foreign adoption procedures less burdensome and more uniform took effect Sept. 5. The new court rules provide a standardized foreign adoption registration form and instructions for its use. The rule changes eliminate the need for most adopting parents to attend a hearing or obtain legal counsel so long as they provide an authenticated copy of a foreign adoption decree, the child’s visa and some form of birth identification or an affidavit if no birth certificate is obtainable.