Adoption

Taiwan

The Taiwan-Australian Intercountry Adoption Program operates under bilateral arrangements with the Christian Salvation Service (CSS).

Couples must be practising Christians and must be christened or baptised.
Couples must be married for at least five years (longer if a spouse has been previously married).
Couples should be under 45 years of age when accepted.
Couples wishing to adopt from Taiwan may be childless or have one biological or adopted child to be considered for a baby from the Unwed Mother's Project. This prerequisite may not apply to couples wishing to adopt a child with special needs.
Couples need to be infertile or have secondary infertility.
Couples with a BMI of over 30 will not be accepted.
It is CSS policy not to accept couples receiving long-term or ongoing treatment for depression.
Couples who plan to home school their adopted child will not be accepted.

Note:

CSS has advised that only applications that meet CSS criteria should be sent to Taiwan, therefore, if couples are not sure if they meet the CSS criteria, they should contact Adoption Services Queensland to seek clarification.
The biological mother may see couple's file and have input into the placement proposal process. The financial security of couples and presentation of documents may influence this process.

Children requiring adoptive placements are usually up to 12 months of age.
Children usually require adoptive placements due to the circumstances of their young unmarried birth mothers and social attitudes surrounding children born out of wedlock.
Adoptive parents often have the opportunity to meet the birth parent prior to taking custody of the child. This is often reported as a positive and beneficial opportunity for all parties.
Taiwan also has a special needs children program for older children, children with an intellectual or physical disability or who have some special condition such as haemophilia or cleft palate. These children would need to meet immigration health requirements before entry to Australia.
CSS has a number of infants who come from complicated social and medical family backgrounds. This includes drug and alcohol use during pregnancy, low IQ of birth parent or birth family members, and/or parental mental illness. Minor correctable birth defects, premature birth, hepatitis C positive infants and children over 2 years of age are considered as children with special needs. CSS have advised that they have a continued need for families to consider special needs placements.
Couples adopting from the Unwed Mother's Project will not be placed with a child with special needs.
Current waiting time is at least 18 months after a couple's file is accepted by CSS.

The standard CSS fee is US$10,000 and the special needs adoption fee is approximately US$6,000. These costs include medical, legal, nursery and administrative costs.
Queensland couples are required to travel to Taiwan to take custody of their child.

For further information on the individual country programs, refer to overseas country information or contact our Adoption Services Queensland Unit.