Lifeline Children’s Services is a dynamic, full-service agency providing international adoption services for Costa Rica to families across the U.S. Our agency is licensed in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Washington State and we provide services to families in all 50 states (if you live in a state outside of these states, you will simply have to locate a licensed non-profit (501 c 3) Hague accredited agency in your state of residence to perform the home study portion of your Dossier). Our program exists to both place children in need of love and a family in a safe and loving home, and to provide services to Christian families desiring to adopt one of these precious children.
Lifeline Children’s Services, Inc. provides the following professional services:
Licensed Agency
Alabama-licensed since 1981, Lifeline offers a full-range of adoptive and counseling services, including home study preparation and post-placement adoptive services for domestic and international adoptions (these home study and post-placement services are only available for Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Washington State state residents). For those families residing outside of these states, assistance with obtaining these services is given.
Document Package Facilitation
Lifeline does an exceptional job in assisting our families through the dossier process (the preparation of numerous documents that the Costa Rican government uses to process an adoption). To assist our families in this area, we walk them through a detailed definition of all the documents required in this package as well as what is required in terms of notarization, certification and authentication. Lifeline supplies all the necessary forms and guidance to complete your paperwork. After the document package is completed by the client, it is reviewed for compliance with the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI) guidelines.
Information
We spend a great deal of time monitoring what is happening with Costa Rica adoptions. We also receive updated information from our Costa Rica facilitator on a daily basis. This information can save countless hours of effort, money and frustration associated with vague and often unnecessary actions. We provide a detailed list of all expenses that our clients are likely to incur so that there should be no unexpected or hidden costs. Keep in mind that many of these fees are set by other authorities and are out of our control.
U.S. Contacts
We have developed contacts in the U.S. that can provide services or information that can be extremely valuable during the adoption process, including document translation, legal help, travel agencies, etc.
Costa Rica Facilitator
A key component in international adoption is having an effective representative in country. Without question, we believe Lifeline has the finest facilitator/lawyer in Costa Rica. She was born in and lives in Costa Rica. She has developed incredible in-country contacts and professionally oversees the in-country portion of the adoption process. She works directly with the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI) as well as with the officials on the local level. She also acts as guide and translator to our clients while they are in Costa Rica for the adoption.
When you choose to adopt from Costa Rica, you will be adopting directly from the Costa Rican government. Lifeline provides our clients with all the information and guidance needed to prepare a complete document package as required by the PANI. Lifeline forwards the document package to our Costa Rica facilitator for submission to the proper Costa Rica Government officials. As with nearly all adoption, there are some risks involved and we cannot guarantee a successful adoption from Costa Rica. However, Lifeline’s knowledge and experience has led us to believe that adoption from Costa Rica will be a steady and organized process.
Lifeline is excited about your adoption!
We look forward to serving you in your journey to provide a hope and a future for a precious child from Costa Rica. Please call Iris George 205-972-8407, our Latin American Adoption Specialist, or email Iris George if you have any inquiries. To get started today please complete the Application along with the Doctrinal Statement & Christian Questionnaire (located here). A fee of $250.00 will be due when you return the Application to Lifeline (payment can be made through PayPal). If you need special assistance please feel free to contact our International Director, Dave Wood.
