Child Abuse Registries in Foreign Countries and Geographic Entities

Countries and Geographic Entities With No Available Child Abuse Registries

If you are preparing paperwork for an intercountry adoption, you must check available child abuse registries for every country and geographic entity where prospective adoptive parents and other adult members of the household have lived since their 18^th birthday. This is a reporting requirement for the home study submitted to USCIS with your Form I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country, the Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition or Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative.

However, some countries and geographic entities do not have child abuse registry information publicly available. The chart below lists the countries that currently do not have a child abuse registry.

USCIS, in cooperation with the Department of State, regularly updates this chart with countries and geographic entities where no child abuse registry is available. If you are a home study preparer and you find that a country or geographic entity on this list has established an appropriate registry, you must address that information in the home study.

For more information, contact USCIS National Benefits Center, 1-877-424-8374 or e-mail nbc.adoptions@uscis.dhs.gov. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 711 to access telecommunications relay services.