Thailand programme

As with all our adoption programmes, we recommend applicants contact us for an overview of all country programmes as selecting a country is an important decision and by discussing the different programmes with HHAMA applicants can be helped to make a decision which is informed and realistic in terms of completing an adoption.

To indicate your interest in the Thai programme, please email us at helpinghands.ama@gmail.com  We will respond to your Inquiry with our information email and details of how you can pre-register with HHAMA to avail of our service..

2026 Update :  HHAMA believes that it will shortly be announced that Thailand adoptions will be open to same sex couples.  As with all applications, capacity approval is key in terms of age of child, birth family history and additional needs and it remains imperative that all applicants engage with HHAMA early in the adoption process.

Note
Prospective adoptive parents are advised that adoptions from Thailand may be ‘simple’ adoptions, i.e. they may not terminate the pre-existing legal parent-child relationship. The adoption will be regarded as a simple adoption unless the Article 23 Certificate (issued by the Thai authorities under the 1993 Hague Convention) states that the adoption is a ‘full/plenary’ adoption.  All recent adoptions from Thailand have been full/plenary adoptions completed by the issue of Article 23 certificate of conformity.

HHAMA Irish Fees

The HHAMA Fee applies to the Irish costs for intercountry adoption and is additional to the Sending Country Programme fee.

Details of the HHAMA Irish Fee are currently available on our Fees page

Sending Country Fees

Adoption in Thailand is provided free of charge. The prospective adoptive parents have to be responsible only for the expenses to be incurred by the travelling of the child to be adopted such as passport fee, air fares, transportation and concerned medical fee.

Source: Thai authorities

Full details of dossiers required for each country programme are issued by HHAMA to applicants who have completed the pre-registration phase, are in receipt of an Article 15 approval from the Adoption Authority of Ireland and are then subsequently formally invited to submit a dossier.  It is not advisable to compile documents in advance of that formal invitation as dossier listings, notary and authentication requirements and translation criteria change from time to time.

Formal invitations to register a dossier are subject to quota allocation.

The Post placement process is part of the completion process for a Thai adoption. The Thai authorities require the assessing agency in Ireland to prepare three post-placement reports on the child and the applicants to ensure that the placement is proceeding satisfactorily. The third post-placement report is required when the child has been in Ireland in the care of the applicants for six months. The final post-placement report must be completed after the child has been in the State for six months. If the third post placement report is completed any earlier, it will not be acceptable to the Thai authorities and a further report will be required. Applicants should advise their Social Worker in Ireland of the child’s arrival in Ireland at the earliest opportunity to facilitate the preparation of the post placement reports.