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“If there is such a thing as being on a mission from God, adopting children must qualify for such a mission. It requires a complete commitment of heart and soul.”

– Christopher T. Hoar

President, CARITAS For Children


About CARITAS’ Partnership with Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Chicago (CCAoC)

Today, CCAoC is the largest Catholic Charities agency in the country and one of the largest private, nonprofit social service agencies in the Midwest. They annually assist nearly 1 million people. Programs range from providing the most basic of services such as housing and food to caring for our children, maternity and adoption services, after-school programming, senior support, affordable senior housing, counseling and case management, veterans employment and housing, and family strengthening.

CCAoC offers direct child placement services from Mexico and Poland, prepares a home study to aid in adoption. They provide small group training and preparation to help prepare you for the process, joys and challenges of adopting internationally. We work with various licensed, accredited placing agencies across the country to help you facilitate an adoption that is right for you.

Learn more about CCAoC

Why Adoption Matters

Although adoption in Poland increased in recent years, international adoption has fallen overall from 2014-2016.

How You Can Help

child adoption worldwide infographic
Below are the TOP 20 COUNTRIES where Immigrant Visas were issued to 
orphans coming to the United States.

2014

1 CHINA 2,040
2 ETHIOPIA 716
3 UKRAINE 521
4 HAITI 464
5 REPUBLIC OF KOREA 370
6 CONGO, DEM. REP. 230
7 UGANDA 201
8 BULGARIA 183
9 COLOMBIA 172
10 PHILIPPINES 172
11 INDIA 136
12 NIGERIA 130
13 GHANA 124
14 LATVIA 80
15 TAIWAN 69
16 JAMAICA 61
17. POLAND 53
18 MOROCCO 43
19 GUYANA 39
20 SIERRA LEONE 33

2015

1 CHINA 2,353
2 ETHIOPIA 335
3 SOUTH KOREA
4 UKRAINE 303
5 UGANDA 202
6 BULGARIA 185
7 LATVIA 170
8 CONGO, DEM. REP 168
9 NIGERIA 154
10 COLOMBIA 153
11 PHILIPPINES 150
12 HAITI 143
13 INDIA 138
14 GHANA 85
15. POLAND 60
16 TAIWAN 59
17 THAILAND 47
18 JAMAICA 42
19 SOUTH AFRICA 33
20 GUYANA 31

2016

1 CHINA 2,231
2 CONGO, DEM. REP. 359
3 UKRAINE 303
4 SOUTH KOREA 260
5 BULGARIA 201
6 INDIA 194
7 UGANDA 187
8 ETHIOPIA 183
9 HAITI 178
10 PHILIPPINES
11 COLOMBIA
12 NIGERIA 121
13. POLAND 98
14 LATVIA 81
15 TAIWAN 59
16 JAMAICA 56
17 THAILAND 45
18 PAKISTAN 39
19 GHANA 29
20 SOUTH AFRICA 25


Source: U.S, Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs

A Personal Adoption Story from
CARITAS For Children President, Chris T. Hoar

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My wife, Barbara (Mikulski) and I began our lives together in 1980. We had settled into our Wisconsin home in 1995 and had recently acquired our company. While I had three wonderful adult children from a previous marriage we wanted to share our lives with a child. Because adoption of children for people over age 40 in the USA is more difficult, our social worker from Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee said, “Go international.”But where to go? How to start? Who to ask? Catholic Charities only offered domestic adoptions services.

We’d have to conduct our international adoption process independently. We’d heard it was possible. We began searching the Internet and researching in libraries. We had seen many advertisements about adoption from countries around the world, and we were interested in European countries. It was possible to adopt from Poland, but not easy. And after all, Barbara was fluent in the language and still had relatives in Poland. So we concentrated on Polish adoption and became determined to adopt a Polish child.

Read Full Story



How you can help improve the lives of thousands
of children in need of adoption.


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