kat1

Just found that http://nemesis.1337x.org/announce is still working............

Chiang Mai: http trackers not working. udp OK, so f.ex. thepiratebay tracked on openbittorrent and/or torrentbox are fine........

Hi newbegin4,

I have been through the process of adopting my wife's daughter (who is now 12).

As we have no intention of living in any other country other than Thailand, we opted for the local route.

It is a 'free' process to go through, but turned out to take a long time (18+ months), because I didn't want to 'push', having been told it would take about 6 months to process the initial application.

If you want to take this route, you will have to make an appointment and visit the Office:  Child Adoption Centre, Department of Public Welfare, Ratchavithi Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand. You will meet a case worker who will ask you some details and give you the necessary form and supporting paperwork.

Once you send the completed application and supporting paperwork (such as personal life history of both you and your wife), confirm by phone their receipt. Our experience of follow-up contact was frustrating. The phone would either be constantly engaged, or the office was closed, so I resorted to e-mail (which was lucky as I did get a message confirming receipt, which I had to refer to when they later suggested they had not received the application.)

The application form asks for references as to your character and suitability, including a Thai national (I used a teacher at the school I volunteer at)- they don't just want the contact details, they will expect you to obtain written references for them. I also had to contact my last employer to verify my work history with them.

Once they have all the required information, they will send someone from a local office to perform a home visit. Once that is complete and any further information is provided, your case will be assessed by the board of directors. After their approval, you will be invited to attend an interview at an office (seemed odd after the decision had already been made).

We met several other couples waiting for interview, most of who where taking Thai children abroad, one couple having only applied 7 days before, which made our 'simple in-country adoption' of 18+ months duration seem less of a priority.........

You will be provided with several copies of an adoption certificate, allowing you to change surname on official documents etc.

Good info here

Good luck

Thank you Mario2008

re: volunteers needing a teacher's licence - from experience, if a work permit does not state 'teacher' but 'teaching assistant' or such the like, Immigration will reject the extension. They want to see an official teacher's licence document with all the paperwork in line.

A volunteer will probably never meet the requirements of the teacher's licence - I never will, (no degree, no culture course etc., etc.) so it is only a matter of time before I will be forced to stop.

Yes, of course, if you are a qualified teacher and therefore meet the requirements, you should be paid accordingly.

I'm not, but wanted to help my local village school.

I'm sure there are plenty of other native English speakers out there that would like to contribute to their local community by helping out at a village school which is unable to employ qualified teachers.