I get calls every month from Christians who want to adopt from Pakistan. I understand both the draws to adopting from Pakistan and the concerns.
On the upside, families tend to adopt very young babies- less than a week old, belly buttons not healed yet. The babies are, by-and-large healthy, and are placed due to a strong cultural preference for males or due to poverty. On the other hand, there are security concerns and families tend to have to remain in country for up to 12 weeks. The State Department warns US citizens against travelling to Pakistan. Muslim families are placed with children within a couple of months of applying where as Christians have to wait a longer- simply because there are more Muslim children available for adoption in Pakistan.

Adoption from Pakistan is possible but there are strict rules. A typical adoption will look like this:

1. Home study.
2. I-600A petition to be approved as an adoptive parent.
3. Guardianship order.
4. I-600, green card petition for the child.

Children enter the US as green card holders and have to be adopted here in the US when they get home.

Non-Muslims are limited to adopting only Non-Muslim children. The same is true for those who wish to adoption from Afghanistan, Egypt, or any other predominantly Muslim country. Children who are found deserted or abandoned, be it in a cradle at an orphanage, left at a clinic, a train station or in a garbage can are all presumed to be Muslim absent proof to the contrary. A baby that is found in a church, with a crucifix or other religious item or with a note stating that the child is a Christian will be registered as Christian and available for adoption by Christian families.

There are no adoption agencies that have programs in Pakistan. Read that sentence again. There are no adoption agencies that have a true program in Pakistan. Several years ago, a number of Christian families unwittingly trusted a very unscrupulous adoption agency claiming to have a program in Pakistan and ended up being placed with babies that had been bought or stolen from their biological parents. There are no adoption agencies that have a true program in Pakistan. This means that you are typically on your own regarding placement, travel arrangements etc. If you have a question about adopting from Pakistan, please call my office before you hire anyone or pay any money to any organization or agency. Adopting from Pakistan, or indeed any Muslim country is very complex. There are special rules that apply to the emigration process for children who are citizens of predominantly Muslim countries.
There are no published statistics available on the number of orphans in Pakistan. Conservative estimates state that the number is around the 4 million range. Christians make up about 2% of the general population. According to Dawn Newspaper, Pakistan’s most widely distributed newspaper, up to 5 new borns are recovered from garbage heaps in the city of Karachi alone every day. Despite the huge number of orphans, only 30 babies were granted visas to come United States last year.