Information on the children subject to adoption

Legal conditions for adoption under the conditions of full adoption of children with their usual residence in the Republic of Bulgaria by adoptive parents having their usual residence abroad:

1. A child may be adopted if at the time of filing the application for adoption he/she is up to 18 years old.

2. A child may be adopted if entered in the register of the children who may be adopted by persons having their usual residence abroad, under the conditions of full adoption (kept by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria), and about whom no circumstances leading to his/her striking off the register prior to the beginning of the adoption proceedings before a court of law have occurred.

3. The Council on National Adoptions advises the Council on International Adoptions of the entering of a child into the children’s register, provided no less than three adopters have been determined for such child according to the procedure of Art. 95 within a six-month period after his/her entry into the regional register, and no one of them has filed an application for his/her adoption, or when despite the efforts made it is not possible to select a suitable adopter.

4. In case that the child has completed 14 years of age, he/she must give his/her agreement before the court. If the child has completed 10 years of age, the court must hear and take into consideration his/her opinion.

5. The children may be adopted only under the conditions of full adoption, as follows:

а. Children placed in specialized institutions, with the consent granted by their parents for full adoption, or whose parents are not known;

b. Children brought up in specialized institutions, or under the conditions of a social service of residential type through administrative procedure, and for whom the parent – the parents has/have failed, without a valid reason, to ask for cessation of the placement or a change in the measure of protection within 6 months after the date of placement. Such children are subject to full adoption without the consent of the parents for full adoption.

c. Children whose parents are not known, deceased, or deprived of parental rights, entered in the register by a judgement of the district court;

d. Children placed in a foster family, or with other persons, with the consent granted by their parents for full adoption, or whose parents are not known;

e. Children placed in a specialized institution, in a foster family, or with other persons, entered in the register at the request of their parents.

In the capacity of Central Authority in inter-state adoptions, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria is keeping the following registers:
- Register of the children who may be adopted by persons with usual residence abroad, under the conditions of full adoption;
- Register of prospective adopters with usual residence abroad, who wish to adopt a child with usual residence in the Republic of Bulgaria, under the conditions of full adoption;
- Register of prospective adopters with usual residence in the Republic of Bulgaria, who wish to adopt a child with usual residence abroad;
- Public register of the accredited organizations for mediation in inter-state adoptions.