Procedure stages

1. The first stage consists in entering the prospective adopter (if a project for adoption by a single adoptive parent is concerned) or each one of the prospective adopters (if a project for adoption by two adoptive parents is concerned) in the register of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The prospective adopters must make sure that the documents necessary for such registration are drawn up in compliance with the required legal form and content.
N.B.: you can find in the pop-up window a list of the documents making up the file.

2. The Council on International Adoptions makes a decision and puts forward a proposal to the Minister of Justice on determining a suitable adopter with their usual residence abroad. The Minister of Justice gives his/her consent on the adoption of a child having his/her usual residence in Bulgaria by the adoptive parent, according to the proposal of the Council on International Adoptions.

The criteria of the Council on International Adoptions for determining a suitable adopter are:

The Directorate of “International Legal Child Protection and International Adoptions“ carries out an investigation of the child and the adoptive parents in relation to the specific adoption, draws up reports and submits them to the Council on International Adoptions for discussion and decision making.
Within 60 days after the entry of the children into the Register of the Children Subject to Adoption by Persons with the Usual Residence Abroad, the Council on International Adoptions examines the applications to determine an appropriate adopter, pursuant to the succession of entering the prospective adoptive parents in the register, the preferences expressed by them as well as the circumstances concerning the child’s interest. The children’s files are examined by the Council in the succession of their entry, and are compared with the prospective adopters‘ data and with the conditions contained in their approvals for adopting a child. To determine the adoptive parent, the Council puts to consideration all the suitable applications. In making the decision for determining the suitable adopter, the Council is guided also by the capabilities of the prospective adopters to provide for the child physical, psychic and social prosperity as well as by the information on the prospective adopter’s personality and the other circumstances that matter for the adoption. The evaluation is carried out predominantly on the basis of the reports on the prospective adopters, drawn up by the relevant competent authorities.
The Council’s decision contains data on the child and on the prospective adopters as well as brief motives justifying the choice made.

Conditions concerning the prospective adopters:

- Both unmarried persons and married couples may adopt in Bulgaria. A bodily and legally capable person, who is not deprived of parental rights, is eligible for adoptive parent.
- As regards the maximum difference in age between adopter and adoptee, there are no limitations. The adoptive parent ought to be older by at least fifteen years than the adoptee. When adoption is carried out simultaneously by two spouses, and for one of them the age difference exists, such age difference is not required for the other spouse.
- A person with the usual residence abroad may adopt a child with his/her usual residence in the Republic of Bulgaria, if he/she is entered in the register of the prospective adopters with their usual residence abroad, who are willing to adopt a child with his/her usual residence in the Republic of Bulgaria under the conditions of full adoption. Such register is kept by the Ministry of Justice.
Requirements concerning the adoptee:
Subject to adoption is: – A child placed in a specialized institution, with the consent granted by his/her parents for full adoption, or whose parents are not known;
- A child brought up in a specialized institution and not looked for within six months after the expiration of the period of time, for which he/she was placed;
- A child placed in a specialized institution, from 1 to 18 years of age. The applications for adoption of an older child, or one having special needs, are examined with priority;
- Brothers and sisters entered simultaneously in the register, who may not be separated, unless all the possibilities for them to be placed together have been depleted;
- A child who has completed 14 years of age, then in order for the adoption to be permitted, the child should give his/her consent before the court.
A child with his/her usual residence in the Republic of Bulgaria may be adopted by a person with his/her usual residence abroad when the possibilities for his/her adoption within the country have been exhausted and he/she is 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.
So a child with Bulgarian origin may be adopted only if entered in the register kept by the Ministry of Justice. In parallel to such entry, the child continues to appear in the regional register and may be adopted by Bulgarian citizens at any time.

3. Determining the suitable prospective adopter, with their usual residence abroad, for the adoption of a specific child.
The certificate for starting the procedure of adopting a specific child is issued by the Ministry of Justice in regard to the proposal by the Council on International Adoptions, together with a report on the child, accompanied by a photograph of the child in full length, drawn up by the Directorate of “International Legal Child Protection and International Adoptions“ with the Ministry of Justice.

4. The adopter should arrive in Bulgaria in order to make a contact with the child, the minimum duration of such contact being 5 working days. The prospective adopter should express within two months after the reception of the proposal for a child, their written agreement with or refusal of the adoption of that particular child.
The Association ensures the liaison between the Ministry of Justice and the prospective adopter, and carries out intermediary activities:
- in organizing and establishing the personal contact between the prospective adopter and the child for a period of time not shorter than 5 days,
- in taking out the required documents,
- in filing the set of documents, along with the application in writing by the prospective adopter to the Ministry of Justice, which shall include the name that the child will bear after the adoption. The association sends to the Ministry of Justice within two months after the reception of the report on the child, a notice of agreement or disagreement to continue the procedure of adopting the specific child.

5. In case of agreement, the procedure is going on, with the express consent of the Minister of Justice, the documents being sent to the Sofia City Court, which will deliver a judgement.
The Association receives on behalf of the prospective adopter the written consent of the Minister of Justice on the child’s adoption, and the notice to the effect that the judicial file was moved to the court.

6. An open session with closed doors should be set within 14 days after the file has been moved to the court. The court rules with a motivated judgement, which is announced at the court sitting.
The Association ensures the procedural representation of the adopter before the court. The judgement will take effect after the expiration of a 14-day period of time as from the date of its delivery.
The judgement pronounced by the Sofia City Court, has the following legal consequences:
-   Interruption of the kinship ties between the child and his/her family of origin;
-   Creation of a kinship tie between the child and the adopters;
-   The judgement is final.

7. The Association prepares the necessary documents and carries out all the activities related to:
- submitting the court judgement to the Ministry of Justice;
- obtaining a certificate of conformity as set forth in Art. 23, paragraph 1 of the Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption;
- issuance of a new report of birth of the child;
- attainment of a passport of the child.

8. Departure of the child to the adoptive state
The adoptive parent arrives in the Republic of Bulgaria. He/she takes the child from the relevant institution, where the child is placed. Such actions are organized and coordinated by the association. An obligatory condition to start the procedure of issuing a passport to the child, is for the adopter, the child, and a representative of the association, to appear at the police station.  The passport is issued within three working days as from the date of appearing at the police station. The child and the adopter must remain in Bulgaria during such three-day period, in order to receive the child’s passport, whereupon the child and the adopter may leave the country.

Two stays in Bulgaria should be envisaged:
- for making the first contact with the child – for at least 5 days, the first day of the meeting with the child having to be a working day;
- to settle the formalities on the child’s departure to the adoptive state are needed up to 5 working days.

Judicial framework:
-  The Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption, in force for the Republic of Bulgaria since 01 September 2002.
-  The Family Code, Chapter 8, (published in the State Gazette, No. 47 of 23 June 2009, in force since 01 October 2009);
-  The Ordinance No. 12 dated 30 September 2009 on the conditions and procedure of issuing and suspending a permission for mediation at inter-country adoption, and for implementation and cessation of the activities of the accredited organizations (published in the State Gazette, No. 80 of 9 October 2009, in force since 1 October 2009, amended and supplemented in No. 54 of 16 July 2010) and Ordinance No. 13 of 30 September 2009 on determining the conditions and procedure of giving consent for international adoption and on the keeping of the registers of international adoptions (published in the State Gazette, No. 80 of 9 October 2009, in force since 1 October 2009).