Under Bulgarian legislation, intercountry adoptions are only possible for children listed in the Register of Children Available for Adoption by Persons Habitually Resident Abroad under Conditions of Full Adoption (creating a permanent parent-child relationship). The Register is kept by the Ministry of Justice.
A child can only be entered into the Register if, 6 months after the child has been recorded in the National Register, no less than three sets of prospective adoptive parents habitually resident in Bulgaria have been identified and none of them have applied for adoption or if, despite all efforts made, no suited adoptive parents have been approved.
Twins are always adopted together; they may be adopted separately only in exceptional cases. Siblings are also adopted together if they are emotionally attached to each other.
The characteristics of children available for international adoption cannot be specified, but the terms mentioned in the previous paragraphs about the Register kept by the Ministry of Justice lead to the conclusion that a considerable number of those children would be older or have specific development and health issues.
The adoptive parent must be an able-bodied person who has never been deprived of parental rights, and is at least fifteen years older than the adopted child. Two people can only become adoptive parents if they are a married couple.
Under the valid legislation, a person habitually resident abroad who wishes to adopt a child habitually resident in Bulgaria should lodge an application and all other required documents with the Ministry of Justice to initiate the adoption procedure. The application is lodged through the Central Authority of the respective country or through an accredited body authorised by the Minister of Justice to serve as intermediary in intercountry adoptions. The application may also be filed by the Central Authority or the accredited body. A list of accredited organizations approved by the Minister of Justice to mediate in intercountry adoptions is published on the official Ministry of Justice website at www.justice.government.bg.
The application must be signed by the applicant and have the content and attached documents listed in Art. 6 of Ordinance No 13 of 30.09.2009 on the Terms and Procedure of Approving Intercountry Adoptions and on Keeping the Intercountry Adoptions Register and should contain the applicant's basic personal details: name, nationality and citizenship, number of ID document, date and place of birth, country of habitual residence, permanent and current address, a short history of the adoptive family, information about its economic and social standing, information about the foreign Central Authority or accredited body serving as intermediary for the prospective adoptive parent, including contact persons, address, phone, representation, authorisation terms of the accredited body and any other information pertaining to the adoption /the adoptive parents' preferences to the child could be listed/.
The following documents are also attached to the application:
• an adoption permit as per the valid laws of the country of habitual residence;
• a document certifying that the prospective adoptive parent had never been deprived of parental rights, as issued by the competent authority;
• a Home Study report about the prospective adoptive parent containing information on the member of his/her family, including their health status;
• a health report about the prospective adoptive parent describing his or her physical and mental health, the absence of any serious chronic, communicable venereal diseases, AIDS, tuberculosis and other life-threatening conditions. It is extremely important that the medical report contain the items exactly as they are listed. The Ministry of Justice will only accept medical certificates issued no more than one year prior to the date of application;
• a clean criminal record certificate of the prospective adoptive parent;
When prospective adoptive parents are married, they should also attach a marriage certificate.
In case of applications filed by or through an accredited body, a contract and power-of-attorney to serve as intermediary in the intercountry adoption procedure should also be filed.
It is important to keep in mind the provisions of Art. 6, Para . 8 of Ordinance ? 13 of 2009 stipulating that all documents issued in foreign countries should be lodged in the original and accompanied by a Bulgarian translation certified by the Bulgarian Embassy or Consulate in the country in question. Documents issued within the territory of a country which is signatory to the Convention of 5 th October 1961 Abolishing the Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents and to which an “Apostille” has been attached, should be filed in the original language and Bulgarian translation certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The application is reviewed within 30 days of receipt. In case any inconsistencies should be identified in the application and/or the accompanying documentation, the Ministry of Justice will issue guidance for these to be remedied within 30 days.
On the basis of the application and correct accompanying documents filed, the prospective adoptive parents are entered into the “Register of adoptive parents habitually resident abroad who wish to adopt a child habitually resident in the republic of Bulgaria under the conditions of full adoption” .
In order to be offered an adoptable child, the prospective adoptive parent should be identified by the Intercounty Adoptions Council as being suited to adopt a specific child from the “Register of children available for full adoption by persons habitually resident abroad”.
Pursuant to Art. 114, Para.1 of the Family Code, an Intercountry Adoption Council has been set up under the Ministry of Justice; it is entrusted with important advisory powers related to intercountry adoptions. The Council is an inter-ministerial body headed by the Deputy Minister of Justice; its membership includes one representative each from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Agency for Child Protection. The chairperson and members have one deputy each. The participation of representatives of different departments in the Intercountry Adoption Council ensures diverse expertise and competence which is undoubtedly a safeguard for better protection of the child's interests. The Intercountry Adoption Council is a permanent body and meets every week.
No later than 60 days after the entering of a child in the Register referred to in Art. 113, Para . 1, point 1 of the Family Code, the Intercountry Adoption Council reviews the applicants to select a suited prospective adopter following the chronological order of prospective adopters appearing in the Register, their preferences and any circumstances of significance to the child's interests. The children's files are reviewed by the Council as per the chronological order they were first recorded in the Register, and matched against the prospective adopter's information and the conditions in the adoption permits. To select an adopter, the Council discusses all suitable applicants; when making its decision to determine the most suitable adopter, the Council is also guided by the prospective adopter's ability to ensure the physical, mental and social well-being of the child, as well as any information about the personality of the adopter and other circumstances pertaining to the adoption. The determination is made mostly on the basis of the home study reports about prospective adopters prepared by the respective competent authorities.
Based on this review, the Intercountry Adoption Council reaches a decision which contains the child's and prospective adopters' details and a short justification of the decision, and forwards a proposal to the Minister of Justice to approve a suitable adopter habitually resident abroad for each child listed in the Register.
If the suitable adopter thus determined habitually resides in a country which is a Contracting State to the Hague Convention, the certificate initiating the intercountry adoption procedure, accompanied by a report about the child containing a full-height photo of the child, are sent to the Central Authority of the destination country and the intermediary accredited body.
Within two months of receiving the child report, the Central Authority of the destination country, ague Convention country or an accredited body with delegated powers as per Art. 22 of the Hague Convention, should forward to the Ministry of Justice a notification on the approval or objection to initiating the adoption procedure for the child in question.
Within the same two-month period, the Ministry of Justice should receive from the Central Authority or accredited body the written approval or refusal by the prospective adoptive parent for the adoption of the child in question. Before granting his or her consent, the prospective adoptive parent should have made personal contact with the child for no less than 5 days. If the prospective adoptive parent is not in a position to meet the child in person because of illness, financial difficulties, pressing business commitments or difficulties in travel arrangements, he or she should provide a notarized declaration to the effect that he/she accepts any risks related to the origin and future physical and mental condition and development of the child and state the reason why no personal contact had been established.
Within two months, together with the document of consent, the Ministry should also receive the following:
- a document issued by a competent authority to certify that the law in the place of habitual residence of the adoptive parent does not allow for the child to be re-adopted while the existing adoption has not been legally dissolved, and a notarized declaration by the adoptive parent that the child will not be put up for re-adoption if the law thus permits;
- a notarized declaration by the adoptive parent that the child will not be subjected to experimental treatment and that while the child is living, no parts of his or her body will be used as donor organs;
- a declaration that the adoptive parent's consent is not related to any financial benefits;
- a document certifying stamp duty paid ( in the amount of BGN 50);
- a document certifying that the competent authority in the country of habitual residence of the adoptive parent will carry out post-adoption monitoring of the child in question for a period of 2 years after adoption, in cases under Art. 12, Para.2 of Ordinance 13 of 30.09.2009;
The procedure is finalised with an express written approval of the adoption issued by the Minister of Justice within 14 days of the filing of all necessary documents.
Within three days of notification of the Minister of Justice's written approval, the Ministry of Justice should receive an application addressed to the Sofia City Court to allow the adoption and a document showing stamp duty paid to the court, as per the Tariff of Stamp Duty to be Collected by the Courts under the Code of Civil Procedure ( in the amount of BGN 25). Within seven days of receipt of the above documents, the Ministry of Justice forwards the application and the file (dossier) to the Court .
The accredited body represents the adopter before the court and lodges with the Ministry of Justice a certified copy of the Court's decision allowing the adoption within seven days of its entry into force. Based on the court decision thus received, the Minister of Justice issues a certificate referred to in Art. 23 of the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption to the effect that the adoption was made in accordance with the Convention.
For a period of two years after the adoption, the Central Authority or the respective accredited body lodges with the Ministry of Justice every six months a report on the child's situation. The Report is drafted in the form stipulated in the abovementioned Art. 6, Para . 8 of Ordinance ?13/2009.
In cases where no suited prospective adoptive parents have been entered in the Register, the International Adoption Council cannot determine suited adopters from among the persons registered or the adopters selected have refused to adopt a child with a health problem, special needs or over seven years of age, the Minister of Justice takes the following special measures:
1. publishes general information about each child once a month, between the 25th and 30th day of the month, on the official website of the Ministry;
2. provides information and details about the specifics of the child in question as per the application from the accredited body authorised to operate as an intermediary by the Minister of Justice. Where necessary, a photograph may also be provided. The application is accompanied by a notarised declaration to the effect that the information and the photograph may only be used for their intended purpose.
The accredited body, to which the material and documents of a child from the list have been provided, is obliged to return these if within two months of receipt of information no application for adoption has been lodged with the Ministry of Justice. The application for adoption is reviewed immediately.
Where an official agreement is in place, the information about children as per point 1 may be provided to the Central Authority or a foreign accredited body referred to by the Central Authority.
