REQUIREMENTS:

• Single parents or married couples can adopt a child from Bulgaria;
• Single parents must be at least twenty-five years of age.
• Previous marriages are permissible. 
• Other children in the home are acceptable.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Children from 12 (twelve) months old are available for adoption.
• In exceptional cases, where the health status of the child or other important circumstances so require, the child may be adopted even before having attained the age of one year, provided that this is exclusively in his/her interest.
• Children available for international adoption are of Roma or Turkish heritage. They are with beautiful dark eyes, olive skin and shiny dark hair.  
• Healthy children are available for adoption with no "waiting list".
• Two short trips (5 days each). Escort is available in some cases.

ADOPTION PROCESS:

U.S. citizen parents interested in adopting a Bulgarian orphan should first contact the U.S. CIS and satisfy the U.S. pre-adoption requirements. The next step is to identify an orphan available for adoption. Changes in Bulgarian adoption law in July 2003 require prospective adoptive parents to deposit their applications at the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). The names of all prospective adoptive parents will be entered into a register. Another register will keep track of all Bulgarian children available for foreign adoptions. A council consisting of representatives of the Ministries of Justice, Health, Education, Social Services will review each application. The Council will offer a child to a prospective adoptive family. The MOJ will provide photographs of the child and information about his/her medical condition. If the family declines to adopt a specific child, the Council should be informed within two months and a new child will be offered for adoption.

Once the adoptive parent(s) select a child and the Council approves the application, the case will be forwarded to the Minister of Justice for final approval. When the Minister signs the parents' application, the paperwork will be transferred directly to the Bulgarian court, which must give custody of the child to the adoptive parents. One or both of the adoptive parents should plan on making a trip to Bulgaria. When the court has given custody of the child to the adoptive parents, they would be expected to spend at least five days with their adopted son or daughter before the orphanage director releases their child.

Please contact our Bulgaria Program Coordinator
email info@lovingstork.org
Phone (Toll Free) 1-877-244-9595