Bulgaria
February 28, 2007
In Bulgaria the Ministry of Justice, which is the official adoption authority in the country, maintains a registry of Bulgarian children that are eligible for inter-country adoption. This registry is not large and only contains a handful of adoption ready children at a time. Many of the children on the registry have serious medical conditions. Before a Bulgarian child can be put on the registry three Bulgarian families have turned down the opportunity to adopt him or her. On occasion a healthy child will be put onto the registry.
There are over 1000 families from Europe and North America on the waiting list currently in process of adopting a Bulgarian child. People who are willing to adopt a child with a medical problem or a handicap are moved to the front of the waiting list and given preference. For this reason adopting from Bulgaria may take several months to several years depending on the willingness of the
prospective parents to care for a high needs child. The Bulgarian Adoption Council has a principle that they strictly follow. The Councils missions is to find good parents for a child in need and not to find a child for parents who want one.
Available Children:
Children of all ages with special developmental, medical, and physical needs.
Parental Requirements:
Married
Single Parents
Prospective parents must be at least 15 years older than the child they are adopting. However, they may be no more than 45 years older than the child they are adopting.
Travel:
Prospective parents do not have to reside in Bulgaria in order to adopt. They will, however, be required to spend five days in Bulgaria with the child before the orphanage will release the child fully into their care.
After choosing a adoption agency to work with, which has been accredited by the Bulgaria Ministry of Justice, the agency will work with parents to file appropriate paperwork. This paperwork included the necessary immigration and pre-adoptive papers for the parents country of citizenship. For the United States this paperwork is the I-600A and the I-600. Upon submission of all required paperwork to the Ministry of Justice prospective parents will be placed on the waiting list to choose a child from the registry. It is the job of the Ministry of Justice to review applicants and available children on the registry. The Ministry will suggest a match between the two, which may be accepted or denied by the parents. When parents accept the referral this information is sent to Sofia City Court. It is here that a judge reviews all the documentation and grants custody of the child to the his or her new parents.
