Denmark

Step-by-step adoption procedure in Bulgaria:

1. The Danish organization will send us the dossier with all the required registration documents. 
2. Once the dossier has been received and translated, our team will submit it to the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice along with an initial application. Then, the candidates will be enrolled in a Register, which is effectively a waiting list for adoptive parents. This enrolment should take place within 2 months of FNA receiving the documents, provided they are in the proper form. 
3. The waiting period for a child proposal is counted from the enrolment in the Register and will vary in each case. The timeframe depends on the children currently available (e.g. age, gender, health condition) and the candidates on the waiting list (overall preferences, desired age, number of candidates).  
4. The Adoption Council will review applications by order of enrolment, and will match candidates to appropriate children. Once a referral has been made, the “Child Proposal” pack of documents will be received by FNA and will be translated and passed on to the candidates. It will include a Child Proposal Certificate, a full-length photo and detailed report about the child.
5. The next step is meeting the child. Usually, a registered specialist of our team will meet the referred child on behalf of the candidate-adopters and will prepare video materials and photos of him/her. They will be sent to the candidates in order to make their decision for the child’s adoption.  
6. If the candidate-adoptive parents refuse to adopt the child, the waiting period starts over again. However, they may keep their place in the line if they have not been informed about significant health problems of the child, if the proposed child’s characteristics clearly do not match the family’s initial wish and in case the candidates have applied for a child with a special need and have subsequently decided not to adopt them.
7. If the candidate-adoptive parents agree to adopt the child, they will have to sign the relevant documents provided by FNA. To proceed further, a “Certificate of consent for proceeding with the adoption” issued by the Danish organization or by the Adoption Joint Council (the Central Adoption Authority of Denmark), newly issued medical certificates and certificates of criminal record must be obtained and sent to FNA in original and apostilled. Then, we will submit the documents to the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice.
8. The dossier will then be sent to Sofia City Court and an attorney-at-law from our team will represent the candidate-adoptive parents in court as well as perform all procedural actions until the court decree enters into power.
9. When the adoption decree becomes effective (7 days after the judgement is enacted), FNA will help obtain a Certificate of Completion, a new birth certificate and passport of the child. 
10. The adoptive parents will then have to travel to Bulgaria to pick up their child and finalize the passport issuing procedure. Afterwards they will travel back home together. 
11. The FNA will need four post-adoption reports on the child’s development and well-being within the course of 2 years after adoption. 

© Family National Association