Bewerbung als Adoptiveltern

• Adoptionsvermittlungsgesetz (AdVermiG)
• §§ 1741 bis 1772 Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) – Annahme als Kind

Application for the adoption of a minor child

Are you thinking about adopting a child? The desire to take in another person's child must mature. There are many things to consider. Adopting a child is a special form of family formation.

Adoption agencies are not looking for children for involuntarily childless couples, but for loving and reliable parents for children who would otherwise have to grow up without parents.

This requires extensive investigations and interviews. The aim is to select the family that best meets the child's needs. The suitability check therefore takes time.

• completed application (application form of the adoption agency) or self-written application

For married couples and registered civil partners for both partners:

• Proof of earnings, assets and debts
• Proof of identity (identity card / passport)
• Life report (enquire about the scope of the report at the placement office)
• police clearance certificate
• Birth certificate
• Registration certificate
• medical certificate
• Marriage certificate / civil partnership certificate (divorce decree if applicable)

Who may adopt children?

• Married couples only jointly - one or the other must be at least 25 years old, the other 21 years old
• Single persons, if they have reached the age of 25 years
• One partner (whether in a marriage, in a registered partnership or in an established cohabitation) may adopt the other's child alone if he or she has reached 21 years of age
• The adoption must not harm the interests of children from the existing or previous marriages
• Adoptive parents must, among other things, be physically fit, have personal maturity, a secure income and sufficient living space

Maximum age for parents?

• An upper age limit is not set by law. However, as age is an indicator of characteristics such as health, life experience, resilience and flexibility, the age gap between adoptive parents and children should be a natural one

• Costs for required documents (e.g. for retrieving the certificate of good conduct from the Federal Central Register)
• Costs for the notarial certification of the adoption application
• in the case of adoption of a child from abroad: fees for carrying out an international adoption placement procedure and for the suitability check

Make an appointment at the adoption agency at the youth welfare office (married couples, civil partners and partners in a stable partnership together).

• At the adoption agency, they will explain to you how and in what procedure the agency determines your suitability as an adoptive father or mother. In addition, you will receive information on the adoption process and the special situation of adopted children and families. During the talks with a specialist from the adoption agency, you will also learn that you have no legal claim to the placement of a child.
• You will be given a questionnaire in which information about you will be asked and you will have to explain your wish to have a child in more detail. You return the questionnaire to the Youth Welfare Office together with the documents mentioned below.

Suitability assessment procedure

• During home visits, the social worker will get a picture of you and your living environment. The subject of the interviews will be your relationship with your parents and siblings as well as your own partner relationship and its stability, parenting ideas and the reason why you would like to adopt a child. You should expect to be asked whether you would not also take in a foster child.
• Usually, social workers also include rounds of interviews with other applicants in so-called preparatory seminars in the suitability test procedure.
• The professionals at the adoption agencies check very carefully whether you are a suitable adoptive mother or father. Therefore, please be patient until the office can inform you of the result and the further course of your "becoming a parent".

Social report

• Once the staff at the adoption agency are satisfied that you are suitable to be an adoptive father or mother, the result of the examination will be summarised in a report. You will be informed of the determination of your suitability in a personal interview. If other adoption agencies or the central adoption agency are involved in the actual placement, the result of the examination must also be made available to them.
• As a rule, the report may not be handed over to you as the applicant.

Placement

• Prospective adoptive parents receive all forms of support from the Youth Welfare Office, such as preparatory courses and comprehensive counselling. However, the waiting time for an adoptive child can be long. You should therefore contact the adoption agency on your own initiative.
• If you have been selected as suitable parents for a child by the professionals at the adoption agency, the child proposal will be discussed with you and you will receive all known information about the child. You can then decide in peace whether you want to meet the child. If this is the case, initial contacts take place under the supervision of the adoption specialist. The phase of getting to know each other then begins. Once it is clear that the contact has been successful, you can take the child into your family.

Foster care and adoption

• Once you have taken in a child, the adoption foster care period follows. It usually begins when you take the child into your household and ends with the final adoption by order of the family court.
• If the adoption is pronounced and the adoption decision becomes final, the child receives the same rights as a natural child and bears your family name, which is evident from the newly issued birth certificate.

• Suitability determination process: As the suitability check is a comprehensive process, there is no deadline by which the adoption agency must have decided on your suitability.
• Placement: It is not possible to estimate how long it will take until you are able to take in a child, as those willing to adopt are always selected for a child who offer the most favourable conditions in every respect and are best suited for the child.

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non applicable