Child adoption procedure

Adoption of a child is a popular topic in our country, as there are currently about 65,000 children in Ukraine who have been deprived of parental care.

And they all hope that one day they will be able to get a full-fledged family and parents. And therefore consideration of this topic is more relevant than ever.

In this article, we will talk about the peculiarities of the implementation of the child adoption procedure in practice according to the current Ukrainian legislation.

What should be understood by the adoption of a child?

The Family Code of Ukraine states that the adoption of a child should be understood as a certain legal process, which involves the decision of a judicial authority to transfer parental rights and responsibilities for a child to citizens who wish to adopt it and accept it as a member of the family.

That is, we can say that the child will have all the rights and responsibilities as a full member of the family.

What is the minimum age for adopting a child?

The provisions of the Family Code of Ukraine provide that the minimum age for adopting a child is 2 months from the moment of its birth. In addition, a child can also be adopted up to the age of 18.

However, there are also special cases when the law provides for the adoption of an adult child (who has reached the age of 18):

• she is an orphan;
• or is deprived of parental care until the age of 18.

What is the procedure for adopting a child?

In total, 5 main stages of adopting a child can be identified, namely:

• Initial consultation on child adoption. To clearly understand whether citizens are ready to adopt a child and have a detailed explanation of the general procedure, it is necessary to have an initial consultation with the children's services, who will provide answers to all these questions.
• Registration of persons as potential adopter candidates. At this stage, a certain package of documents for adopting a child should be submitted to the children's service (can also be submitted during the consultation): 1) application; 2) passport, RNOCPP; 3) income documents for the last 6 months; 4) marriage certificate; 5) documents confirming the current state of health of the applicants; 6) documents confirming ownership of real estate; 7)if the child is adopted by one of the spouses, the other spouse's consent to these actions must be given in writing and notarized. Based on these documents and the act on inspection of housing conditions, citizens will be registered potential adopter candidates.
• Providing information about children who can be adopted. At this stage, employees of the children's affairs service will provide citizens with relevant lists of children who can be adopted. For example, the following information can be provided: a photo of the child, his current state of health, disabilities in physical or mental development, presence of brothers or sisters.
• Getting to know the child directly and establishing emotional contact. This stage comes in the situation when future adopters have already chosen a child and they need to get to know each other before adoption. This can take place in the residential premises where the child is located or in the premises of the children's services, etc. If contact is established, then you need to proceed to the next stage of adoption.
• Collection and preparation of the necessary package of documents for the judicial authority. It is the last stage in the procedure of adopting a child and involves writing an application to the Children's Affairs Service about the adoption of the chosen child. The service prepares an appropriate opinion on the feasibility of adoption, and after receiving it, citizens apply to the court to adopt a child, where the latter will make the final decision on the case.

If you want to adopt a child, contact the Prikhodko and Partners law office.

Our lawyers will help you implement the adoption of a child in practice, as we have many years of experience in solving similar issues in the field of family law. Get in touch!