Three Reasons to Adopt from Bulgaria

14
Jul

071414blogAdopting from Bulgaria, a Hague country, offers a lot of benefits to families wanting to grow their families through international adoption. Married couples do not have to meet length of marriage requirements. Additionally, single parent adoption is permissible through our Bulgaria international adoption program. Below are three reasons to adopt from the Eastern European country of Bulgaria.

1. The Need is Great for Some Bulgarian Children – The Bulgarian children in need of families are not able to be adopted within their country. As a Hague Convention Country, Bulgaria takes seriously the subsidiarity principle, meaning that Bulgaria must consider national solutions first. In light of the best interests of the child, it is preferable for children to find a permanent and loving home in their country of origin. In an effort to ensure national solutions are considered first, Bulgarian children remain on a registry for a minimum of six months to determine if a Bulgarian family is interested. The children who are not able to be adopted in Bulgaria, may then become eligible for international adoption. Though the minimum time frame to remain of the registry is six months, the youngest children matched in international adoption are generally 12-18 months old. Bulgaria wisely upholds the subsidiarity principle while balancing that interest with an understanding that it is developmentally important for the child to be with a permanent family as soon as possible. Establishing the six month requirement both allows for national solutions to be found if possible and also allows for a more secure international adoption.  Allowing for this time to seek out national solutions for makes the adoption more stable, decreasing the potential risk to prospective adoptive parents of losing a referral.

2.Stability of Adoption from Bulgaria – At the current time, Bulgaria appears to be a very stable country program. As Bulgaria is a Hague Convention Country, it has already gone through process of ensuring that their laws are Hague compliant and instituting the governmental entities required to fulfill Hague requirements. At a time in international adoption where we are unfortunately seeing many country programs declining, Bulgaria is growing steadily. Steady growth of adoptions is an indicator of future or continued stability in an international adoption program, especially in Hague Convention Countries. According to the US Department of State, the following are the number of adoptions from Bulgaria to the US, after the US became a Hague Convention Country in 2008.

  • 2013 – 160 adoptions
  • 2012 – 125 adoptions
  • 2011 – 75 adoptions
  • 2010 – 40 adoptions
  • 2009 – 15 adoptions

3. Community of Families Adopting from Bulgaria –More and more families are connecting and building an adoption community with the increase of adoptions from Bulgaria. Building a community can be vital when adopting internationally not only for the adoptive parents, but for the Bulgarian children when they come home. MLJ Adoptions has placed 21 children with forever families (as of 7/7/14) and we have several families traveling soon to bring their children home. This is a very exciting time for adoptions from Bulgaria and for families interested in pursuing adoption for Eastern Europe. Many of our adoptive families reside in the Indianapolis area and have been very connected. Each year MLJ hosts an open house for children and families to attend in Indianapolis, and each year more and more children attend the event. Our Bulgaria families are also welcoming of questions from families considering adoption from Bulgaria. The community of adoptive parents and Bulgarian children is in no way limited to adoption in Indiana, there are meetings and events held across the nation for families who will or have adopted from Bulgaria. MLJ Adoptions works with families all across the US hoping to adopt from Bulgaria.

For more information on adopting from Bulgaria, please contact us.

Nicole Skellenger works as MLJ Adoptions’ Chief Executive Officer and Adoption Attorney. Nicole has spent time in orphanages with children who have nothing and are desperate for affection and has committed herself to using her skills to create better futures for these deserving children.

Nicole Skellenger works as MLJ Adoptions’ Chief Executive Officer and Adoption Attorney. Nicole has spent time in orphanages with children who have nothing and are desperate for affection and has committed herself to using her skills to create better futures for these deserving children.