Adoption of a child - domestic adoption

Aptitude test
You fill out an application form. You also create a so-called life report. In this document, you describe the stages of your life to date, family relationships and other emotional ties.

In order to check your motivation and willingness, the adoption office would like to get to know you. At the same time, the adoption center will provide you with comprehensive advice on the topic. There are also seminars, discussions and home visits.

Placement
If you are selected as an adoptive parent for a child, the placement process begins.

First, you will receive all the information about the adoptive child and can get to know them. During this phase, you can decide for or against adopting the child.

Care period
The adopted child now lives with you. A good relationship should grow during this period. Normally, the youth welfare office is the child's guardian during this time, which means that you can make decisions for the child in all matters of daily life. However, any decisions that go beyond this must be agreed with the youth welfare office.

Decision
After the adoption care period, you can submit an application for adoption. You can only submit the application with the help of a notary. The family court will examine the application and issue a legally valid adoption decision.

On completion of the adoption procedure before the family court, the adoption is automatically recorded in the register of births. The adoption decision gives the child the legal status of a biological child. The legal relationship with the biological family ceases.

No. You have no legal claim to this.

Placement for adoption can take varying amounts of time.

On average, the suitability test for applicants takes around nine months. The waiting time until a child is suggested to you varies between a few weeks and sometimes several years.

If you decide in favor of the child, the child will live with your family in "adoptive care" for at least a year. During this time, an application for adoption is usually submitted to the family court.

The family court will make the final adoption decision once a stable parent-child relationship has been established between you and the child.

There are various ways in which contact can take place between the child, their adoptive family and the birth parents:

• Indirect exchange, for example with letters or photos to the adoption agency, which then forwards them.
• Personal meetings with or without the support of the adoption agency. All contact is voluntary for both parties.
• There is no contact.

The adoption agency talks to the adoptive family and the birth parents at an early stage about wishes, ideas and possibilities for contact. It also explains the advantages and disadvantages of the individual options - for the adoptive parents, the birth parents and, above all, for the child. The placement agency records the agreement reached on contact between the adoptive family and the birth parents in writing. This agreement is voluntary and serves the purpose of clarity. It cannot be enforced later against the will of one of the parties involved.

The adoption agency can help with questions or uncertainties - even after the adoption, for example if something needs to change with regard to contact.

Even without an agreement on contact, birth parents can receive general information about the child from the adoption agency. However, the prerequisite for this is that the adoptive parents have provided this information voluntarily and also agree to this information being passed on to the birth parents. The adoption agency discusses with the adoptive parents what information is suitable to give the birth parents an impression of the child's development.