On February 8, 2013 a working meeting was held with the participation of representatives of seven accredited organizations, including Family National Association, Mrs. Milena Parvanova – director of the Directorate for International Legal Child Protection, and an expert from the Directorate.
The issues related to the personal meetings between adoptive parents, residing abroad, and the children referred to them for adoption, placed in foster families in Bulgaria, were discussed. The purpose of the meeting was for the Ministry of Justice to prepare a project, based on the discussion, regarding the course of the procedure of the intercountry adoption of children placed in foster families and to present it to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. Thus, with joint efforts, the state authorities strive to regulate matters that are not currently regulated by the legislation and thereby introduce rules to make the adoption procedure clearer.
After the meeting the Ministry of Justice drafted a project for detailed regulation of the procedure regarding the meetings between adoptive parents, residing abroad, and children, placed in foster families. That project includes the ways of notification between the different competent authorities and the accredited organizations at the different stages of the adoption procedure; the conditions in which the meetings between the prospective adopters and the child take place and the measures for preparing children for the adoption and their separation with the foster parents.
We hope the project will be accepted by the other competent authorities participating in the procedure of adoption of children placed in foster families and that the efforts of the state authorities will produce a regulated procedure, with clear rules and responsibilities for the persons involved.