Special needs children

This is an adoption program for children with special needs and older children.  

The legal regulation of the program is set in Art. 40 of Ordinance 3/24.10.2014.

The Ministry of Justice publishes in Bulgarian the complete list of children with special needs every month. The published information concerns the children’s health, held examinations, mental and social state. It does not contain any personal data.

Registered candidate-adoptive parents as well as not registered candidates can apply for the children from the Special Needs lists. They have to sign an Application and send it to Family National Association via fax or scanned by e-mail. 

  • When registered candidates apply, Family National Association will submit an application to the Ministry of Justice and a letter of recommendation from their HS/placing agency. The application will be reviewed by the Adoption Council. A “Child Referral” pack of documents will be sent to Family National Association, which will forward it to the candidate(s). The procedure will afterwards follow its normal course.
  • An extra advantage of the program is the opportunity for not registered candidates to apply for children with special needs. After receiving an Authorization of Representation and Application from the candidate(s), as well as a letter of recommendation from their HS/placing agency/central authority, Family National Association will submit an application for the particular child/ren to the Ministry of Justice. Then the Adoption Council will match the candidate(s) with the child and will put the case on hold for 6 months until the candidates’ full paperwork has been prepared. The deadline could be prolonged with 3 months by submitting a copy of the home study report. After receiving all registration documents, Family National Association will file an enrolment application for the candidate(s). The candidate-adoptive parent(s) will be registered with priority and significantly faster. After registration, the Adoption Council will review the case again and will send the “Child referral” to Family National Association, which will forward it to the candidate(s). The procedure will then follow its normal course. 

In accordance with legislation, Family National Association works with children from the special needs list at any given time. We also have photos of children from the program at our disposal. For most of them, we can even provide detailed additional information, videos and further examinations records (e.g. medical). In case the candidate(s) has serious interest for a particular child with a special need, additional questions can be asked and even further medical examinations can be held upon demand. The candidate(s) are responsible for any incurred expenses related to further examinations requested.  

For detailed information, photos and videos of each child from the special needs list, please do not hesitate to contact us.