Family Encyclopedia >> Family

What steps should I take to adopt a child?

What steps should I take to adopt a child?

Adoption is an act of great faith that should not be taken lightly. This is why the law recommends that adoption be authorized for people who are legally capable of accepting this choice of life.

Adoption is therefore a long journey which obliges future parents to ask themselves if this choice of family life really suits them. The steps to follow are very complex and require a certain amount of patience. For the adoption to be valid, several factors will be taken into account, namely the quality of the couple's social life and their psychological health.

Adoption criteria

For the well-being of the child and his mental and physical safety, he should not be entrusted to just anyone. The law therefore provides that the parents who resort to adoption must be over 28 years old and have been married for more than two years (opposite-sex couples or same-sex couples).

Added to this is a series of surveys aimed at studying the social life of the couple and their psychological aptitude. It should be noted that the presence of another child in the home does not constitute an obstacle for adoption. The application should not be motivated by a feeling of loneliness or to consolidate a couple that is going badly. Both parents will have to agree to receive the child as he is, without demanding anything concerning him. Indeed, adoption does not allow a Caucasian child to be preferred to a Black or Asian child.

The adoption initiative should not be motivated by the couple's entourage, for example if the couple has medical problems that prevent them from initiating a pregnancy:the choice to adopt must come from the couple's own initiative. However, it will be necessary to inform the family of the adoption project so that the child is expected and welcomed also by the grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins...

The steps to follow

What steps should I take to adopt a child?

To begin, you must be licensed to adopt. The request will be made by a handwritten letter intended for the president of the General Council of your department of residence which will be proof of your wish to adopt.

You will then be called to an information meeting where you will be given the documents to provide and you will be given the files to complete. The approval of adoption is a mandatory document to be able to start the adoption procedure. It will be issued to you by the child welfare service after having undergone a social and psychological investigation. In particular, there will be interviews with social workers and education specialists to study your project meticulously.

The process will therefore be long and not easy. It can last up to nine months. The approval will then be valid for five years and will authorize you to adopt several children. Once the approval has been obtained, the couple can then begin to file an adoption application either for a ward of the State, or for a child entrusted to a specialized center because of his abandonment or the withdrawal of parental custody. biological or apply for adoption abroad. If you want to adopt another child later, you will have to start the whole procedure again.