Foreigners rush to adopt Bulgarian minors

Within the scope of just two years the number of foreigners wishing to adopt Bulgarian children has increased ten fold. The Intercountry Adoptions Council at the Ministry of Justice reported that last year it examined 1064 applications, while in 2006 they were only 96. As a result in 2008 the children adopted abroad were 184 in number.

Pending is the approval of a new Family Code, which next week will pass through the second reading stage of Parliament, Miglena Tacheva, Minister of Justice, said. According to the project a child left in a home shall have the right to entry into the adoption registers after six months without the need of consent from the parents. The currently acting Code greatly encumbers adoptions since the parents must give their express consent and they often refuse to do so or cannot be found. Just for the period from the beginning of this year till now more than 200 children were abandoned in homes, the social services announced recently.