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We accept applicants aged between 25 and 47.
We primarily place children with married couples.
Same-sex couples can adopt children in Thailand.
Due to the regulations of the countries of origin, adoption by single persons is not possible.
Applicants who do not have German citizenship can be accepted into the process if they have a permanent residence permit.
Stable living conditions should be ensured.
Applicants who are not resident in Germany cannot be accepted into the process, as our license is only valid for Germany.
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Contact form: Fill out our contact form with the required information (in particular marital status, age, existing children). Your contact parents from your region will then send you our information brochure and an invitation to an information meeting.
Information meeting: At the information meeting, which is free of charge and noncommittal, your questions will be answered individually. Your contact parents are adoptive parents themselves and can share their own experiences with adoption. Upon request, they will also provide you with the application documents.
Application: You submit your application documents to Parents for Children.
Advisory parents: You will be assigned advisory parents who will assist you with the application process. The counseling parents will also help you later to prepare integration reports for your child and are also your point of contact for any questions that may arise.
Suitability report: We request the preparation of a suitability report from your local youth welfare office or, if you wish, from an independent agency of your choice.
Psychological assessment: You commission a psychologist who is approved to prepare assessments for Eltern für Kinder. You will receive the address from your contact parents.
Final meeting: In the final meeting, you discuss your wishes, the different procedures, and the placement situation in the countries of origin. You decide on a country of origin.
Sending documents: With the help of Parents for Children, you compile your application documents for your desired country of origin.
Waiting period: The waiting period varies depending on the country of origin and ranges from 1 to 4 years. You take part in a waiting period seminar and can prepare yourself more intensively by participating in events organized by our association and by networking with other parents.
Child proposal: Eltern für Kinder receives the child proposal from the authorities in the country of origin and forwards it to you.
Picking up the child: With the support of Parents for Children, you plan your trip to pick up your child and your stay in the country of origin. Depending on the country of origin, you will have appointments with the authorities, the home, and the court. Our representatives will accompany you on site and assist you with any questions.
Integration reports: After you return with your child, development reports are written at regular intervals and sent to the country of origin. Your counseling parents are there to assist you with this.
Recognition procedure: You apply for foreign adoption through the German family court.
Follow-up support: We accompany you for as long as you wish and support you with any problems that arise. You can participate in our regional and country meetings and exchange ideas with other parents.
Association: Our association is largely financed by membership fees. Membership fees contribute 50% to the costs of an adoption procedure. This limits the share of administrative costs to be borne by the applicants. We therefore hope that our adoptive families will get involved by joining the association “Eltern für Kinder e.V.” (Parents for Children).
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The children we place are usually between 1 and 5 years old. Since the country of origin initially endeavors to place the children within the country itself, the children are no longer infants when they are proposed for international adoption.
We expect you to be willing to accept a child of any gender.
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We place children from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Togo, Peru, and Mongolia. Due to the security situation in Haiti, placements there are currently on hold. Information about the countries can be found here.
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Parents for Children is a state-approved adoption agency, but it is not state-funded. We therefore charge an administrative fee of €8,000, payable in five installments during the course of the procedure.
The administrative fee covers approximately 50% of the actual administrative costs. The other half is covered by the association through membership fees. We therefore encourage our adoptive families to join the association “Eltern für Kinder e.V.”
In addition to the administrative fee, you will incur costs during the adoption process for the preparation of suitability reports and psychological assessments, for compiling your documents, for carrying out the adoption process on site, and for travel and accommodation costs when picking up your child, which vary depending on the country of origin. Please inquire about the amount of these costs at the information meeting.
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Waiting times usually range from 1 to 4 years, depending on the country of origin. Please ask your contact parents at the information meeting about the respective waiting times for the country you are interested in.
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The initial consultation takes place at our free information meetings. You can find the dates of our information meetings here. If you would like to attend an information meeting in your region, please fill out our contact form with the required information and send it to us. The information meeting is free of charge and noncommittal.
A brief note on if you do not speak German: It is possible that our volunteer staff are not able to offer a consulting in English, so you might need a translator for that. Generally, our correspondence is done in German, so we cannot provide the paperwork in English. A brief counselling can be done in English though.
In case you are willing to start an adoption procedure, please note that you might need to hire a translator for next steps as well, as f.e. interviews at the youth welfare office.
Thank you for your understanding. You are very welcome though to pursue the application procedure with us.
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