Bulgaria is party to the Hague convention, and MAA is privileged to offer adoptions from
this beautiful country. MAA partners with several accredited organizations in Bulgaria to assist families in completing adoptions of children, both physically healthy and with special needs. In Bulgaria, children ages 18 months to 14 years are available for adoption. The children in need of families have special medical needs, are older children, and/or are part of a sibling group. They reside in orphanages and foster homes in Bulgaria.
MAA works in cooperation with our foreign partner agencies and the Bulgarian Central Authority, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), to identify children who are legally available for international adoption, and to find qualified adoptive families for these children. There are two tracts in MAA’s Bulgaria program:
- Traditional Program –The family submits a dossier, which outlines the child parameters that the family is approved for. The MOJ then reviews the dossier and presents the family with a referral that matches the criteria outlined in the dossier. The children available in this tract tend to not have as significant special needs as the children available in the Waiting Child tract.
- Waiting Child Program – The qualified family may submit commitment paperwork for consideration to MOJ for a specific child on MAA’s Waiting Child list. MOJ will review the commitment paperwork, and if approved, will invite the family to submit a dossier for that specific child. The family then compiles and submits a dossier to MOJ and awaits dossier approval and the formal referral. The family understands that MAA will continue to advocate for the child until the family has a current, valid home study.
Common special needs in both tracts include older child (over the age of 6 years), Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome, hearing loss, vision loss, developmental delay, Spina Bifida, emotional disturbance, blood disorders, Autism, and more. Sibling groups are also available, and while many are medically healthy, all children available for adoption have a history of trauma and have experienced significant grief and loss.
Adoptions are finalized in Bulgaria and children adopted from Bulgaria will enter the U.S. on an IH-3 visa. They will become a U.S. citizen as soon as they arrive in the United States.
If you are interested in this program, we invite you to contact Sarah Hansen (Sarah@MadisonAdoption.org) to discuss your individual situation or inquire about children currently available.
Once you have decided to adopt from Bulgaria
The staff at Madison Adoption Associates will guide you through every step of the process. We will answer your questions, help you prepare and complete your paperwork, provide support and encouragement, and assist you with your travel arrangements. It is important to begin your Home Study and the USCIS immigration forms as soon as possible because they can take several months to complete.
