I heard rumors that Bulgaria was closed to adoptions by foreigners and while this is not technically true, it is true that the past year has seen remarkable slow-downs and limitations in adoptions from that country.

Here's the statement JCICS has on their website about adoption from Bulgaria:

Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, there is no moratorium on Bulgarian intercountry adoptions. Last year, the U.S. Embassy in Sofia issued 29 IR-3 and IR-4 visas to Bulgarian orphans adopted by American families, and is currently averaging 1-2 visas per month. The Bulgarian Parliament passed a new adoption law in July 2003 in order to comply with the requirements of the Hague Convention. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) started implementing the law in September 2004. In accordance with this law, the MOJ started entering into a special register all Bulgarian children available for foreign adoption. A Bulgarian child may be entered into the register only if three Bulgarian families have declined to adopt the child. The adoptive parents whose adoption dossiers have been accepted by the MOJ are entered into another register. An Adoption Council at the MOJ reviews the parents' documents and offers them a child for adoption. Currently, there are about 120 children available for foreign adoption and 1200 adoptive families from Europe and North America wishing to adopt Bulgarian children. According to the MOJ, 80% of the adoptable children have serious medical conditions. It is important to note that the prospective adoptive parents' applications are not processed in chronological order. Priority is given to adoptive parents willing to adopt a handicapped child. Furthermore, the Adoption Committee is very strict in keeping to the principle that it must find proper parents for a child in need and not a proper child for parents wishing to adopt in Bulgaria.

So - it's difficult, but not impossible. And one agency person I spoke to recently said that with Bulgaria's entry into the European Union in the spring, things would probably improve immensely, or at the very least, change. Hopefully that means that it will be easier for foreigners to adopt from Bulgaria and more children will be released.

I am unable to find any statistics on the number of children in the orphanages in Bulgaria, but they are there for the same reasons why children are in orphanages all over Eastern Europe: financial instability due to the change from communism to capitalism, parents who've died, parents who are incompetent or addicted to drugs, etc. etc. According to one article I read a very large population of children in Bulgarian orphanages are of Roma ethnicity.

A limited number of agencies work in Bulgaria. For a list of agencies, click here and scroll down to "Bulgaria." Right now, although only limited children are released for adoption, Bulgaria's program fees are low and the two trips parents have to make are fairly quick. This may all change with its entrance into the EU. It's a wait and see situation right now.

Have you adopted or do you want to adopt from Bulgaria? Please share your story with me - e-mail me at hopetoadoptblog2@adoptionmail.com and tell me about it.