Bulgaria Adoption | Spence-Chapin

Discover the joy of adoption from Bulgaria.

For more than 25 years, Spence-Chapin has been connecting children in Bulgaria in need of adoption to incredible families throughout the United States. Our Bulgaria Waiting Child Program is focused on finding families for toddlers, pre-school age, and school-age children with special needs. There are also siblings in need of adoption.

Bulgaria is a Hague Convention Country. We work with the Central Authority in Bulgaria that is responsible for all intercountry adoption matters, the Ministry of Justice. Spence-Chapin’s foreign supervised provider in Bulgaria is ANIDO.

Families applying to adopt a specific waiting child should be previously home studied or be willing to undergo additional pre-screening before entering the program.

Please visit our waiting child page to learn more about waiting children in Bulgaria.

Interested in a different country? We also have international adoption programs in Colombia and South Africa.

Where Is
Bulgaria?

Program Details

Children in need of adoption

Gender: Male and Female
Ages: 0-10 years old at the time of referral.
Race/Ethnicity: Bulgarian, Turkish, Roma
Sibling groups: Sibling groups of up to two on a case by case basis.
Special Characteristics: All children placed through this program have special needs. The following needs have been identified by our foreign supervised provider as the most common needs of children waiting for adoption from Bulgaria: unpredictable or unknown developmental delay, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalous, microcephaly, epilepsy, polymalformative syndrome, blindness, spina bifida, autism spectrum disorder, and down syndrome.

Adoptive Parent Eligibility

Adoptive Parent Eligibility Age: Applicants should be at least 15 years older than the child they intend to adopt. Applicants over 55 should consult with Spence-Chapin.
Marital Status: Heterosexual married and unmarried couples as well as single men and women. At this time Bulgaria does not recognize adoptions by LGBTQ couples.
Medical: Identified medical conditions, including mental health diagnosis, will be considered on a case by case basis by the foreign country’s Central Authority, the Ministry of Justice.

Wait Time & Travel

Approximate length of adoption process: Since this is a waiting child program and families will be recruited for specific waiting children, there is no wait time to be matched with a child. Families applying to adopt a specific waiting child should be previously home studied or be willing to undergo additional pre-screening before entering the program since dossier submission must occur within 6 months of submitting a letter of intent to adopt a specific waiting child. The entire process is estimated to take 12-18 months.
Travel: In order to complete the adoption process, families will be required to make two (2) trips to Bulgaria of approximately 1-2 weeks each in length. The second trip may only require one parent to travel.

Family
stories

Read program updates and stories about Spence-Chapin families adopting from Bulgaria on our blog.

Waiting
children

Visit our waiting child page to learn more about children currently awaiting their forever families.