The new law sets clear deadlines for a child to be included in the adoption procedure: 60 days since birth registration if natural parents give their consent and 30 days if the child’s parents are unknown. Also children in the social protection system whose parents have neglected them for one whole year can be declared adoptable if authorities establish that there was no communication between the child and the biological parents and that the child cannot possibly be reintegrated into the birth family.

At the same time the mother’s consent will be necessary for adoption. The new law offers Romanians living abroad who still hold Romanian citizenship the chance to adopt children from Romania. The first stage in the adoption process is to apply for a certificate of adopting family. The President of the Romanian Office for Adoptions, Bogdan Panait, has details:

“Many Romanians from abroad are asking for information on the new adoption procedures, mainly Romanians who are married to foreign citizens. We did not expect such interest in the new law and the coming period is going to be very difficult because we’ll have to prove that the law is reliable. Under the law, only a child who has gone through the national adoption stages can pass through the international adoption procedures, therefore we are talking about children older than 3.”

On the other hand, experts draw attention to the fact that the first 2 years of life are decisive for the normal development of a child and no institution can ever replace a family environment. But in Romania children under 2 cannot be institutionalized, they are placed with a foster family. Under the new law, the adopted child must enjoy the same legal rights in the adopters’ family as a biological child.

The family that adopted a child is obliged, by law, to tell the child, at a very early age, that he or she was adopted. The President of the Romanian Office for Adoptions says that in certain countries such as Italy and Israel the adoption of Romanian children will be delayed, because the central authorities in the two states delegated part of the attributions to some NGOs that need to also be accredited by the Romanian Office for Adoptions.