Spence-Chapin’s fundamental belief is that Every Child Deserves a Family. We are a Hague accredited agency with over 40 years of experience in international adoption. Since 1994, we have been finding and preparing families to adopt children from Bulgaria, a country that is party to the Hague Convention.
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For many children in Bulgaria, international adoption is the only possible route to a permanent family. With this in mind, we are happy to share that as of April 1, 2020, our Bulgaria Adoption Program will offer an additional pathway for prospective adoptive parents to explore. In addition to the option of submitting an application for a specific Waiting Child, families may apply to be matched with a child in need of adoption based on eligibility and openness around age and medical needs. This additional pathway will support our ability to bring more families into our Bulgaria Program and connect more children in need of adoption to the families who are uniquely prepared to parent and ready to love them.
Through our Bulgaria Adoption Program, Spence-Chapin remains committed to finding families for children in the greatest need of adoption, including children with significant special needs, older children, and sibling groups. Families who adopt from Bulgaria are able to indicate what specific needs they are open to through the process of reflecting on and committing to openness to those identified special needs in their home study. A home study is an initial process and document that is used to describe and assess a family’s readiness to move forward in an adoption process and their preparedness to parent a child with specific needs. The children in need of permanent families in Bulgaria have a wide variety of special needs. Our partners in Bulgaria have shared with us that the most common needs seen in the children in care include but are not limited to: unpredictable or unknown developmental delay, behavioral and learning disorders, intellectual and physical disabilities, fetal alcohol syndrome, blindness, autism spectrum disorder, and Down syndrome.
The anticipated wait time to be matched with a child can vary depending on an adoptive family’s openness to factors such as age and medical conditions. For families pursuing the adoption of a pre-identified waiting child, there is no wait time to be matched and families can expect the entire process to take 12-18 months. Families who apply to be matched with a child can anticipate a timeframe of 24-36 months after submitting their adoption paperwork to Bulgaria.
Bulgaria is a wonderful option for all types of families. Single men and women, as well as heterosexual married and unmarried couples living throughout the United States are eligible to adopt from Bulgaria. Bulgaria often shows great flexibility (in age of prospective adoptive parents and family size) when seeking the adoption of children with special needs, sibling groups, and older children.
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Our team is excited to speak with you! We would love to tell you more about our program in Bulgaria. Visit our website or reach out to us by phone at 212-400-8150 or email at: [email protected].
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