Administrative formalities, waiting times: adoption can turn out to be a real obstacle course, whether one has decided to welcome a foreign child or a ward of the State. Hence the interest in understanding all the steps …

As attractive as it is “in theory”, adoption requires, in practice, a significant personal development for the couple or for the person considering fostering an adopted child. And for good reason: this often long journey (4 years of waiting on average for an international adoption, nearly 5, for an adoption in France) can be very difficult to live.

Hence the importance of carrying out a real adoption project, upstream of any administrative process. Her goals :

• to project oneself as parents and as a family (What will our family look like? Who are we ready to welcome? Do we want the child to look like us? Do we want a child adopted in France, abroad?).
• start to create a suitable environment to a child who will already have his own story and thus offer him a serene and reassuring living environment.

Whatever its form, this project is all the more important as it constitutes a precious basis for the Childhood Assistance Services (ASE) of the Departmental Council, within the framework of the approval procedure. Indeed, the wards of the State (often large, with a disability, a health problem, from siblings) rarely correspond to the image of Épinal that some adopters may have, sometimes more tempted to welcome a young child, who looks like them. Having matured an adoption plan therefore also makes it easier to welcome and establish relations between the child and his future family, if not accelerating the adoption itself.

Once the reflection on the adoption of a child has started, the first step is to apply for approval to the ASE of his department. Indispensable for any international adoption or for a ward of the State, the granting of approval is carried out in several stages:

• a first mail request for approval,
• explanation of adoption procedures, confirmation of the adoption plan and sending the documents,
• the material and social investigation of the ASE and the psychological evaluation of adopters,
• the investigation of the request.

 Framed by the law and in particular the Code of social action and families, this first stage generally lasts about 9 months (statutory period between the confirmation of the application for approval and the investigation), even if it can be prolonged. beyond this period in some departments due to lack of personnel.

Once approval has been obtained, the procedures and contacts vary depending on the choice of the future parents to adopt a child in France or abroad.

In France, the legally adoptable children are in the great majority the wards of the State, that is to say:

• children whose parents are unknown (born under x, etc.),
• any orphan who has not been or could be adopted by a member of his family,
• children entrusted to the ASE following a parental decision or a withdrawal of parental authority,
• children for whom an abandonment decision has been taken by the courts.

Today, there are around 2000 children placed under the care of the State, one third of whom actually find a new home each year. While waiting to be adopted, they are placed in a home or foster family. Note: some children who are candidates for adoption are also entrusted to the bodies authorized for adoption (OAA). However, there are very few of them: around ten each year.

A couple (or a single person) wishing to adopt a ward of the State, goes, after obtaining the approval, through 3 major stages, which can last for several years.

• The presentation of the candidacy to the family council and the matching

  Responsible for the guardianship of the wards of the State, the family council designates the prospective adoptive parents according to their adoption plan, their seniority on the adoption list, etc. It also rules in particular on the information given to future parents and may, in certain cases, consent to the adoption. When the family council and the guardian officially offer a family the reception of a ward of the State, we speak of kinship. This is by no means a final adoption decision, but constitutes a whole key stage.

• The connection

  After a first interview and a period of reflection aimed at allowing the adoptive parents to refuse or accept a first meeting, the ASE services put the children who are candidates for adoption in contact with the adoptive families. A placement contract is then signed between the guardian of the child and the family. Depending on the age of the children, this connection varies:

  — for a newborn, it takes place for a week in the nursery or the foster family and is supervised by ASE professionals,

  — for an older child, it can last from 1 to 3 months depending on the child. Here again, psychologists and social workers support the stakeholders (child and adoptive parents) throughout this meeting period.

  Following this first contact, the adopted child or children remain in the family for a period of 6 months or more during which the ASE services carry out regular home visits before drawing up an assessment of the situation. ‘adaptation.

• Adoption

  The prosecution decides in favor or not of the permanent reception of the child in his new home. It is the adoption judgment which thus ends the procedure.

The steps necessary to adopt a child abroad depend on various legal factors (law of the child’s country of origin, French law, provisions of the Hague Convention relating to adoption) but also of the organization that supports adopters.

 More precisely, we distinguish:

• adoption through theFrench Adoption Agency (AFA), a public interest group bringing together representatives of the State, departmental councils and associations.
• adoption through an OAA, around forty of these organizations are now authorized in France to help adoptive families in their procedures.
• individual adoption, much rarer and more complex.

Whatever the organization supporting the adopters, they also go through 3 stages which, again, can take several years.

• The constitution of the file in France

  Once the adopted country has been chosen, the family applying for adoption must collect all the documents necessary for the examination of their file. Note: the documents required vary from one country to another, although adopters are always required, at a minimum, to have their civil status documents, the ASE file and documents justifying their economic situation.

• The visit to the adopted State

  The compulsory presence or not of adopters in the child’s country of origin also varies from state to state. However, if travel is necessary, families must fulfill all the formalities related to departure (visa application, prior authorization from the States, rights of representation by a lawyer if desired, etc.)

• Adoption

  As for the adoption of a ward of the State, the examination of the file passes in the first place by an association. Once it is established, the adoption must be validated by a judicial or administrative decision of the adopting State, then of France. Finally, for the adoption to be legally recognized, an application for a Long Stay Adoption Visa (VLSA) must be made by the adoptive parents to the consular authorities.