Adoption

Published: 24.01.2021.

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Free

Execution deadline in working days

251

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Recipient

Individual person

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Receiving restrictions

Description:

For objective reasons, the application may not be examined within a period of one month, therefore the Orphan's Court shall extend it in accordance with the procedures specified in Section 64 of the Administrative Procedure Law (for a period not exceeding one year). The term for granting the status of the adopter - an average of six months (in the referred to period, the Orphan's Court shall carry out a personal study and information clearance). The time limit for the transfer of a child to the care of adopters - up to six months, but if the child lives with adopters, the transfer shall not be decided. Time limit for the taking of a decision on the conformity of the child's adoption with the interests of the child - following the expiry of the time period for the transfer of the child to care or, if the child is already in the adopters' family, after the recognition of the person as suitable for the status of the adop

Description:

The adopter must be at least twenty-five years old and at least eighteen years older than the adopter. The condition regarding the minimum age of the adopter and the permissible difference between the adopter and the age to be adopted may be waived if the child of his or her spouse is adopted. However, in this case, the adopter must be at least twenty-one. Those restrictions may be waived if a genuine parent-child relationship has been established between the adopter and the adopter. Spouses shall adopt the child jointly, except where: 1) adopt the child of the other spouse; 2) the second spouse has been recognised as missing (missing). The adopter may not have a person: 1) who has been punished for criminal offences related to violence or threats of violence - regardless of the deletion or removal of criminal records (did not apply to the adoption of a child of the second spouse); 2) who has been punished for criminal offences against morality and dzimumneaizskaramību - regardless of the deletion or removal of criminal records; 3) who has been removed from the performance of the duties of the guardian due to their disorderly performance; 4) who has been deprived of the status of a foster family or guest family, because it has not fulfilled the relevant duties in conformity with the interests of the child; 5) who has been deprived of custody rights by a court judgment; 6) to which a court has applied the coercive measures of a medical nature specified in the Criminal Law regarding a criminal offence provided for in the state of inadmissibility.

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Adoption is a process aimed at ensuring the parenting of adoptive children in the family, a stable and harmonious living environment. The most important condition of adoption is the best interests of the child. After adoption, the legal relationship between adopters and a child is the same as between biological parents and a child. In order to adopt a child, the person should initiate an adoption process. The adoption process consists of several stages within which the prospective adopter has to comply with a number of requirements and meet several conditions, but the Orphan's Court has to take several decisions.
Initially, a person who wishes to adopt a child must appeal to the Orphan's Court of the declared place of residence in order to acquire the status of the adopter (the relevant decision of the Orphan's Court). Following the acquisition of the status of adopter, the introduction process of the child and the adopter will take place, resulting in the transfer of the child to the care of adopters (decision of the Orphan's Court), a study will be carried out on the formation of the relationship between the child and the adopter, at the end of which the Orphan's Court will decide whether the adoption of the particular child in the relevant adopter's family is in the best interest of the child, after taking of the adoption, the adoption approval approval approval, go to court. Following the judgment of the court on approval of adoption, the adoption process will be legally completed, but the monitoring of the Orphan's Court will take place for a specified period of time.
If a person adopts a child of the second spouse, the relevant process is somewhat simplified.
A decision on the divorce of siblings (half-brothers) and sisters (half-sisters) in the event of adoption may be taken as part of the adoption process.

Process description
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Process description

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Adoption is a process aimed at ensuring the parenting of adoptive children in the family, a stable and harmonious living environment. The most important condition of adoption is the best interests of the child. After adoption, the legal relationship between adopters and a child is the same as between biological parents and a child. In order to adopt a child, the person should initiate an adoption process. The adoption process consists of several stages within which the prospective adopter has to comply with a number of requirements and meet several conditions, but the Orphan's Court has to take several decisions.
Initially, a person who wishes to adopt a child must appeal to the Orphan's Court of the declared place of residence in order to acquire the status of the adopter (the relevant decision of the Orphan's Court). Following the acquisition of the status of adopter, the introduction process of the child and the adopter will take place, resulting in the transfer of the child to the care of adopters (decision of the Orphan's Court), a study will be carried out on the formation of the relationship between the child and the adopter, at the end of which the Orphan's Court will decide whether the adoption of the particular child in the relevant adopter's family is in the best interest of the child, after taking of the adoption, the adoption approval approval approval, go to court. Following the judgment of the court on approval of adoption, the adoption process will be legally completed, but the monitoring of the Orphan's Court will take place for a specified period of time.
If a person adopts a child of the second spouse, the relevant process is somewhat simplified.
A decision on the divorce of siblings (half-brothers) and sisters (half-sisters) in the event of adoption may be taken as part of the adoption process.
A person who wishes to be an adopter shall present a personal identification document in the Orphan's Court, in the territory of which the place of residence of the person has been declared, and submit the following documents:
1) an application for adoption indicating the reasons for adoption, the religious conviction of the adopter, ethnicity and the language of communication, the desired number, sex and age to be adopted, other essential circumstances which may affect the life of the child to be adopted together with the relevant person;
2) a copy of the marriage certificate (presenting the original), if it is in a marriage;
3) a copy of the document certifying the divorce (presenting the original) if the marriage has been divorced;
4) a document attesting the guarantee with the residential area;
5) a description of the lifetime (CV);
6) a statement issued by a family doctor regarding the current state of health of a person, as well as the opinion of a psychiatrist regarding the state of mental health of the person and the opinion of the narcotic and psychotropic person regarding the personal addiction or other addictive substances;
7) information regarding income;
8) an extract of a court judgment or a certified copy of the transcript, with which the person has limited capacity to act, if the capacity of the person is limited;
9) an extract of a court judgment or a certified copy of the transcript regarding the recognition of the other spouse as missing (missing), if the spouse of the person has been recognised as missing (missing).

If a person wishes to adopt the child of the other spouse, the application shall be accompanied by a copy of the birth certificate of the child to be adopted (presenting the original), as well as the consent of the parents of the child for adoption or a document certifying that any of the following conditions exist:
1) the other parent has been deprived of custody rights in accordance with the procedures specified in the Law;
2) the second parent is dead.

When sending an application to the e-mail of the Orphan's Court of Riga, the submission must be signed with a secure electronic signature.
Process description
1. Upon receipt of the application for adoption and the relevant documents, the Orphan's Court shall examine the documents submitted and carry out a study of the adoptor's family for six months, including: evaluate the motivation of the adoption, the mutual relations of family members and the capacity to raise a child; ascertain the family life conditions of the adopter and evaluate the material status of the adopter; request information regarding the information regarding the information regarding the information in relation to the information included in the register of the information in relation of the information in relation of to the adopter; evaluate the findings of a psychiatrist and a narcologist, send the adopter to the psychologist to receive an opinion regarding the suitability of the person for adoption and send the person to study the educational programme of the adopter in order to receive the relevant certificate.
2. At the end of the family study, the Orphan's Court shall take a decision regarding the recognition of persons as an adopter. The decision of the Orphan's Court regarding the recognition of a person as an adopter shall be in force for three years from the date of the taking thereof. The decision of the Orphan's Court regarding the recognition of the adopter shall be valid for one adoption process.
3. It is necessary that all members of the adoption be given their consent: adopter; adopter if he or she has reached the age of twelve; parents to be adopted, if they have not been deprived of custody rights; guardian. (forms - Cabinet Regulation No. 667 of 30 October 2018, Procedures for Adoption "Annex 1 and Annex 2).
4. In the case of adoption, the Orphan's Court shall decide on the separation of siblings (half-brothers) and sisters (half-sisters), if it is in the interests of children, if one of them has an incurable disease, or if there are barriers preventing siblings (half-brothers) and sisters (half-sisters) from adopting together.
5. The Orphan's Court shall inform the Ministry of Welfare regarding the decision taken within 3 working days. The Ministry of Welfare, upon receiving information regarding the fact that a person has been recognised as an adopter, shall include the person in the register within two working days. Information regarding the adopter shall be included in the register according to the date and time of receipt in the Ministry. The Ministry shall provide the adopter with information regarding the adopters to be adopted as soon as it becomes known that the adopters in Latvia are being sought for the adopting child. The adopter shall inform the Ministry of Welfare regarding the child to be adopted within five working days after the receipt of the information regarding the person to be adopted regarding his or her wish to personally If the adopter wishes to meet the child to be adopted personally, the Ministry shall, within two working days after the expiry of the referred to time period, prepare an appointment regarding the personal introduction of the adopter to the child to be adopted. Upon presenting a decision of the Orphan's Court, the adopter may receive information regarding the children to be adopted in the Ministry of Welfare, which shall issue an appointment to the adopter so that he or she may personally meet the child.
6. The adopter shall meet at least three times before the child to be adopted is transferred to care and supervision. The adopter shall submit a relevant submission to the Orphan's Court within 10 working days after he or she has agreed to the pre-application care. The adopter shall take a decision regarding the taking of the child in care and supervision within 10 days of meeting the child to be adopted and his or her documents.
7. If the adopter takes into the care of children, the Orphan's Court of residence of the adopter shall take a decision regarding the transfer of the child to care for a period of up to six months. During the referred to time, the adopter has the right to receive, in accordance with the procedures specified in regulatory enactments, maintenance of maintenance or allowance, or a subsistence allowance (depending on the type of out-of-family care that the child was in) and reimbursement for the care of the child to be adopted.
Receipt of services
If the Orphan's Court decides that the adoption is in the interest of the adoptive child, it shall extend the period of pre-notification care until the approval of the adoption in court and issue the documents of the adopted child for submission to the court. The adopter shall, within three months after taking of the decision of the Orphan's Court regarding the conformity of the adoption with the interests of the adopting child, submit a request for approval of the adoption to the court.
Adoption shall be approved by the court. The adopter shall submit an application for approval of adoption to the court of his declared place of residence.
Upon approval of adoption, the adopted becomes a member of the adopter family, and the adopter acquires the right to exercise custody. The adopted child and his descendants, in relation to the adopter and his relatives, acquire the legal position of the marriage-born child as in personal and property relations. Adoption brings an end to a child's relationship with biological parents and their relatives, and the personal and property rights and obligations associated with them.
In order to ascertain the life conditions of the child and the inclusion in the family after approval of the adoption in court, the Orphan's Court of the adopter's residence shall regularly evaluate the child's care in the family in his or her place of residence two years after approval of the adoption.
The decision shall be taken at the meeting of the Orphan's Court and shall be notified to the parties.
The Orphan's Court shall draw up the decision in writing and send the transcript thereof to the participant in the administrative process within 10 working days after the taking of the decision. A true copy of the decision can also be received in person at the Riga Orphan's Court.
Similarly, a decision/reply can be sent to a person by post, to an e-mail address or to the electronically agreed portal for national and municipal services in www.latvija.gov.lv.