Click here to view Adoption ARK's Schedule of Adoption Fees
Click here to view Adoption ARK's Country Program Comparison Chart
Click here to view the Scope of Practice for the Bulgaria Adoption Program
Bulgaria is an adoption program that offers many options for parents. Parents need to make only two short trips of five days each. In some cases only one parent needs to travel on the second trip. Because Bulgaria is a relatively small country, in-country flights are not needed. Visas are also not required for travel to Bulgaria. The children of Bulgaria are beautiful, with an olive complexion, brown eyes, and brown hair.
Adoption ARK has a partnership with Happy Family NGO, a registered adoption service provider in Bulgaria. The role of Adoption ARK is to prepare the dossier for prospective adoptive family, to provide training, and to pre-qualified the family for adoption based on submitted documents. Adoption ARK sends the dossier to the partner service provider and they submit the dossier to the Central Authority. The referral is assigned by the government of Bulgaria and, the information about the referral is provided to the family by the partner agency though Adoption ARK.
How to Start Your Bulgarian Adoption Process
- Read over the information on this page. Contact us with questions or fill out our no-commitment registration form and an Adoption Consultant will contact you with more information
- If you decide this is the program for you, then request an adoption contract from your consultant, complete it, and send it in to our Illinois office with the initial fee.
- Your contract will be reviewed and approved by our director, and then you will be assigned a Parent Coordinator to complete your adoption.
- The Parent Coordinator will inform you of the steps needed to move forward with your adoption. Some of these steps include:
-Submitting your petition to adopt an orphan from overseas (Immigration Paperwork)
-Starting your home study if you do not have one completed
-Collecting documents and forms needed for your adoption dossier
- Once your dossier is complete, all documents need to be notarized and apostilled.
- Send in your notarized, apostilled, and complete dossier to your Parent Coordinator.
- The Parent Coordinator will make sure the dossier is complete. She will then send the dossier to Bulgaria.
Trip One to Bulgaria
- The Parent Coordinator will receive information about a referral of a child from the Bulgarian authorities and then pass that information to the Adoptive Parents.
- If you accept the referral, your acceptance request is sent back to Bulgaria and, if approved, more information on the child will be provided to you.
- You will be invited to Bulgaria to meet your preferred child and decide to formally accept the referral. In some cases only one parent may travel if permission is granted by the Bulgarian Authorities.
- All paperwork will be submitted by your in-country coordinator to the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice.
- You will return home and wait for the process of adoption to be finalized in Bulgaria, and soon you will be invited for your second trip.
Trip Two to Bulgaria
- The Parent Coordinator will contact you and invite you back to Bulgaria.
- All decisions are made by the Bulgarian authorities, and your interests will be represented by Happy Family NGO and Bulgarian attorney.
- Your second trip should be shorter – only to pick up your child, pass the medical appointment, and apply for the visa at the American Embassy.
- In many cases the second trip can be avoided, and the adoption can be completed in one trip. In some cases, travel can be avoided entirely, and an escort will be provided for an additional fee.