Spain

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А. LEGAL SPECIFICS AND REQUIREMENTS

Spain is a country which on 27th March 1995 signed the Hague Convention for Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption ratified it on 11th July 1995 and the Convention became effective on 1st November 1995.

Spain is separated into 23 Autonomous Communities and for that reason there are 23 designated Central Authorities. Furthermore, as a general Central Authority is designated the General Directorate for the Family and the Child at the Ministry of Education, Social Policy and Sports.

In order to adopt in Bulgaria, using adoption mediation agencies in Spain is not obligatory. The applicants are free to turn directly to the central authority of their autonomous communities, which on its part can contact the central authority or an accredited organization in Bulgaria.

For organizations in Spain to be able to do intercountry adoption mediation, they should receive permission from the central authority at the respective autonomous community. However, the accredited Spanish organizations are obliged to establish contact with an accredited organization from the country of the child’s origin in order to be able to guarantee their clients’ maximum protection.

The adoption mediation organizations in Spain have to be non-profit legal bodies, whose main field of activity is child protection and they should rely on a multi-disciplinary team of specialists. They also have to be managed by highly qualified specialists in the field of adoption.

At the moment of submitting the application for international adoption the Spanish applicants should be at least 25 years old. In cases of adoption by a married couple, it is sufficient that only one of the applicants has reached that age. The age difference between the adoptive parent and the adoptee has to be at least 14 years.

The authorities competent to implement the entire adoption procedure both nationally and internationally are the respective central authorities of the autonomous communities as well as the authorities of the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

The procedure starts when the applicant submits an application to the Central Authority of the respective Autonomous Community. After the presentation of the application to the multi-disciplinary team, it develops a psycho-social assessment report (homestudy) on the applicant on the basis of which the respective central authority of the autonomous community issues a certificate for the applicant’s eligibility to adopt a child from another country. It is obligatory for the development of the social assessment report that between 1 and 4 meetings (the number varies in the different autonomous communities) with the applicant are held. The issued eligibility certificate is valid for 3 years and can be renewed.

Having received these 2 documents, the applicants can decide whether or not to turn to a Spanish adoption mediation accredited organization, to their central authority or to a Bulgarian adoption mediation accredited organization, which on their part could assist them in the preparation of the rest of the documents, as well as could facilitate the entire adoption procedure.

The adoption effected abroad is entirely recognized and under the Bulgarian court judgement the child acquires Spanish citizenship at the time of his/her registration in the Spanish Civil Register. The blood relations with the birth family are interrupted and with the new family new relations and rights are acquired as in the case of blood relationship. The adoption can be terminated only by force of a court judgement if it is established that the consent for adoption has not been authorized by the birth parents in conformity with the law.

B. OUR PARTNERS IN SPAIN

Since 1997 on the territory of the autonomous community Catalonia ANIDO collaborates with:

AJUDA’M
C/ Muntaner 479 -483 entl 2ª
Barcelona, España 08021
(34) 93 253.14.12
(34) 93 253.17.11
Director: Mrs. Isabel Fort
www.ajudam.org

Since 2017 on the territory of the autonomous community Catalonia ANIDO collaborates with:

INICIATIVA PRO INFANCIA (IPI)
av. Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes n^o 646, 1^o, 2^a
08007 Barcelona, España
Tel: +34 93 412 01 02
Fax: +34 93 412 02 20
Director: Mr. Santiago Llensa Ramos
www.ipi-ecai.org

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