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Foreigners Standing in Queue for Ill Bulgarian Children Intercountry Adoptions Increased Several Times

Standart Newspaper, March 24, 2010, Antoniya Kyumyurdzhieva

Approximately 1.200 children with medical conditions are waiting to be adopted. The children are diagnosed with heavy physical and psychical conditions or are elder than expected by adoptive parents. Actually for 66 children consent has been given for intercountry adoption, for 21 procedures have been opened and for 78 applications have been filed, while the remaining children are still waiting for their chances. These data were announced at National Conference on Adoption Issues. As per statistics last year the Ministry of Justice gave consent for intercountry adoption of 220 children over 7-year old with medical conditions.

Intercountry adoptions have increased several times. Some foreign prospective adoptive parents are ready to accept Bulgarian children with medical conditions, said Margarita Popova, Minister of Justice.

As per statistics American citizens are those who opt for Bulgarian deaf or blind children or children diagnosed with Down syndrome or hydrocephaly. On the other hand, Swedes chose Bulgarian children with lighter medical conditions. Usually, elder children are adopted by Italian families.

The conference was attended by 5-year old Elina, who has her lower limbs heavily impaired. Her adoption procedure started in November 2009 and was finalized on March 22, 2010. Elina's adoptive mother is from the United States.

As explained by Daniela Masheva, Deputy Minister of Justice, the process of referring suitable adoptive parents is impeded by inaccurate and partial representation of medical information. There were cases when it turned up that children's medical conditions existed only in documents.