Adopt child: costs & requirements

For some couples, the desire to have children remains unfulfilled. An alternative is to adopt a child if it doesn't work with your own child. In this article you will find out which costs will be incurred and which requirements must be met.

Even before the costs: requirements to be able to adopt a child

There are several ways in which children can be adopted. Usually married couples adopt a child. However, a child can also be adopted by single people.

• A prerequisite is that the child must be approved for adoption. This is decided by the biological parents.
• If a stepchild wants to be adopted, both parents have to agree.
• It must also be established that a correct parent-child relationship can develop between the parents and the child and that the child comes into a life-appropriate situation.
• Married couples who have been married for at least two years are allowed to adopt. The adopting person must be at least 25 years old. The younger partner must be older than 21 years.
• The youth welfare office decides whether a single can adopt a child.
• There shouldn't be too big an age difference between parents and child. This may not exceed 40 years.
• The parents have to go through several psychological tests and the living conditions are carefully checked.

The cost of adoption

In Germany an adoption costs between 75 and 100 euros if the child was also born in Germany.

• If a child is adopted from abroad, the youth welfare office can incur costs of around 800 euros.
• Adoption from abroad can cost between 15, 000 and 18, 000 euros.
• Additional costs arise from traveling abroad and through the agency.

Adoption is not the same as adoption

There are several types of adoptions that future parents can choose from.

• Incognito adoption is an adoption in which the biological parents and adoptive parents do not know each other and have no information about the other couple.
• The half-open adoption allows letters to be sent between the parents about the youth welfare office. There may therefore be contact between adoptive parents and the birth parents.
• In the case of open adoption, both parents know each other. The extent of this contact is decided by both parties.

Have you adopted a child who is a little older? In the next article, you will learn how best to sign a cell phone contract for a child.