Anyone who decides to adopt a child into a family will benefit from general information on how to submit an adoption application to the court. After all, to officially register an adoption, an appropriate court decision is required. This will become official recognition of the fact that an adopted child is equal in legal status to a blood child. Parental rights and responsibilities arise between the adoptive parent and the child.
Adoption is a priority for the state and the most optimal way for society to place children in a family. However, preparing for the adoption procedure and filing a corresponding application with the court is a rather labor-intensive process. You can independently draw up an application for the adoption of a child using the provided sample. The website also contains recommendations on how to apply to court for adoption.
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Application for adoption of a child by 2 parents
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Application for adoption by a man
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Application for adoption by a woman
Mandatory consent of the child's parents for his adoption
If the child has parents, then their consent is a prerequisite for adoption. When adopting a child of minor parents who have not reached the age of sixteen, the consent of their legal representatives is also required, and in their absence, the consent of the guardianship and trusteeship authority (Clause 1 of Article 129 of the RF IC). Parents can give consent to the adoption of a child by a specific person or without specifying a specific person, but only after the birth of the child (clause 3 of Article 129 of the RF IC) (clause 9 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 20, 2006 N
Medical examination upon adoption
After resolving issues related to obtaining consents, the adoptive parent should undergo a medical examination. The purpose of the medical examination is to identify contraindications and diseases that prevent the possibility of being an adoptive parent.
The conclusion is drawn up by the medical commission of the medical organization on the day the decision is made on the presence (absence) of the disease included in the list, and is valid for 6 months from the date of registration.
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Form 164/у
Download:
The procedure for medical examination of the adoptive parent
A medical commission will also be required for the child being adopted. In this case, the medical institution issues: “Medical certificate for a child being registered for adoption in form 160/u.”
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Medical certificate for the child according to form 160/у
The list of diseases that prevent the possibility of becoming an adoptive parent was approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2013 No. 117 and includes the following diseases:
- Tuberculosis of the respiratory system in persons belonging to groups I and II of dispensary observation.
- Infectious diseases until dispensary observation is terminated due to stable remission.
- Malignant neoplasms of any localization stages III and IV, as well as malignant neoplasms of any localization stages I and II before radical treatment.
- Mental disorders and behavioral disorders until the end of dispensary observation.
- Drug addiction, substance abuse, alcoholism.
- Diseases and injuries leading to group I disability.
It should be noted that clause 2 of this list is recognized as partially inconsistent with the Constitution of the Russian Federation by Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated June 20, 2018 N 25-P, namely in relation to persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus and (or) hepatitis C virus, in the adoption of a child who lives with the future adoptive parent due to already established family relationships.
If the child whom the applicant wishes to adopt has brothers and sisters
If the child whom the applicant wishes to adopt has brothers and sisters who were also left without parental care, and the applicant does not raise the question of adoption in relation to them, or other persons want to adopt these children, adoption in accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 124 of the RF IC is permissible only in cases where it meets the interests of the child (for example, children are not aware of their relationship, did not live and were not raised together, are in different children's institutions, cannot live and be raised together for health reasons). Since the law (clause 3 of article 124 of the RF IC) does not establish that this rule applies only to full brothers and sisters, it should also be applied to cases of adoption of half-siblings by different persons (clause 13 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 20 .2006 N 8).
List of documents for the claim
The main list of documents submitted to the court is identical to the documentation for applying to the guardianship department. However, some information needs to be ordered additionally:
- certificate of no criminal record;
- information from the Pension Fund of Russia (citizens receiving a pension);
- extract from the house register.
Main list:
- passport;
- conclusion about the possibility of being a candidate;
- certificate of completion of training;
- autobiography;
- medical report;
- certificates of wages and other income;
- spouse's consent to adoption (if only one spouse acts as a plaintiff);
- housing rights information;
- application for familiarization with information about the child’s health.
A housing inspection report can be attached to the listed documents. The guardianship department provides it to the applicant at the stage of consideration of his candidacy.
The document contains information about the sanitary condition of the living quarters and the citizens who live in it together with the candidate. The act is provided to the applicant within 6 days from the date of submission of the application for the opportunity to become a candidate.
Taking into account the personal qualities of the adoptive parent
When deciding on the admissibility of adoption in each specific case, one should check and take into account the moral and other personal qualities of the adoptive parent(s) (circumstances characterizing the behavior of the applicant(s) at work, at home, the presence of a criminal record for crimes against the person, for mercenary and other intentional crimes, etc.), the state of his health, as well as the family members living with him, the relationships that have developed in the family, the relationships that have arisen between these persons and the child. These circumstances must be equally taken into account when adopting a child by both strangers, stepfather, stepmother, and his relatives.
It should be taken into account that the law does not provide for any restrictions on the adoption of children depending on their state of health (Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 20, 2006 No. 8).
Form
The application must be made in writing. Certification of documents or claims by a notary is not required.
The applicant prints out the statement of claim and attachment according to the number of persons present in the case. Only the plaintiff has the right to sign the claim and certify documents.
Example . Zarina and Peter received a conclusion about the possibility of becoming adoptive parents. They chose a newborn girl. The family submitted an application to the guardianship department for consent to accept the child.
The parties to the trial were the applicants, the guardianship department, the civil registry office, and the prosecutor's office. Thus, it is necessary to prepare 4 packages of documents for the participants in the process + 1 for the court.
Copies of documents must be certified by the signature of the applicant. You must also write on the document: The copy is correct.
Which court should I apply for adoption to?
Cases on the adoption of a child by citizens of the Russian Federation are considered by the district court as a court of first instance (clause 4, part 1, article 23, article 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, clause 1 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2006 No. 8.
An application for adoption is submitted by citizens of the Russian Federation who wish to adopt a child to the district court at the place of residence or location of the child being adopted (Part 1 of Article 269 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).
When does a regional or regional court consider an adoption case?
When you want to adopt a child who is a citizen of the Russian Federation:
- citizens of the Russian Federation permanently residing outside the territory of the Russian Federation,
- Foreign citizens,
- stateless persons,
an application for adoption is submitted, respectively, to the supreme court of the republic, regional, regional court, court of a federal city, court of an autonomous region and court of an autonomous district at the place of residence or location of the child being adopted (Part 2 of Article 269 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).
Preparing for the hearing
When preparing the case for hearing, the judge obliges the guardianship authorities at the child’s place of residence to prepare and submit to the court an opinion on the feasibility and compliance of adoption with the interests of the child whom they intend to adopt. Nothing special is required for this except notification to the guardianship authorities. In addition to this conclusion, the guardianship authorities must provide the following documents for the child: a birth certificate, a medical report on the state of his health, documents confirming the possibility of adopting a child without parental permission, or permission to adopt. If the child has reached the age of 10 years, then the court is given his consent to adoption and change of personal data (last name, first name, registration of adoptive parents as parents). For a child left without parental care and located in a children's institution, the permission of the head of this institution is also necessary, and if he is in the care of a private person, then his permission.
In addition, the judge may request other documents.
It is worth keeping in mind that it is the guardianship authorities who are required to prepare these documents, and not the adoptive parents, who do not have the authority to do this, although in practice other guardianship authorities try to push these efforts onto them. Of course, you can help the guardianship authorities with the preparation of children’s documents, run as a courier to the registry office, a child care facility, find transport to transport the child for examination, but don’t get carried away and don’t take on something that you can’t help with, otherwise it’s on you They will shift responsibility for the delay in preparing documents or begin to extort money “to speed up” the process. Don’t worry, no specialist in his right mind would allow a delay, otherwise he risks receiving a court ruling indicating his professional inadequacy for his position.
All participants in the process must be notified of where and when it will take place.
It should be borne in mind that in cases where there are grounds for adoption *, but the child’s parents are known and are not deprived of parental rights, then in addition to the guardianship authority, the head of the child care institution in which the child is located, the court must notify the child’s parents. This is the mother and father, and if the child’s parents are minors themselves, then their parents and grandparents of the child.
* For example: parents wrote permission to adopt; the mother disappeared, leaving the child in the maternity ward, hospital and does not appear, despite written notices and warnings; a single mother wrote a request for temporary placement of a child in an orphanage and did not take him, stopped appearing and for more than six months did not participate in his upbringing and maintenance, as well as some other cases when the parents did not lose their civil rights to the child. However, if the mother disappeared from the maternity hospital without leaving any data or the data is not reliable and it is not possible to find the parents using it, then such a child is considered abandoned and the parents are unknown.
Let us recall that adoption is a Special Proceeding, not a Claim Proceeding, in this case there are no “parties” of the plaintiff and the defendant, accordingly it turns out that the mother (parents) of the child is nothing more than an interested party, which means that the court only needs to notify her properly, i.e. .e. send a judicial notice (clause 6 of Article 150.) by letter with acknowledgment of delivery, by telegram, or send a summons by courier. Such parents are not required to attend court, obtain additional permission from them, or bring them to court.
The court notice must indicate:
- Name and address of the court.
- Time, date and place of hearing.
- Full name or name of the notified legal entity or individual.
- The name of the case for which this person is being summoned to court.
The procedure for sending, the content of notices and confirmation of delivery are contained in Articles 114-116 of the Code of Civil Procedure
. See the appendix for an example of a notice.
What document are we talking about?
Adoption cases are considered by city or district courts, but not in the same way as, say, divorce cases, but in a special manner prescribed in the Civil Procedure Code (CPC).
Citizens who decide to adopt a child go to court, located, as is customary, at the place of residence of the chosen child. But they do not file a lawsuit, but a special application, which sets out the essence of their request, as well as the necessary documents.
There is no state duty for this type of service, as stated in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
The court examines the application in a closed session. In this case, the presence of:
- adoptive parent/s;
- an authorized representative of the relevant guardianship authority;
- prosecutor;
- parents (if any);
- the child himself, if at the time of the hearing he is already 10 years old.
There is no ready-made form for filing applications of this kind. But the Code of Civil Procedure specifies the basic requirements for the content of this paper.
How to make an application?
If possible, consult with a lawyer when preparing your application. He will tell you which points need to be written down in detail and which ones to simply mention. It will be easier for the court to work with such paper.
If you are confident in yourself, you can take on the matter yourself. The office, of course, will not refuse to accept your application written on a simple piece of paper by hand, but it will be much more convenient for the court to use printed text.
The style of the document should be formal and businesslike, so try not to splash out your emotions and avoid unnecessary details.
You will need to make three versions of the application (for the court, for yourself and for the guardianship authorities) and make copies of them, which can be certified in the office itself, having the original in hand.
In the text of the application, in case of possible differences, it is necessary to indicate the following information:
- FULL NAME. adoptive parent/s, residential address;
- FULL NAME. the child, information about his place of residence/location, family (are there any parents or other relatives);
- A list of circumstances explaining the request for adoption, as well as their documentary support;
- Request to change the child’s personal data: his last name, first name, patronymic. For children under one year old - change the date of birth. The desire of the adoptive parents to be included in the birth certificate of the child, i.e. recorded as parents.
The court's decision
Having considered the application containing the request for adoption, the court determines whether to grant it or deny the applicant.
If the outcome of the application for adoption of a child is positive, the court makes a decision. According to it, the child is recognized as adopted by the person or persons who submitted the application. The court also indicates the necessary information about the adoptive parent/s and the adopted child required for registration in the registry office.
The rights and obligations binding the adoptive parent and the adopted child come into force on the same day as the verdict. When a special petition is submitted by the adoptive parent in the application, the court decision can be made valid immediately.
You are given a copy of the court decision, after which you are presented (in a boarding school or other institution) to hand over the child to you. Also, a copy of the court decision is sent to the registry office for registration.
If it is difficult for you to go to court in a region far from you
If for some reason it is difficult for you to travel and deal with court cases in a remote region where you found your child, you can make your task somewhat easier by registering guardianship there. This does not require judicial review and is resolved by concluding an agreement with the guardianship authorities in the region of residence of the child. This allows you to pick him up from an orphanage or other orphanage and take him with you. Upon returning home, you can re-register the status of guardians to the status of adoptive parents in the court of your region.
This can also be beneficial in terms of payments, since regional adoption payments vary.
Adoption, judicial practice
The practice of transferring children to adoptive parents is clear: if there is no obvious threat to the health and life of the child, there is confidence that the adopted child will receive everything he needs in the family, judges resolve the case positively.
Example. in 2016, the Arzamas court allowed a 20-year-old sister to adopt her 14-year-old brother , whose parents died, despite the fact that the age difference between them is only 6 years (according to the law, the difference is at least 16 years, but the court can decide the case according to -your own). At the same time, the sister did not undergo any training and does not have her own children or her own home. But there is a grandmother’s apartment where they are registered.
Adoption is prohibited only in cases of obvious violation of laws, for example, in the following circumstances:
- it is found out that the adoptive parent or spouse is convicted under a serious crime;
- the child's parent is against adoption (provided that he cares about him);
- one of the relatives is adopted (the brother is adopted, but the sister is not);
- housing does not meet standards (dilapidated building, too small area);
- the application was drawn up contrary to the requirements of the Civil Procedure Code.
Example. The Ulyanovsk Regional Court rejected the applicant on only one basis: the application did not indicate the motives for adoption . Meanwhile, you need to prove that the child needs a family, he will be better off there than in an orphanage. These little things are sometimes an obstacle to adoption, but not a reason to forget about the desire to become a parent.
Reasons for refusal
Not every new parent is allowed to adopt a child. There are several reasons why the court may refuse this:
- Failure of the applicant to meet the requirements established by law.
- Lack of consent of the second parent to adoption.
- The child himself disagrees with this.
- Other circumstances that interfere with the normal upbringing of a child in the family.
A refusal to adopt may be appealed to a higher judicial authority.
How to adopt a wife's child from a previous marriage
With the children of a spouse from a previous marriage, this issue is much less troublesome to resolve than with a baby from an orphanage. Such cases are most often heard in district courts. The main difficulty here may arise if the blood father is alive and he has recognized paternity. Especially if he takes part in raising the child and communicates normally with him, and does not delay the payment of child support.
When the biological father does not agree to renounce paternity and fulfills all his parental responsibilities, then the stepfather has no chance of officially becoming the father of this child. After all, it is unlikely that a caring father will not voluntarily give up his rights.
The basis for a transition from the status of a stepfather to the status of a father may be the deprivation of the blood father of rights as a parent by court. And the lack of communication with the father for more than 6 months, the payment of alimony by court is not voluntary. And even more so a conscious evasion of participation in providing for the child.
If the natural father voluntarily renounces paternity, he must write a statement and have it certified by a notary. If there is no voluntary consent, then you will have to go through proceedings in court. If the judge agrees to deprive a parent of his rights, adoption is possible no earlier than six months after the decision is made.
You need to understand that in the event of a divorce, the stepfather will still have obligations towards the adopted child. Adopted children have the same property rights as their own children, but in relation to their natural parent they are deprived of these rights. If a wife has several minor children who do not have fathers, then, except for rare exceptions, it is impossible to adopt only one of them. Since priority under Article No. 124 of the RF IC is given to actions that unite rather than separate brothers and sisters.
Even if there are no problems with the biological parent, the stepfather will not be able to become a father in the following situations:
- deprivation of parental rights to their natural children;
- outstanding criminal record;
- unsatisfactory housing and financial conditions;
- disagreement of the board of trustees;
- disability or mental or physical health problems;
- establishing cases of inappropriate behavior, manifestations of sadism or pedophilia;
- drug or alcohol problems;
- disagreement of a child over 10 years of age.
If you married a single mother, then it will be much easier not to adopt a child, but to recognize paternity. Such a decision is made in the registry office after presentation of the spouses’ passports, marriage and birth certificates. You also need to write a statement together with your wife, according to which the child will have a new surname and patronymic. Recognition of paternity by another man does not exclude the appearance of a biological father, as well as his claims to parental rights through the court.
Restrictions for candidate adoptive parents
According to Art. 127 of the RF IC, the following persons cannot claim to be the adoptive parent of a child of a legal spouse:
- recognized by the court as completely or partially incompetent or unable to properly fulfill parental responsibilities due to their own health (including due to alcoholism or drug addiction);
- previously deprived or limited by the court of parental rights;
- removed by the court from the duties of a trustee (guardian) for improper performance of their legal duties or subject to cancellation of adoption due to their own fault;
- without permanent residence.
Also, the adoptive parent of a wife’s child cannot be a person who has (or previously had) a criminal record or is (or has previously been) subject to criminal prosecution:
- for illegal actions in relation to sexual integrity and sexual freedom of the individual - with the exception of cases of termination of criminal prosecution due to the complete rehabilitation of the defendant;
- for crimes against freedom, honor and dignity of the individual - with the exception of cases of slander and illegal hospitalization in medical institutions providing psychiatric care in a hospital setting;
- for crimes against life and health, against family and minors, against public health, public morality, peace and security of mankind - except in cases where the court classifies these acts as crimes of moderate or minor gravity and there is no danger on the part of the potential adoptive parent for life, health and morality of the adopted person;
- for other criminal acts classified by the court as grave and especially grave.