Intercountry adoptions
Intercountry adoptions through a service provider
Finland is a State party to the Hague Adoption Convention, under which intercountry adoptions in Finland are assigned to a restricted number of adoption service providers duly licensed by the Adoption Board. As a rule, an intercountry adoption service provider must be used for intercountry adoptions whenever possible. Each service provider is licensed by the Adoption Board to collaborate with spesific foreign service providers. The Section for International Matters of the Adoption Board supervises the operations of intercountry adoption service providers.
If you wish to adopt a child from abroad, you must contact an intercountry adoption service provider. They will inform you of the requirements set by various countries of origin for adoption applicants and explain the intercountry adoption process. You may apply for an adoption permission for intercountry adoption once you have completed adoption counselling and registered as a client of a service provider.
There are three adoption service providers in Finland:
1. Interpedia
2. Save the Children Finland: intercountry adoption services
3. City of Helsinki, Social Services and Health Care (does not accept new clients)
Between them, the service providers are licensed to collaborate with service providers in 8 countries: South Africa, China, Thailand, Colombia, India, the Philippines, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Country information may be found on the service providers’ websites.
Adoption services are subject to a fee. The Adoption Act and the relevant international conventions state that as a general principle adoption service providers must not derive financial gain from the operations.
For details on fees, please visit the websites of service providers:
Intercountry adoptions without a service provider
The Adoption Act specifies that intercountry adoptions shall principally be processed through a foreign adoption service provider. In exceptional cases, however, it is not necessary to go through an adoption service provider.
Permission for an intercountry adoption without a service provider may be granted only for adopting a child who:
- is a close family member of the applicant or of the applicant’s spouse, or a previous close family member of a child already adopted by the applicant, or
- has come to live with the applicant for purposes other than adoption and has been established as being provided care and upbringing by the applicant.
However, in such cases the applicant must nevertheless complete adoption counselling in Finland prior to applying for permission to adopt. The applicant must also satisfy the other criteria specified in the Adoption Act to qualify for adoption.
In an adoption without a service provider, as in all adoptions, the Adoption Board must consider whether the proposed adoption is in the best interests of the child. In order for the Adoption Board to consider granting a permission, the applicant must present sufficient proof that the child is in need of intercountry adoption (e.g. a member of the applicant’s extended family who has been orphaned) and that the child is free for adoption as referred to in international conventions.
Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Adoption Convention, the subsidiarity principle must be met in intercountry adoptions. What this means is that intercountry adoption can only be considered as an option after it has been sufficiently investigated whether the child in question could be adopted or placed with a foster family or otherwise cared for in the country of origin. In accordance with the subsidiarity principle, the Adoption Board will consider whether it would be possible for the proposed adoptee to be raised in his/her country of origin, either by his/her own family or with other close relatives, for instance, instead of being adopted to another country.
Because the applicant has no adoption service provider, the applicant himself/herself is responsible and liable for obtaining any and all documents required and for having them translated, legalised, etc.
When an applicant applies for permission to adopt without an adoption service provider, the applicant must provide any and all documentation that may be required by the Adoption Board.
The Adoption Board may require documents including but not limited to the following:
- necessary documentation concerning the applicant himself/herself,
- documentary evidence of the relationship between applicant and adoptee (blood relative),
- a DNA test may be commissioned to prove a family relationship if necessary,
- birth certificate of the child,
- report from the social welfare authorities in the child’s country of origin explaining why the child cannot remain with his/her biological family
- report from the social welfare authorities in the child’s country of origin affirming that the child’s biological parents have received adoption counselling and understand what adoption means
- any other documents and clarifications requested by the Adoption Board.
Appropriate documentation is required for the adoption permission process, for applying for a residence permit for the child and for entering the child in the Population Register at the Local Register Office (assuming that an adoption permission has been granted). Documents in foreign languages shall be provided with an authorised translation into Finnish, Swedish or English. The applicant may be required to travel to the country of origin to rectify any inadequately legalised documents.
The applicant himself/herself is responsible for acquiring all the required documents, for having them translated and legalised, and for paying all costs thereby incurred. The applicant shall also be liable for the costs of any other investigations that may be required (e.g. DNA tests).
In order for a document issued by a foreign authority to have legal validity in Finland, it must be legalised. Legalisation of a document is a procedure that safeguards the legal rights of the parties concerned and ensures administrative reliability, i.e. it confirms that the party issuing the document is authorised to issue such a document pursuant to the legislation of the country in question.
Legalisation may be performed in one of two ways, depending on whether the country in question is a signatory to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents of 1961 (the Apostille Convention).
- If a document was issued in a state party to the Apostille Convention, its legality may be confirmed with an apostille certificate issued by the competent authority in that country. An apostille certificate confirms that the signature on the document, the official position of the signatory and, if necessary, the seal or stamp on the document are legally valid.
- In non-apostille countries, documents must be legalised by the foreign ministry of the country in question, after which the competent Finnish mission in that country must legalise the document by attaching a certificate verifying that the foreign ministry official in question is authorised to issue such a legalisation. If there is no Finnish mission in the country in question, and the country in question does not belong to the domain of any Finnish mission, it may be possible in some cases to legalise documents at the mission of another Nordic country (except Norway).
Because forged documents are common in western Africa, the authenticity of any document from that region must be confirmed before it can be legalised. The applicant is responsible for verifying the authenticity of any document and is therefore required to deliver the document to a law firm monitored by the Finnish mission and by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to have the authenticity of the document verified. The applicant is also liable for the costs of verifying authenticity. Because not all Nordic countries require a certificate of authenticity for documents from the region of western Africa, it is not possible to legalise documents from that region destined for Finland at the mission of another Nordic country.
- Further information on the legalisation of documents in various countries is available on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
- For further information on legalisation and verification procedures for western African documents, please visit the website of the Finnish Embassy in Abuja.
All documents must be submitted in Finnish, Swedish or English. For documents in any other language, an authorised translation must be provided. Authorised translators in Finland can be found through the online service of the National Agency for Education. For any documents that have been translated abroad, the translation must also be legalised.
Finland is a signatory of the Hague Adoption Convention, one purpose of which is to prevent the risks to children inherent in independent adoptions.
The Adoption Act of 2012 introduced stricter criteria for adoption in Finland. The purpose of this is to combat the risks inherent in independent adoptions, such as trafficking in children. Another purpose is to ensure that prospective adoptees have a true valid need for intercountry adoption. Adoption process throught a licensed international service provider is the best way to safeguard the child’s best interests. Intercountry adoption services are provided in Finland by City of Helsinki Social Services and Health Care, Interpedia and Save the Children Finland.
Under the Adoption Act, any person resident in Finland, regardless of citizenship, who wishes to adopt a child from abroad must have an adoption permission from the Adoption Board, must receive adoption counselling and must use intercountry adoption services.
Adopting a child independently, bypassing the statutory process, involves many uncertainties and risks. These include but are not limited to the following:
- the adoption will not be legally valid in Finland,
- the Helsinki District Court will not confirm an adoption for which permission should have been applied for,
- the child will not be issued a travel document or entry permit to Finland,
- the child will not be given Finnish citizenship,
- the child’s background will not have been investigated and/or involves abuse.