Adoption services - Counseling and support

• Fremdadoption (adoption of an unrelated child) • Hauptwohnsitz in Berlin (main residence in Berlin) • Mindestalter 21 und 25 Jahre (minimum age 21 and 25 years) • Antrag auf Eignungsprüfung (application for a suitability assessment) • Ehenachweis oder eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft (proof of marriage or registered civil partnership) • Auslandsadoption (adoption from abroad) • Hauptwohnsitz in Berlin • Mindestalter 25 Jahre (minimum age 25 years) • Antrag bei einem Freien Träger (independent adoption agency) oder Antrag bei der Zentralen Adoptionsstelle Berlin-Brandenburg (ZABB) (Central Adoption Office Berlin-Brandenburg) • Auftrag zur Allgemeinen Eignungsprüfung von Auslandsvermittlungsstelle (FT) oder ZABB (order for a general suitability assessment from the international adoption agency (FT) or ZABB) • Ehenachweis oder eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft • Stiefkindadoption (stepchild adoption) • Ehenachweis, 4 Jahre Partnerschaft oder gemeinsame Elternschaft für ein Kind (proof of marriage, 4 years of partnership, or shared parenthood of a child) • Beratungspflicht vor notarieller Erklärung bzw. vor Antrag beim Familiengericht (mandatory counselling before the notarial declaration or before applying to the Familiengericht (family court)) • Herkunftssuche (search for biological origin) • Hauptwohnsitz in Berlin • oder Adoptionsvermittlung über die Adoptionsvermittlungsstelle (AVSt) der Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie (or adoption placement via the Adoptionsvermittlungsstelle (AVSt) (adoption placement office) of the Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie (Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family)) • Kindesfreigabe (release of a child for adoption) • Verwandtenadoption (adoption by a relative) Hauptwohnsitz in Berlin

• Proof of identity Copy of passport or Personalausweis (identity card) • Data protection declaration (GDPR-EU) <https://www.bmjv.de/DE/Themen/FokusThemen/DSGVO/_documents/Amtsblatt_EU_DSGVO.pdf;jsessionid=F8B2A83E32BE814DFD9634ABF96AAD1E.1_cid334?__blob=publicationFile&v=1> under GDPR-EU Articles 13 and 14 on processing activity, adoption placement, and search for origin • Aptitude assessment • Application form • Birth certificate • Marriage certificate or registration of the life partnership • Life history report • Extended certificate of good conduct (Erweitertes Führungszeugnis) • Medical certificate • Schufa credit report • Meldebescheinigung (registration certificate) • Proof of nationality • Release of the child (for adoption) • Placement request to the Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie (Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family) • Child's birth certificate • Search for origin • Informal application for file access / right of access to files from the age of 16

1.300,00 Euro: for the general suitability assessment for international adoption

• Adoptionsvermittlungsgesetz (AdVermiG, Adoption Placement Act) www.gesetze-im-internet.de/advermig_1976/ • Adoptionsübereinkommens-Ausführungsgesetz (AdÜbAG, Act Implementing the Hague Adoption Convention) www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ad_bag/ • Adoptionswirkungsgesetz (AdWirkG, Adoption Effects Act) www.gesetze-im-internet.de/adwirkg/ • Adoptionsvermittlungsstellenanerkennungs- und Kostenverordnung (AdVermiStAnKoV, Ordinance on the Recognition and Fees of Adoption Placement Agencies) www.gesetze-im-internet.de/advermistankov/ • Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB, Civil Code) § 1741-1766 www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bgb/BJNR001950896.html#BJNR001950 • Kinder- und Jugendstärkungsgesetz (KJSG, Children and Youth Strengthening Act) www.bmbfsfj.bund.de/bmbfsfj/ministerium/gesetze/neues-kinder • Sozialgesetzbuch Kinder- und Jugendhilfe (SGB, Social Code) - Book Eight (VIII) www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_8/ • Datenschutzgrundverordnung (DSGVO, General Data Protection Regulation/GDPR) Art. 13 and Art. 14 www.bmj.de/DE/Themen/FokusThemen/DSGVO/_documents/Amtsblatt_

Birth parents giving up a child for adoption If, after thorough counseling, you have decided to give your child up for adoption, and you confirm your placement mandate (Vermittlungsauftrag) to us after your child's birth, we will act immediately. We promptly determine the medical data, visit your child in the hospital or foster placement (Pflegestelle), and clarify, in the so-called matching process within the panel of adoption placement specialists (Adoptionsvermittler/innen), which vetted parents from our pool of applicants may take your child into adoptive foster care (Adoptionspflege). Suitability assessment (Eignungsprüfung) for domestic adoption applications At an initial meeting at the Adoptionsvermittlungsstelle (adoption placement agency), you can obtain information without obligation. If, after a counseling session, you submit the application for a suitability assessment, you will be invited to further meetings after a waiting period of several months. You will then receive the application form and the outline for the personal life reports (Lebensberichte) and will be asked to obtain the above-mentioned documents. After several meetings and a home visit, the adoption placement agency decides whether you are suitable to adopt a child. There is no fixed deadline by which the adoption placement agency must have decided on your suitability. Even after a positive suitability assessment, you have no legal entitlement (Rechtsanspruch) to the placement of a child.

• Adoptionsvermittlung (adoption placement service) www.berlin.de/sen/jugend/familie-und-kinder/adoption/

The Adoptionsvermittlungsstelle (adoption placement office) of the Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie (Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family) handles adoption placement tasks for all Jugendämter (youth welfare offices) of the twelve districts. These tasks are carried out exclusively by qualified adoption specialists.