Adopting children in Israel – what are the rules and conditions?

Unfortunately, there are couples who discover that they cannot conceive and bring children on to the world. This fact will have many implication, especially if having children is important to one or both parties. Instead of living in bitterness and endangering the couple's relations, they could go for adoption and raise a child who is not theirs biologically but loved as if he/she were.  This short article will elaborate in the subject.

Who can request to adopt a child?

According to the law, only married couples (in rare cases one adopter will be authorized) who meet the criteria of good health, marriage longer than two years, finished high-school (12 years of education), older that the adopted child by at least 18 years but no more than 43 years. Even if the couple meet the above mentioned criteria, they can still be refused, after interviewing them and checking if they are suitable for this procedure, which could be very difficult emotionally.The adoption services will try as best they can to match the child to the couple, so they will be of the same religion, but one can find exceptions too. When the child is older than 9 years he/she have to agree to through the whole process.

Different conditions for adoption

There are extra different conditions to adoption, according to the child's age and needs. When adopting a baby, only couples with no children, common or not, will be permitted to adopt. The reason is obvious – adopting babies is more simple emotionally than older children so barren couples would be prioritized. The waiting list is long and, sometimes, the couple will be offered to adopt a baby or child with special needs (who are less "desirable") and not wait for so long. In some cases the adoption is done not by a complete biological stranger. There are cases where a relative will ask to adopt a child orphaned from his parents. In other cases someone might want to adopt his/her partner's child and become the child's legal parent. In such cases they might be prioritized due to the family relations but taking in to account the child's dependence on their ability and the livelihood that can be provided for the child.

Adopting children from abroad

In Israel, about 120 children are adopter yearly. This means that the waiting list is very long, sometimes too long. For those who do not want to wait there is the option of adopting a child from abroad, with the intermediation of an association authorized by the state of Israel.The waiting list for such an adoption is much shorter but please note that the cost is totally different and, in any case, you need to complete the adoption process according to the Israeli law by bringing the child to Israel and converting him/her to Judaism.