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International adoption. Children adopted. By countries

International adoption. Children adopted. By countries Catalonia
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
Children adopted 826 880 1,030 1,419 1,562 1,042 1,056 1,047 558 376 297
Total Europe 349 328 414 544 588 527 391 399 210 116 36
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Bulgaria 6 3 0 4 6 11 32 38 22 24 6
Croatia 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Georgia 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Hungary 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Lithuania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Czech Republic 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
Romania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 49 34 18
Moldova 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Poland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Russia 332 245 363 441 506 438 256 245 103 50 10
Ukraine 11 45 27 67 55 76 102 99 34 8 2
Rest of Europe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total África 197 176 163 127 130 91 33 11 9 1 6
Burkina Faso 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Congo 0 0 8 6 4 6 2 0 0 0 0
Cameroon 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0
Ivory Coast 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Gambia 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ghana 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Guinea Bissau 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Ethiopia 156 141 120 107 87 54 0 0 0 0 0
Mali 30 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Madagascar 0 0 5 3 15 10 15 1 8 0 6
Morocco 4 17 9 8 21 16 10 5 0 0 0
Nigeria 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Democratic Republic of the Congo 3 18 15 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 0
Sierra Leone 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Senegal 2 0 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Togo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Rest of Africa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total América 73 98 96 88 89 153 133 247 158 151 183
Bolivia 11 6 10 7 6 7 4 7 6 20 20
Brazil 5 7 12 12 17 6 10 5 11 1 1
Colombia 27 41 25 29 38 65 54 106 65 48 82
Costa Rica 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 3 5
El Salvador 2 1 4 1 4 10 11 16 4 3 1
Ecuador 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 4 7 4 5
Guatemala 6 4 5 5 0 9 14 38 13 12 8
Haiti 12 29 29 17 11 20 1 1 0 0 0
Honduras 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 2 1
Mexico 3 4 3 0 10 16 17 46 26 35 16
Nicaragua 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 10 8 9 10
Panama 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 0
Peru 6 3 6 11 0 7 5 6 7 11 27
Dominican Republic 0 0 1 0 2 7 8 5 6 2 0
Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Chile 0 1 0 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 4
Total Asia 207 278 357 660 755 271 499 390 181 108 72
Índia 11 8 8 8 13 9 21 39 36 31 28
Israel 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Kazakhstan 42 34 24 32 15 4 0 0 0 0 0
Myanmar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Philippines 1 2 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sri LanKa 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nepal 25 25 61 29 53 33 37 29 14 10 16
Palestine 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Thailand 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Vietnam 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 1 0 2 0
China 126 242 281 622 688 223 434 320 131 63 28
Rest of Asia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Oceania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: Institut Català de l'Acolliment i de l'Adopció.

Last update: February 19, 2015.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Adoption
Legal situation accorded judicially that leads to a parent-child relationship with identical effects to that produced naturally and that provides a family to a non emancipated minor or exceptionally to an adult or an emancipated child and person older than 25 years or a married couple or de facto couple, as long as there is a difference of 14 years in the ages of the adopted and the adopters. However, international adoption presents peculiarities such as the need for the adoption process to be in keeping with the legislation of the country of origin of the minor and the inscription of the full resolution of the adoption in the Central Civil Register, which produces plenary executive rights to the Spanish state as well as the acquisition by the minor being adopted of Spanish nationality.

Methodological aspects

Fostering and adoption

The Institut Català de l'Acolliment i de l'Adopció (Catalan Institute for Fostering and Adoption - ICAA, Ministry of Social Welfare and Family), with the purpose of helping to drive forward a general policy on adoption and basic placement in foster families, to streamline the process to assess suitability of people or families applying to foster or adopt, and to process international adoptions when required.

Adoption is the legal, psychological and social process of fully and definitively integrating a child in a family into which he/she was not born. It is a child protection measure that provides a parent-child relationship with the same legal effects as biological parenthood, and at the same time ends the legal bond with the family of origin, always in the best interests of the child.

The legislation that governs the adoption process is as follows: Law 25/2010, of July 29, of the second book of the Civil Code of Catalonia, on the person and the family. This legislation establishes in article 235 point 30 the requirements that persons wishing to adopt must comply with:

  • Be in full exercise of their civil rights.
  • Be older than twenty-five years and be at least fourteen years older than the person being adopted.
  • Adoption is only admitted for more than one person in the case of the spouses or partners living stably together. In these cases, it is sufficient for just one of the persons to be at least twenty-five years old.

International adoption

This is the legal process of adopting children from other countries on the basis of the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. This Convention ensures that:

  • The adoption is for the benefit of the child.
  • The child has been declared adoptable.
  • The applicant family has a certificate of suitability.
  • No person that is not the actual child can benefit improperly from this adoption.

The assignation of a child to a family depends exclusively on the sovereign decisions of the child's country of origin.

The Catalan Institute of Fostering and Adoption is certified in the quality management system for the activities of: processing the resolution of suitability for international adoption in accordance with the requirements of regulation ISO 9001: 2008.

Unavailable information is represented using the symbol ":". When the value is lower than that of the minimum unit to be able to estimate the statistical operation or if it effects statistical confidentiality, the symbol used is "..".