[malyniebieski]

Hello,
We are new to this group.
My wife and I are too old to adopt a new born child from any Polish adoption agency. I have heard that it is legal to adopt privately from an individual or couple in Poland. Does anyone have experience or knowledge of this process?
I will soon be Polish citizen and my wife is half Polish.
Janek Blacha.

[momraine]

Welcome, I don't know the answers, but someone here will I hope. Are you living in Poland and do you speak Polish? That would help. If so I would suggest contacting a lawyer who knows about adoptions.

[malyniebieski]

Thank you for the reply. We live basically in the US. We travel to Poland on a regular basis for business and for our future apartment. Yes, I speak Polish. I have not gone to the lawyer route yet.

[taia]

From what I know, the law changed 2 or 3 years ago, and now it is impossible to adopt privately. You have to go through one of the adoption centers in Warsaw. You can however adopt independently. When you are Polish and living permanently in Poland, things will change as more children will become available to you. How old are you? I was 48 when I adopted 2 children (12 and 10 years old).

[Kama]

I have not heard of such cases, but it may be true that it happens. What is more realistic is an independent adoption, but you still have to go through the adoption centers (the cost is lower though than working with an agency in the U.S.). I adopted two siblings, 4 and 8 at the time at age 40, 2 years ago. In such a case, I would still recommend that you hire an attorney based in Poland who has experience with foreign adoptions.

Originally Posted by malyniebieski

Hello,
We are new to this group.
My wife and I are too old to adopt a new born child from any Polish adoption agency. I have heard that it is legal to adopt privately from an individual or couple in Poland. Does anyone have experience or knowledge of this process?
I will soon be Polish citizen and my wife is half Polish.
Janek Blacha.

[jola_nyc]

I am not sure but private adoption is only for adopting blood relatives for example your niece or nephew. If you are not related to the child you must use one of the adoption center in Poland. I would contact US Embassy in Warsaw and asked them what is the law. I don't think they can issue the visa/citizenship if you do private adoption.

[malyniebieski]

I am over 50 and my wife is in her early 40's. We were trying to adopt a much younger child than a pre-teenager.
Do you remember where/when you heard about the changed law?
Also, does anyone on this site know anything about a person by the name of Mr. G. Granai?
Janek

[malyniebieski]

Thank you all for your replies. Again as in Poland everthing is a gray area. This only means that this is possible if I can find the correct facts/or contact.
Janek.

[Kama]

I do not agree that with Poland everything is a gray area. I think some of it depends on what kind of person you are. I wanted to do my adoption in a way that I could share with my kids in the future, to do everything right and in a legal way, as much as possible.

[momraine]

Remember all discussion of agencies or attourneys must be done via PM.
Right now one thing to remember is that there are two parts to a foreign adoption. One part is the actual adoption in which you must follow all the laws of the country in which you are adopting (in this case Poland) the second part is the immigration part, in which you must follow the laws of the country to which you want to bring the child. So if you want to adopt a child and you will be staying in Poland permanantly or at least long term, then you only need to worry about Polish Law, however if you wish to bring that child into the US you must also follow US law. (in which case you could not do a private adoption as only a documented orphan can get a visa) I am told the waiting list to adopt a newborn privatly is very long in Poland, a lot like in the U.S.

[jola_nyc]

A 40 year age difference between child and mother applies for all adoption even those done for Polish Citizens living in Poland. You need a special decree from a judge to break this rule. In Poland they focus on the child not on the prospective parents and they take under consideration that when a child is 20 years old he/she should worry about college not about the aging parents. I am in the same boat like you and I know it is difficult to accept it.

[taia]

I got the information about the change of the adoption law from a court worker. I explored it myself. So unless that court worker lied to me, there is no way to do a private adoption in Poland anymore. They had cases where parents gave up kids for money, or so I was told. Good luck to you in finding an infant. I think it will be difficult.

[jola_nyc]

Here is a link to the polish forum about adoption. If you know polish you can read it. Nasz Bocian - Strony o Rodzinie - Forum
When I was reading this forum I learned that the waiting line for a healthy infant (not a newborn) is 2-3 years. This made me decide that if I want to adopt from Poland I need to accept the age of the children which are available there. Also on the forum they have link to the 3 adoption centers which are in charge of all adoptions. You can call and ask them more questions.