Adoption is a protection measure for children who have no family. All children have the right to grow up in a family, but not all parents have the right to have children.
You can adopt a child who lives in Belgium or a child who lives abroad. Generally, people adopt minors, but it is also possible to adopt legal adults aged 18 years or over.
Depending on the country where the adoption is taking place, the judge declares a full adoption or a simple adoption. You cannot choose the form of adoption yourself.
In a simple adoption, you gain parental authority over the adopted child. Their links with their family of origin remain unbroken and they will still inherit from that family. In their new adoptive family, the child can only inherit from their adoptive parents. For legal adults, only simple adoption is declared.
In a full adoption, the adopted child no longer belongs to their family of origin and all links with their biological parents are broken.
Their new kinship makes marriage between the adopted child and a member of their adoptive family impossible.
Published on December 12th 2020