In the case of an international adoption, please always contact the Central Adoption Office of the State Youth Welfare Office (“Landesjugendamt”) at your place of residence or a State-recognised foreign adoption agency.

Further information and contact points can be found on the website of the Federal Office of Justice (in German only).

In order for an international adoption to be recognised in Germany, you must follow a precise procedure.

A Nigerian adoption judgement is never sufficient proof of an adoption for a German mission abroad. You need to have the adoption recognised in Germany. If a passport or visa is applied for without the child having been effectively adopted under German law, the corresponding application will be rejected.
When applying for a visa or a passport for an adopted child to join adoptive parents in Germany, a certificate of recognition issued by a German family court must be submitted.

Adopting parents are German citizen:
If a German citizen adopts a foreign child abroad who is effectively a minor, the child acquires German citizenship and can apply for a German passport. More information on applying for a German passport can be found here.

Adopting parents are not German citizen:
If a foreigner living in Germany effectively adopts a minor child who is currently living abroad, the child can apply for a family reunification visa.

Regulations of an international adoption

International adoptions and the associated recognition procedure are legally complex. They can take several years. Therefore, please inform yourself in advance about the procedure and the requirements.

With effect from 1 April 2021, German national adoption law was reformed by the “Adoption Assistance Act”. A key objective of this legislative reform is to limit international adoptions that are not facilitated by an authorised international adoption agency.

Accordingly, the new regulations introduced by the Adoption Assistance Act require that international adoption procedures be mediated by an authorised international adoption agency. Adoptions carried out without the involvement of such an agency are not permitted.

Once recognition has been granted, the adoption is also legally valid in Germany. The adoption then has the same legal effects in Germany as it does in the child's country of origin.

The process at a glance

Normally, an international adoption proceeds in roughly three steps:
1. Placement procedure in Germany
2. Adoption procedure abroad
3. Recognition of the adoption in Germany

1. Placement procedure in Germany

Prospective adoptive parents must register with an agency responsible for international adoptions. This may be either your States Youth Welfare Office (the central adoption agency there) or a non-governmental agency that is licensed for international adoptions. Please note that non-governmental agencies are authorised to arrange adoptions only from certain countries.

The adoption agency will assess the prospective adoptive parents’ suitability for adoption. As part of this assessment, interviews with specialists from the Youth Welfare Office or the adoption agency will be conducted. The Youth Welfare office will inform the applicants (prospective adoptive parents) of the result of the general suitability assessment, while the international adoption agency will communicate the result of the country-specific suitability assessment.

If both agencies conclude that the prospective adoptive parents are suitable for an international adoption, the international adoption agency will forward their adoption application to the adoption agency in Nigeria.

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2. Adoption procedure abroad

The adoption procedure is carried out in the child’s country of origin. The exact procedure varies from country to country. Usually, the adoption agency will prepare the prospective adoptive parents for the process in good time and also provide support during the process.

3. Recognition of the adoption in Germany

After the adoption process abroad has been completed, the adoption must be recognised in Germany. Only once it has been recognised is the foreign adoption also valid in Germany. In the case of adoptions from Nigeria, the foreign adoption must be recognised by a German family court. You must apply for recognition as soon as the adoption process in the country of origin has been completed.

A child may join adoptive parents with foreign citizenship in Germany only after a recognition decision has been issued by a German family court