Name of the Organisation : Department Of Probation And Child Care Services (probation.gov.lk)
Type of Announcement : Guidelines For Legal Adoption Of Children Foreign, Local Parents
Country : Sri Lanka
probation [dot] gov [dot] lk
Related : Department of Immigration & Emigration Procedure For Including Minor In Parent’s Passport Sri Lanka : www.statusin.org/2785.html
Foreign Adoption :
Legal Adoption of Children – For Foreign Parents:
Adoption of children means the legal adoption of children who have been deprived of their parents or children whose parents have given their consent for adoption.
Only children below 14 years of age could be legally adopted.
A child naturally belongs to a family. Also a child can be allocated to a family with the permission given by the law.
Legal adoption is the best alternative care that could be given for children who have been deprived of their parents. Married couples over 25 years of age are generally considered as suitable persons for adopting children. It is an essential requirement that such adoption has to be done only with court order given by a District Court. The orphaned or abandoned children in State Receiving Homes and Voluntary Children’s Homes are referred for adoption. This is identified as the best alternative care that could be given to the child. At first, such children are referred to local applicants. The children rejected by local applicants are allocated for foreign adoption. There is a dearth of children for adoption as compared with the number of applications.
The allocation of children for Local adoption is done by the Provincial Council while the Department handles foreign adoption.
Application for foreign adoption: probation [dot] gov [dot] lk
Suitability for adoption :
A married couple over 25 years of age, who are non citizens of Sri Lanka, not resident and not domiciled in Sri Lanka may submit application.
Period that would be taken to provide service :
1 (General Service and Priority Service) At first, children are allocated for local adoption. Thereafter only children not accepted by local applicants are allocated for foreign applications. Since there is a dearth of children who could be allocated for foreign applicants, the time that would take, or the exact period can not be stated definitely.
2 Only a court order for adoption given by a District Court subject to the legal provisions as per the Adoption of Children Ordinance No:24 of 1914 (Amendment act No 15 of 1992) and the Hague Convention on foreign adoption is valid, for foreign adoption of children
Legal Adoption of Children- For Local Parents :
1 Any citizen of Sri Lanka over 25 years of age may submit an application. The age difference between the applicant and the child to be adopted should be over 21 years. (In case of a child related to the applicant, this is not applicable)
2 The period of time is determined by the number of applicants and the number of suitable orphaned and abandoned children that could be given for adoption; hence the exact period of time can not be stated.
3 On the receipt of the request for adoption in the Provincial Commissioner of Probation and Child Care Services, a Probation Officer will visit the house of the applicant to conduct investigation for finding out the suitability of the said applicant. Then the applicant should submit requisite documents to prove his/her date of birth, marriage, employment, property, health condition etc.
4 In any adoption, only an adoption order given by a District Court on a case filed in the District Court subject to provisions of the Adoption of Children Ordinance No: 24 of 1941, would be valid.
Contact us :
Department of Probation and Child Care
3rd Floor, Wing B, Stage II,
Sethsiripaya, Battaramulla