Gabriel was referred to us at the 319th meeting of the IAC that took place on May 14, 2015. The results of that meeting were published (in Bulgarian) earlier this week, and as always, translated quickly by Viviane over at “The Road Less Traveled” with her permission I am reposting the results of that meeting here. Gabriel is #12 on this list.
The following results were issued in IAC session 319 held on May 14, 2015:
1) Spanish dossier from November 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 1 month
2) Italian dossier from January 2013 referred a female child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history
3) French dossier from July 2013 referred a waiting child (#2909) with a profile on the MOJ site
4) US dossier from January 2014 referred a male child aged 2 years and 8 months with features in health status
5) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2821) with a profile on the MOJ site
6) German dossier from February 2014 referred a female child aged 2 years and 1 month with features in health status
7) Italian dossier from June 2014 referred a male child aged 8 years and 3 months with features in health status
8) German dossier from September 2014 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status
9) Belgian dossier from November 2014 referred a female child aged 9 years and 10 months
10) Canadian dossier from April 2015 referred a brother and sister aged 9 years and 5 months and 11 years and 4 months
11) US dossier from May 2015 referred a waiting child (#2652) with a profile on the MOJ site
12) US dossier from May 2015 referred a waiting child (#2759) with a profile on the MOJ site
Viviane always posts these on her blog. Please see the links section to get there. For those interested in the original Bulgarian versions at this writing they can be found at http://mjs.bg/38
Last month the MOJ (Ministry of Justice) released some statistics that shed some light on volume of adoptions in Bulgaria over the past 12 years. Quite often those who are starting out with a Bulgarian adoption are told that many people elect to adopt healthy children under age 5. These numbers give a fuller picture. These numbers were accurate as of May 30, 2015.
Since Bulgaria joined the Hague (adoption process) in 2003: 5,755 children were registered for adoption. 2,883 of those children have been adopted at this time. 679 of the children adopted have been under the waiting child program (note: The waiting child program did not start until 2008). There have been 3,662 registered dossiers (adopting families). 1,006 of those families have completed adoptions.
In 2015 (thus far): 237 files of children were sent to the MOJ
60 files were incomplete had had to be returned to the social workers to complete/correct
79 files are for children age 5 or under. 10 files list children as completely healthy, 25 files list children as mild/correctable special needs, 44 files list children as moderate/severe special needs.
36 files are for children ages 6-8 years
28 files are for children ages 9-10 years
81 files are for children age 11 years and older
Presently there are 1,824 children registered for adoption. 1,524 of those children are listed as having special needs.
There are 1,803 registered dossiers. 1,518 are actively waiting (paperwork is current and up to date). 1,376 of the actively waiting families are registered for a completely healthy child age 5 or under.
In case you missed it: 1,376 families are waiting for a child under a classification for which Bulgaria only had 10 files in the first 5 months of 2015. 142 families are waiting for the other 214 files.
On June 9, 2015 there was a meeting between the MOJ and all NGOs in Bulgaria in which this was addressed. It is now being highly advised to all those pursuing an adoption from Bulgaria to seek out the Special Needs list (not the waiting child list, your adoption agency has a list of special needs that you would consider in a child referred to you…there were well over 100 conditions on this list and columns for Yes, No, and Maybe).
A full report from FNA regarding what was addressed in the June 9th meeting can be viewed at their website (see about section of this blog, Under Gabriel’s NGO, follow the link, on FNA’s webpage see “News”.
There has long been questions on how I was given Jude’s referral after only 7 months of being registered with the MOJ. This news very clearly spells out why that happened. On the Special Needs List Submitted with her adoption paperwork there were slightly over 100 conditions I said yes to, several dozen more I said maybe to, and only a handful of No. Jude has some mild and a very few moderate non-correctable special needs. She had several more correctable moderate needs. Gabriel has more correctable needs and fewer non-correctable ones.
As I understand it, many countries are not permitted to adopt from the Waiting Child list due to their countries laws, and others will still have restrictions on what needs can be adopted from the traditional program, however it does appear that most if not all countries will allow for some expansion in the special needs list if the adoptive family so wishes and if the homestudy agency also feels that they are capable.
Bulgaria to Maine Adoption 
I linked this to my blog. Hope that’s okay.
Yes, absolutely.
Where did you find those numbers on the children’s files that have come in to MOJ so far this year? Fascinating and so telling.
The data was originally published by Shelley Bedford in the Bulgaria Adoptions FB group last month. I reorganized it and added some interpretation to make it easier to understand.