Portugal is situated at the south-west point of Europe and includes the Madeira and Azores archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean. This is a country that has the oldest borders in Europe, with an exceptional range of different landscapes just a short distance away, lots of leisure activities and a unique cultural heritage, where tradition and modernity blend together in perfect harmony. Situated in the extreme south-west of Europe, just a few hours from any of the other European capitals, Portugal attracts visitors from all over the world.
Portugal is a party to The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). Therefore, all intercountry adoptions between Portugal and the United States must meet the requirements of the Convention and U.S. law implementing the Convention. Portugal adoptions are conducted through a collaborative effort of a Hague accredited adoption agency in the US and by the Portugal Central Adoption Authority (Central Authority for International Adoption, Social Security Institute).
Nightlight has opened our Portugal Adoption Program in January of 2023, so it is quite new. However, we have already six families and so far, we have received two referrals. Families are pursuing their adoption in two different ways. Through the traditional route you would compile your dossier and then wait to be matched by the Central Adoption Authority, Autoridade Central para a Adocão Internacional, Instituto da Segurança Social, I.P. Pursuing the traditional route can vary in time based on how open a family is to age, gender, number of children and any medical or special needs characteristics. The other route is through our waiting child program. In this process a family identifies a waiting child from Portugal in need of a home and then completes the dossier to be matched with the child. The waiting child program is significantly faster than the traditional route cutting out any waiting time a family would have to be matched with a child. Almost each month Nightlight is receiving new/updated waiting children profiles from the Central Adoption Authority in Portugal, which are posted on Adoption Bridge.
Portugal has children with a wide range of ages and special needs eligible and ready to be matched with their forever families. Single children above age 7, sibling groups, and children of all ages with various special or medical needs are waiting. Younger children are available for adoption by Portuguese citizens, including those residing in the U.S.
Here are a few reasons to consider adopting from Portugal:
- Singles can adopt from Portugal. Not so many countries allow singles to adopt, yet adopting from Portugal is a great option for single parent families.
- Hague country. The Hague regulates the way adoptions are carried out and provides certain procedural safeguards internationally instead of leaving the procedure up to individual countries. We also see that USCIS is handling I800A and I800 applications (for Hague countries) much faster than I600A and I600 application (for non-Hague countries).
- Low risk travel. Traveling to Portugal only requires one trip. Travel to Portugal/Europe is generally less risky than travel to other international adoption destinations such as places in Africa or to conflict zones. Portugal is among the top 20 most-visited countries in the world.
If you are interested in learning more about Nightlight Portugal program or the waiting child program, please contact our Portugal program coordinator, Viktoriia Serediuk-Buz, by emailing viktoriia@nightlight.org.