Any person, whether Dominican or foreigner, interested in adopting a child in the Dominican Republic, must comply with the procedure established by the Dominican Law on Minors No. 136-03. This process is initiated before the National Council for Childhood and Adolescence (CONANI), which conducts the preliminary phase of an adoption process.

It is important that prior to incurring in any expense or create expectations, the person applying for the adoption should verify whether he/she meets the requirements set out in Law No. 136-03 stated above, among which are the following:

• Have more than 30 years of age;

• If the spouses are Dominican, they must be married for more than three years and for spouses of foreign nationality, for at least five years;

• The person wishing to adopt a child must be at least fifteen years older than the child to be adopted;

• In the case of a single person, such individual must demonstrate that he/she has been responsible of a child before.

Once it has been determined that the applicant meets the requirements established by law, the corresponding documentation must be gathered to be filed in the National Council for Childhood and Adolescence (CONANI).

In case the applicants are foreigners interested in adopting in the Dominican Republic, it is of vital importance to previously check in their respective countries, if there is a procedure that must be exhausted before initiating the adoption process in the Dominican Republic, as in some cases certain records are required and whose absence will become an obstacle when the applicants attempt to the take the adopted child back to their home countries.

The children who can be adopted are the following:

• Children or adolescents orphans of one parent;

• Orphan children or adolescents of unknown parentage who are under the supervision of the State;

• Children or adolescents whose parents have been deprived of parental authority by a court decision, and;

• Exceptionally, children or adolescents whose parents consent to the adoption; in this case a bond must be proven to exist between the person adopting and the child prior coexistence.

CONANI will be in charge of evaluating the adoption application. Once the applicant has met the above requirements, CONANI will provide the relevant information of the adoptive child under supervision of the State, if applicable.

All documents issued abroad must be certified by the Dominican Consulate in the country of origin or with the Apostille legalization if the country where the document is issued has ratified the Hague Convention. Also, if the document is in a different language than Spanish it must be translated by a Judicial Interpreter.

It is important to mention that priority will be given to Dominican couples, followed by foreign couples, Dominican single individuals and lastly, foreign single individuals.

Once all the preliminary stages have been completed before the National Council for Childhood and Adolescence (CONANI), with the issuance of a Certificate of Eligibility, which consists in declaring the applicants as appropriate adoptive parents, the documents will be forwarded to the Court of Children and Adolescents to complete the trial stage, culminating in a decision to grant the adoption. The process is completed with a transcription of the court decision in the child's birth certificate. The adoption process does not really have a stipulated time to be completed. The complete adoption process may take one year, three years and even five years. The duration of the process will depend on the approval of the National Council for Childhood and Adolescence (CONANI).

As you can see, the process requires a great investment in terms of time, dedication and resources, but the rewards of having a family will definitely generate great joy and benefits for the future.