Child Adoption Procedure in Bangladesh

Previously, in 1972 the procedure of adoption was simple, mainly for speeding up the adoption by the foreign foster parents of the children who lost their parents in the liberation war. But this procedure was amended in 1981. The 1981 amendment states that foster parents can now only get the guardianship of a child. However, only Bangladeshi citizens are eligible to apply for guardianship of Bangladeshi children. Granting guardianship of Bangladeshi children to non-Bangladeshi parents is prohibited by the 1982 Guardianship and Wards Amendments Ordinances. 

A Bangladeshi citizen, who is interested in adopting a child, may contact organizations who are working for child adoption like an NGO, an orphanage or maybe an individual, who is willing to give a child up for adoption.

There are some documents required for obtaining legal guardianship of a child and those are:

1. Birth Certificate of the minor

2. An irrevocable release of the child must be signed by ‘biological parents’ before a Notary Public or Magistrate here in Bangladesh.

3. An application for legal guardianship must be made to the Family court which has the sole jurisdiction over family matters.

4. A ‘No Objection Certificate’ must be obtained from the Home Ministry.

5. Some other documents may also require for individual cases.

Therefore, the foster parents must collect all of these documents and reach out to the Family court to get permission as custodian or guardian of the adopted child. If s/he/foster parents get permission from the court, s/he/foster parents are legally permitted to take the child’s guardianship. After getting the permission from the court s/he/foster have to submit the court’s permission to the respective person or organization who has the guardianship of the child. Once the permission documents are presented, the foster parents or person can take the child in custody and the adoption procedure is completed. The ‘No Objection Certificate’ and ‘legal guardianship’ documents should be presented to the Bangladesh Passport Office for the child’s passport.