Adoptie in Vlaanderen - Adoption in Flanders

Adoption in Flanders is controlled by VCA (Vlaamse Centrale Autoriteit) which is part of Kind en Gezin. Their website contains some information including description of the procedure (in Dutch): Kind en Gezin.

The legal base for adoption in Flanders is Civil Law - Burgerlijk Wetboek, Titel VIII. It can be found in the internet, for example (in Dutch): Burgerlijk Wetboek.

Note, that you don't need to go through the entire law (which is very lengthy), but only Titel VIII.

The section of the Civil Law that speaks about international adoption (Hoofdstuk II) was changed a few years ago in accordance with Hague Convention. Convention defines adoption in Europe and in several other countries. The Hague Convention itself is not a law, but once Belgium has ratified the Convention, Belgian law was changed to match it.

The official site of Hague Convention about international adoption: Hague Convention (available in English and in French).

Procedure in short

Register in VCA K&G by filling the form
Pass the training course (you'll have to wait for it)
Register as adoptive candidates in the Court for Minors
Pass the Social-Psychological investigation
Court procedure that will either allow you to become adoptive parents or stop you
Investigation of adoption channel
Preparation of dossier for another country
Acceptance of your dossier by authorities in another country
Selection of the child for you
Acceptance by VCA
Adoption procedure in another country
Arrival of your new child in Belgium
Follow-up procedures

Important note: in our own experience, and in experience of several other adoption families who we know, VCA makes mistakes in the adoption process. We had to appeal to Raad van State against incorrect decision VCA made against our adoption. This is important precendent that other adoption families could use; and the decision of Raad van State contains some interesting comments about behavior of VCA. It is accessible publicly on the website of Raad van State: http://www.raadvst-consetat.be/Arresten/209000/600/209607.pdf

There are 2 main items related to the decision of RvSt:
- when you adopt a child from the country that requires you to see the child earlier than VCA gets any information (e.g. Russia) it is perfectly legal for you to be in contact with the child - according to Hague Convention about adoption; according to Flemish Civil Law; and according to the Raad van State arrest above. VCA doesn't like it and might say it's illegal which is completely wrong!
- when you adopt a child from the country which didn't ratify Hague Convention (e.g. Russia) it might be tricky to get the child dossier shared by authorities of that country with VCA (as required by the procedure). VCA might say it's impossible which is not true. It is possible to do it legally and officially - we've done that, other families done that. If you look at the official adoption statistics for Belgium (link at the top of this page) you'll find that several tens children are adopted from Russia every year. That wouldn't have happenned if information sharing between authorities wasn't happening.

Adoption in Flanders - Adoptie in Vlaanderen

Official information about adoption

Procedure in short