Adoption is the process by which you become the legal parent of a child who is not your own. Adoptive parents are then the legal parents of the child. The moment you adopt a child, s/he no longer has any legal ties with his/her biological (birth) family.
In principle, in Germany you can adopt a child
- who is already related to you,
- whom you do not know and who is not related to you,
- who comes from another country.
You can also adopt your partner's child.
In order that a child may be adopted in Germany, the adoptive parents and the child's biological parents must be in agreement.
When you adopt a child, it is permanent. This means that you cannot give the child back if there are problems or if the child turns out to be different from what you imagined.
Homosexualcouples can also adopt children in Germany under specific conditions.