Child Adoption

Child adoption in Thailand is pretty much very straightforward giving the rights to anyone who wishes to apply for Child Adoption, provided that the adoptive parents must first qualify as an applicant for the child adoption process in Thailand.

The criteria to be a qualified applicant as an adopter are as follows:

• Must be over 25 years of age and at least 15 years older than the child to be adopted
• Foreign applicant must prove the legitimacy of their marriage and must qualified to legally adopt a child in the country of their domicile.
• Foreign applicant must hold 1-year visa in Thailand with at least 6 months remaining.

In essence, a Child Adoption in Thai law is the act of legally handing over an adopted child with the adoptive parent(s) from the biological parents or guardians of the child. An adoption order has the effect of severing parental responsibilities and rights of the natural parents and transferring those rights and responsibilities to the adoptive parents.

Fundamentally there are 2 types of available Adoption in Thailand under the Civil and Commercial Code which mainly are;

• Domestic Adoption – as the name suggest, this type of adoption concerns adoptive parents (Thai or foreign) whose domicile is in Thailand.
• Inter-country Adoption – is the type of adoption intend only for foreigners who wish to adopt a Thai child and raise it in a country other than Thailand.

Moreover, if the Adoption have already been granted, stipulations are given under the Civil and Commercial Code whereas;

• Adopted child has the rights to carry the use of family name of the adopter
• Adopter does not have the right to inherit from the adopted child.
• Adopted child has the right to inherit from the adopter

Adoption is a fulfilling and rewarding journey but the process itself requires a strenuous effort and may take a long time especially to foreigners who is planning to go on this path.

The process of adoption in Thailand is quite intricate and requires a good number of forms and documents almost all of which are translated and written into Thai language. Therefore, coordination of a Thai lawyer is highly advised.

If you need any further information regarding Adoption in Thailand, our team of experts on family issues will be more than happy to assist you contact us today for your consultation.