Adoption process

Ask for adoption counselling from your wellbeing services county or adoption agency

In the first stage of the adoption process, you should always request adoption counselling from your own wellbeing services county, which provides the service itself or obtains the service from a licensed adoption agency (Save the Children Finland). Adoption counselling is a free social service. Adoption counselling is mandatory for all domestic and intercountry adoptions, regardless of whether you are adopting a specific child (for example, a child living in your family) or a child with whom you have no family relationship or other ties.  

In adoption counselling, a social worker specialised in adoption issues will provide you with information on adoption, help you prepare for adoptive parenthood and prepare a report on your circumstances and suitability for adoption. During adoption counselling, you will specify whether you want to adopt a child from Finland or abroad.

Ask the service provider for intercountry adoption services if you are adopting from abroad

If you want to adopt a child from abroad, you must apply for intercountry adoption services from a Finnish intercountry adoption service provider after receiving adoption counselling. The service provider is a Finnish accredited body that assists you in submitting your application to a foreign adoption authority or accredited body and to the Adoption Board in Finland. The service provider ensures that adoption is in the best interests of the child living abroad and that the child is genuinely free to be adopted. 

Intercountry adoption services may be provided by accredited bodies licensed by the Adoption Board. Currently, new applicants are taken on by one service provider, Interpedia ry. Applicants must pay a service fee for the intercountry adoption services. 

 Read about exceptional situations where the service provider cannot be used. 

Apply for an adoption permit from the Adoption Board

When you have received adoption counselling and, in the case of intercountry adoption, intercountry adoption services from a service provider, you must apply for an adoption permit from the Adoption Board.

If you do not have an adoption permit, you are not allowed to take a child with you for adoption purposes. The adoption counsellor is not allowed to place a child with you for adoption purposes, nor may the intercountry adoption service provider transfer the child to you unless you have a valid adoption permit. Adoption carried out abroad cannot be recognised as valid in Finland if the adoption permit had to be applied for in Finland. Therefore, it is important that you check with the Adoption Board whether the adoption you are considering is one for which you should first apply for an adoption permit in Finland. 

However, an adoption permit is not required for the adoption of an adult over the age of 18 or for domestic intrafamily adoption. In this case, confirmation of adoption is applied for directly from the District Court. Read more about situations that do not require an adoption permit on our page Domestic intrafamily adoption and adult adoption. 

After obtaining an adoption permit, the progress of adoption depends on whether it is a domestic or intercountry adoption. In domestic adoption, the social workers of adoption counselling and child welfare will place the child with you and instruct you on how to apply to the District Court for confirmation of adoption. In intercountry adoption, the adoption service provider takes care of submitting the adoption application to the foreign adoption authority and the progress of the adoption until the adoption is confirmed. Depending on the country in question, intercountry adoption is confirmed either in the child’s country of origin or by the District Court in Finland.