Instructions for applying for an adoption permit

These guidelines are valid as from 22 January 2026. 

As a rule, a medical statement T must be based on a physical appointment with a physician, and the medical statement must indicate whether it is based on a statement issued as a result of a face-to-face or a remote appointment. It may be in the applicant’s interests to have a face-to-face appointment to get the medical statement. A medical statement issued as a result of a remote appointment may prolong the clarification phase of the matter if the information in the statement is not sufficient. 

The adoption application must always be appended with a medical certificate on the prospective adopter's health (T-certificate). The T-certificate must be complete, i.e. all information entered on it must be submitted for inspection. The T-certificate must not be older than one year when it arrives at the Board. 

The prospective adopter must confirm the information in the T-certificate with their signature.  
If the prospective adopter has a chronic illness or an illness or injury that restricts their ability to care for a child or the prognosis of which is poor, they must submit a specialist’s statement on their health to the Adoption Board. 

The specialist’s statement should include at least the following: 

• Effect of health status on operating capacity. 
• Current general situation and operating capacity, and what kind of symptoms the disease causes, if any.  
• Any medication related to the disease. 
• The physician’s comprehensive assessment of the health status and symptoms as well as the development of possible comorbidities in the future. An assessment of how the disease may affect the raising and taking care of the adopted child until adulthood. 
• An estimate of how the disease possibly affects life expectancy. 
• An assessment of how the disease reacts to intense stress and how a potential crisis related to the adopted child’s arrival may affect the health status. 

The specialist’s statement submitted to the Board may not be more than six months old when the application is received by the Board. In their statement, the specialist must take a position on the effect of the disease on adoptive parenthood. If the physician has not commented on adoptive parenthood, the Board must request further clarification  

The Board assesses the impact of the applicants’ health status in relation to the benefit of the adoptee. It is important that the applicants are physically and mentally stable and able to provide the adoptee with good care until adulthood. The Adoption Board’s decision-making is always based on the child’s best interests, and the assessment of health is case-specific. 

According to the Adoption Act, the adoption counselling agency must obtain a statement on the circumstances of the child and the applicants from the wellbeing services county in which their municipality of residence is located. As a rule, the statement may not be older than one year when the application arrives at the Adoption Board. 

The wellbeing services county’s recent statement is also required in connection with further clarifications prepared for applications for the extension for an adoption permit. 

The consent of the other party to the relationship of an applicant living in a registered or cohabiting partnership is a prerequisite for the adoption permit. For this reason, a copy of the document signed by the other party to the relationship in which the party consents to the adoption of the child must be appended to the applicant's adoption counselling clarification. 

Provisions on giving consent are laid down in the Adoption Act. The consent must be given in writing. The consent must be dated and signed by the person giving the consent. The consent is personally received by the adoption counsellor. 

Adoption counselling is also provided to the other party in the applicant’s relationship. The criminal record extract of all adult persons living in the same household as the prospective adopter must be checked in connection with adoption counselling. 

During adoption counselling, the criminal records must be checked as well as the prospective adopter’s police data and information about any home alarms. A maximum of one year may have passed since the review when the application arrives at the Adoption Board. 

When the wellbeing services county acts as an adoption counsellor, it has the right to receive police data directly on the basis of section 20 of the Act on the Status and Rights of Social Welfare Clients. 

When adoption counselling is provided by an adoption agency (Save the Children Finland), it must request the checking of police data from the prospective adopter’s wellbeing services county at the same time as it obtains a statement on the prospective adopter’s circumstances on the basis of section 24 of the Adoption Act. 

Police data of applicants may not be submitted to the Adoption Board as such. It is sufficient to record a remark in the home study stating that the police data has been checked. If an entry is found in the police data of the prospective adopter that may affect adoptive parenthood, it must be recorded in the home study. Otherwise, it is sufficient for the information on the checking of the applicant’s police data and the date of the check to be recorded in the home study. The wellbeing services county is responsible for assessing the possible impact on adoptive parenthood.  

A note of the checking of police data and any home alarms must be included in all home studies. If there is no entry, the Adoption Board must request further clarification. 

The adoption permit application of the prospective adopter is initiated by the Board on the basis of the applicant's own application. The Adoption Board has noticed that some applicants submit an application for an adoption permit several months before the completion of the accompanying documents. However, the processing of an application for an adoption permit can only begin once all the necessary documents and clarifications have been submitted to the Board. 

Please note that to ensure smooth permit administration, you can only apply for an adoption permit once the adoption counselling has ended.

It is very important that the applicant submits their own application to the Board before the expiry of the valid permit. The Adoption Board wishes that the application for the extension for the adoption permit will be submitted in good time, but no earlier than three months before the expiry date of the permit.  

Select and fill in your application using the Adoption Board’s electronic security application form according to the type of adoption permit you are applying for: 

• permit for domestic adoption
• permit for intercountry adoption through a service provider
• permit for intercountry adoption without a service provider
• extension for the domestic adoption permit
• extension for the intercountry adoption permit.

All foreign documents must be legalised and translated into Finnish, Swedish or English. You are responsible for obtaining, translating and paying for all documents and any other clarifications.  

Before submitting a document prepared abroad to the Adoption Board, you must legalise the document. The legalisation of a document ensures that the party that prepared the document has the right to issue the document in accordance with the legislation of the state in question. 

Depending on the state, legalisation is carried out in two ways: 

1. Apostille countries 
   If a state is a signatory to the international Apostille Convention (The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents), you must request an Apostille Certificate from the competent authority of that state. The certificate verifies the document’s signature, the signatory’s position and, if necessary, the document’s seal and stamp. 
2. Non-Apostille countries 
   If the state has not signed the Apostille Convention, you must request a certificate from the foreign ministry of the state in question. After this, the competent Finnish mission will attach a certificate that the official of the foreign ministry has had the right to issue the certificate in question. If there is no Finnish mission in the country in question, and the country in question does not belong to the domain of any Finnish mission, the document can in some cases be legalised at the mission of another Nordic country (except Norway). 

In order for the authorities in Finland to assess whether the decision issued in another country corresponds to adoption in accordance with the Finnish Adoption Act, a content review of the original decision is required. 

For example, a guardianship decision is not equivalent to adoption in the Finnish legal system. 

The kafala system in common use in Islamic countries is also not equivalent to adoption in the Finnish legal system. Unlike adoption, kafala is a contractual relationship that does not permanently change the legal relationships and rights of inheritance of the child and their biological family. Kafala is a fixed-term agreement valid until the child becomes an adult. Adoption is a permanent arrangement, not a fixed-term agreement. Kafala can be revoked; adoption cannot be revoked. 

Under Finnish adoption legislation, adoption cannot take the form of an agreement between the parties, it cannot be temporary in nature and it cannot be revoked. An adoption decision can only be made by a competent authority in accordance with the adoption legislation. The decision must be based on the adoption legislation of the child’s country of origin. 

Habitual residence determines where your matter will be processed.  

1. If your habitual residence was in Finland immediately (at least one year) before the adoption, you must apply for an adoption permit in Finland. First seek adoption counselling and then apply for an adoption permit.
2. If your habitual residence was outside Finland, and living abroad was based on circumstances other than adoption purposes, (for at least one year) immediately prior to the adoption, the possibility of recognition of the adoption decision will be assessed by the Helsinki District Court. Read more on the District Court website.

Adoption counselling is a social welfare service that is steered by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health with the key tool, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s Handbook for Providers of Adoption Counselling.  

An adoption permit always includes an obligation to notify the Adoption Board of any material changes in the applicants’ circumstances. The obligation applies to both licensed adoption counsellors and service providers. Submit a notification of a change in circumstances.