Before an approval as a prospective adoptive parent is granted, the secretariat of the Joint Council in the applicant’s Regional State Administration performs a thorough investigation of the applicant. The outcomes of the investigation are presented to the Joint Council, who, based on those outcomes, decides whether or not the applicant can be finally approved as a prospective adoptive parent.

The investigation is divided into three phases:

The first Phase concerns the question whether the applicant fulfils the following general conditions for approval as a prospective parent:

• The age difference between the applicant and the child should not be more than 40 years.
• Applicants, who want to adopt a child together must have lived together for at least 2,5 years and must be married.
• The physical and psychical health conditions of the applicant must not imply a risk that the adoption will not turn out to be in the best interest of the child.
• The applicants home must be seen fit to house a child.
• The applicant must show proper economical conditions.
• The applicant must not keep a criminal record, which implies that the applicant is not fit to be a adoptive parent.

The applicant will continue to the second phase of the investigation, if the Regi-onal State Administrations or the Joint Council decides that the applicant fulfils the general conditions, or if - under specific circumstances - the applicant is granted an exemption from the rules. If the investigation after Phase 1 has raised doubt whether the applicant can be said to fulfil the general conditions to continue the investigation, the Joint Council rules whether or not the applicant is seen fit hereto. If the investigation implies that the applicant undoubtedly fulfils the general conditions to continue the investigation, the Regional State Administration is authorized to make decision hereto.

The second Phase consists of a pre-adoption counselling course, which is mandatory to all applicants, who have not previously completed an intercountry adoption. The aim of the course is to provide the applicants information in concern to different aspects of intercountry adoption, and to establish a basis for the applicants to assess themselves, whether or not they possess the necessary resources to adopt a foreign child.

The third Phase consists of one or more interviews with the Regional State Administration. The purpose of this phase is to investigate if the applicant can be said to posses the individual resources necessary to adopt a child. At the end of the third phase, a home study report about the applicant is put before the Joint Council and the final decision on approval is made.

See Legal framework for more detailed information.