The number of adoptions in Portugal continues to fall

The total number of adoptions in 2022 fell to 173 from 185 in 2021, with 14 children returned to adoptive parents and the wait time for a child to be adopted remains close to seven years, according to official data.

According to the National Council on Adoption (CNA) 2022 performance report, the decline in adoptions is halved when taking into account the 2016 figures of 361 adoptions and continues the downward trend since 2019. , when there were 206 adoptions.

Preference continues to be given to children under six years of age who are healthy or have mild health problems and who can be adopted alone without siblings, which is a “concern factor” for the CNA, indicating “a significant number of children who move from year to year” awaiting adoption, and these are children over seven years old who have serious health problems or are disabled.

However, CNA highlights that in 2022, there were 45 adoption offers for children between the ages of seven and 15.

There were 14 interrupted adoptions in 2022, four during the transition period—the transition from foster care or family to foster care—and 10 during the pre-adoption period, when the child is already living in an adoptive family.

Reasons given include “lack of empathy for the child and difficulty expressing emotions,” idealized expectations for emotional expression, inflexible attitudes, and prejudices against “more challenging behavior (petty theft, lying, sexualized behavior, aggression). “.

CNA points to a “reversal in trend” recorded since 2018, with returns increasing in 2022, but still highlights that “of the 14 interruption situations recorded in 2022, 10 were redirected and of these, the majority have already been reintegrated into the reception family, in some cases with a decision on adoption.”

In 2022, only 15 applications had to wait a year or less to be adopted, with the average wait time remaining at six to seven years, leading CNA to recommend tailoring applications to the profile of adopted children, highlighting that long wait times also have implications for applicant motivation.

“Experience has shown that the time lag between certification of adoptability and the moment of integration of the child, despite successive reassessments, can have a negative impact on the success of adoption, both in terms of weakening motivation and in terms of respect. the family’s ability to adapt to changes resulting from the integration of the child,” CNA points out.

CNA recommends some measures based on the experience of other countries: “Examples include setting quotas for new applications for adoption of children under six years of age, launching campaigns to attract applicants for adoption of children from the age of seven, among other strategies.”

To avoid adoption interruption processes, CNA recommends, “in addition to strengthening families’ preparation for the challenges of adoption, extending transition periods, providing breaks for rest and reflection between moments of learning and mutual adjustment for children and adoptive parents, and similar reinforcement regarding the consistent monitoring of families before adoption.”

The CNA report said that in 2022, 157 families were created through adoption, “with 21 families having already accepted the offer of a child in 2021” and “of these 157 families, five were living abroad”, adding that of the total children adopted, 60 were adopted along with their siblings.

There are also 33 families who have adopted a spouse’s child, fewer than in 2021, which CNA admits may be due to the war in Ukraine and the violation of surrogacy contracts in that country.