Stepparent and foster adoption in the Netherlands

Adoption in the Netherlands is pronounced by the court and permanently changes a child’s legal parentage. The adoptive parent becomes the legal parent, with everything that follows for authority, maintenance, surname and inheritance. The legal ties with the original parent end, except where the adopter is the spouse or partner of a legal parent: that parent keeps his or her legal position.

This article covers domestic adoption by a stepparent, foster parent or guardian. Intercountry adoption is a separate matter; our article on adoption law in the Netherlands covers that.

Table of contents

Who can apply for adoption?

A request can be made by two people together or by one person alone, and only the court can grant it (article 1:227 BW). Two people applying together must have lived together for at least three consecutive years immediately before the request.

In practice, three groups apply:

a stepparent: the spouse, registered partner or cohabiting partner of the child’s legal parent (partner adoption);
foster parents who have raised the child for a long time, usually where the original parents no longer have authority;
a guardian who wants to become the child’s legal parent.

What does the court test?

Two requirements run through every application. The adoption must be clearly in the child’s interest, and it must be reasonably foreseeable that the child has nothing further to expect from his or her original parent or parents in the capacity of parent (article 1:227 paragraph 3 BW).

That second condition is what the court examines most closely, and it is factual. The court looks at what contact there has been, over what period, and what role the original parent has actually played in the child’s life.

Which formal conditions apply?

Article 1:228 BW adds a list of formal conditions. The most important are:

the child is a minor on the day of the first request, and is not a grandchild of the adopter;
each adopter is at least eighteen years older than the child;
the adopter has cared for and raised the child for at least one year; for a partner, that year runs from the moment the partners actually started caring for the child together;
the original parents no longer have authority over the child; in a partner adoption, the parent must have authority alone or jointly with the adopting partner;
a child of twelve or older has not objected to the adoption when heard by the court;
no parent opposes the request, although the court can pass over a parent’s objection in the cases described below.

The one-year care requirement does not apply where the child is born into the relationship of the mother with a female partner (article 1:228 paragraph 3 BW).

Can a parent’s objection be overruled?

Yes, but only on limited grounds. Under article 1:228 paragraph 2 BW, the court can pass over a parent’s objection if:

the child and that parent have never or hardly lived together as a family;
the parent has abused authority over the child or grossly neglected the child’s care and upbringing; or
the parent has been irrevocably convicted of certain serious offences committed against the child.

Even where one of these grounds applies, the general test remains: the adoption must still be clearly in the child’s interest.

How does the procedure work?

The application is made by petition to the district court through a lawyer. The Child Care and Protection Board (Raad voor de Kinderbescherming) is usually asked to advise, and its report on the child’s situation and interests carries real weight. Interested parties, including the original parents, are given the opportunity to be heard, and a hearing normally follows.

When does the adoption take effect?

The adoption takes effect on the day the court’s decision becomes final, and it is then recorded in the civil status records. As a rule it has no retroactive effect; a limited exception applies to a child born into a relationship of two women. The child’s surname is settled as part of the adoption.

Is adoption always the right route?

No. Where the aim is authority to take decisions about the child, joint authority with the parent or guardianship may achieve it without severing legal ties. Where the aim is legal parenthood in a two-mother family, acknowledgement may be available and is considerably simpler. Because adoption is irrevocable in practice, check first whether a lighter instrument is enough.

What should you check as the stepparent or foster parent?

Assemble the evidence of the one-year care period and, for joint applicants, the three years of living together before you file.

Have you cared for and raised the child for at least one year, and, if you apply together, lived together for three consecutive years?
Are you at least eighteen years older than the child?
Can you show what contact the child has had with the original parent, and over what period?
Does your partner, in a partner adoption, have authority alone or jointly with you?

What should you check as the original parent?

You are given the opportunity to be heard, and your objection blocks the adoption unless one of the grounds in article 1:228 paragraph 2 BW applies.

Have you lived together with the child as a family, and can you show it?
What role have you actually played in the child’s life, and is there evidence of contact?
By what date must you respond to the court?
Would a contact arrangement after adoption be in the child’s interest?

What can we do for you with an adoption?

Our family lawyers act for adopting parents and for original parents.

We check whether the conditions of articles 1:227 and 1:228 BW are met before anything is filed.
We draft and file the adoption petition with the district court.
We assemble the evidence of the care period and of the contact with the original parent.
We set out an original parent’s objection and the facts behind it.

Summary

Adoption is granted by the court and makes the adopter the child’s legal parent; ties with the original parent end, except in a partner adoption.
The adoption must be clearly in the child’s interest, and the child must have nothing further to expect from the original parent as a parent.
Formal conditions include at least one year of care, an age gap of at least eighteen years and, for joint applicants, three years of living together.
A parent’s objection can be overruled only on the grounds in article 1:228 paragraph 2 BW.

Frequently asked questions

Can a stepparent adopt without the other parent’s consent?

Sometimes. An objection by a parent does not automatically block the adoption; the court can pass over it on the statutory grounds, such as where the child and that parent have never or hardly lived together as a family. In these cases the evidence of the parent’s actual role matters most.

Does the child keep contact with the original family?

Adoption ends the legal family ties, but contact arrangements with an original parent or grandparent can still be made where that is in the child’s interest.

Can an adoption be reversed?

Only in narrow circumstances. The adopted person can ask the court to revoke the adoption, but only within a limited window after reaching adulthood, and only where revocation is clearly in his or her interest and reasonable. In practice adoption should be treated as permanent.