Currently, 505 children in Moldova have the status of adoptable child, according to the State Adoption Register. Only 38 of them are younger than three. Ninety-six children are aged between 4 and 8, 165 – between 9 and 13, while 206 children are older than 14.

In a response to an inquiry made by IPN, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection said the data about the number of children adopted in 2020 are being systemized. According to the State Adoption Register, 168 children were adopted in 2018-2019 by Moldovan citizens, while 16 by foreign citizens.

Under the legislation, adoption is permitted only to legally competent persons older than 25 or to person who are by at least 18 years older than the child they want to adopt, but not more than 48 years. The adopters must satisfy the moral guarantees and financial conditions required for the multilateral and harmonious development of the child. In the case of married couples, the adoption by them is permitted only if their marriage is longer than three years when they file an adoption application.

The persons deprived of parental rights, whose state of health does not allow them to appropriately fulfill the obligations and responsibilities for raising and educating children, who avoid fulfilling the parental obligations and adults who presented false documents or information in their application for adoption or were convicted of a number of offenses cannot adopt children.