Children born Moldova, left alone for various reasons, up to 7 years of age and living in residential institutions, without special needs, can be adopted by people with foreign residency only if they are not accepted for national adoption, guardianship, or tutelage during their first year after being registered as eligible for adoption. In the case of children with special needs this term will be shorter, and namely six months, under a bill amending the adoption legislation approved by the Government. Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga said that the reduction of the term after which children with special needs (those who were attributed the status of children with disabilities or have increased risk of further development of hereditary illnesses, or have acute genetic anamnesis) will allow them to find a home as soon as possible, and start proper medical treatment. Buliga said that the amendment aims to optimize the legal base for adoption procedures, specifies the categories of children eligible for adoption, exclude the discriminatory regulations regarding medical contraindications of the adopters, in accordance with international documents’ provisions and best practices in the field on the European and international level. According to the Government-adopted document, the application for international adoption, the adoption procedure by foreign or stateless citizens itself will not be done through State central authorities, but only through, and with the professional support of, foreign adoption organizations that were registered and accredited in Moldova. This restriction would not apply to Moldovan citizens who live abroad. Currently, there are 25 such organizations in Moldova that are accredited. In order to avoid formalism in file examination and to assure the quality of adopters’ matching process, the bill proposes to limit to two simultaneous international applications for adoption, by each organization, monitored by the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family. Thus, the maximum number of concomitant applications will be 50; the Ministry does not have the capacity to process more. The Minister added that two years have passed since the Law on adoption is effective, and currently detailed information on the results of this process is being prepared, including info on international adoption. The information will be published in the near future.