A number of 765 Moldovan children had been adopted by foreign citizens from 1999 till 2008, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child. Out of the 765 children, 403 are boys and 362 are girls. In 2008 alone, the foreign couples adopted 66 Moldovan children suffering from different diseases. According to preliminary data, 262 children last year were adopted by Moldovan couples, as against 353 children in 2007. 180 out of the 353 were adopted by the second husband or wife. The Moldovans prefer to adopt smaller children that integrate easier into the adoptive family. The national adoption is given priority, the Ministry says in a communiqué. The decision is made by a first-level court. The guardianship authority from the place of residence of the child is empowered to lodge the adoption application with the court. If the child is proposed for international adoption, the application is filed by the agents specialized in international adoptions. The decision is taken by the Court of Appeals from the child’s place of residence. The foreign couples that want to adopt children submit a dossier with detailed information about the family, certified by the guardianship authority of the couple’s country, to the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child. The persons that want to adopt Moldovan children are mainly from the United States, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, France and Israel. The legislation allows adopting children younger than 18. The brothers and sisters cannot be separated if only in exceptional cases like incurable disease, physical deficiencies, and when children that have different fathers did not live together. In order to adopt a child, the Moldovans file an application to the local guardianship authority. The adopters in Moldova can be married persons, of both sexes, aged between 25 and 50. This rule does not apply if the adopters are married to each other and one of them has not turned 50, when the adoptive parent is the spouse of the parent of the adopted child, or when the child lived in the family of the possible adoptive parents before they turned 50.