Bahamas - Adopt a Child

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Procedure

Apply in Person:

1. To adopt a child in the Bahamas, the interested party must submit an adoption order from the Supreme Court along with a valid form of ID to the Birth’s Registry Section of the Registrar General’s Department. Address Link
2. This information will be recorded in the Adoption Book and will be signed by the Registrar General.
3. Next, the applicant must provide the following information at the Birth’s Section of the Registrar General’s Department - the name of the adopted child, year of adoption, name of adopting parents.
4. The clerk will check the adoption register for the person’s information.
5. If found, the information is printed on a certificate and signed by a senior officer.
6. The applicant will then receive the certified adoption certificate.

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Required Documents

• Adoption Order from the Supreme Court.
• Valid form of ID (e.g. passport, voters card).

Office Locations & Contacts

Births Registration Section
Registrar General’s Department
Cor. of Shirley and Charlotte Street
P.O. Box N 532
Nassau
New Providence
The Bahamas
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (242) - 397-9143-58
397-8995
397-9126
397-8953 397-9178
397-9162
397-9178
Fax: (242) - 322-5553
Contact Link

Eligibility

The prospective parents must be

• at least twenty-five years old and at least twenty-one years older than the child to be adopted, or
• at least eighteen years old and are a relative of the child.

Fees

A fee of BS$7.00 is charged for this service.

Validity

Adoption is the permanent legal transfer of parental rights and responsibilities for a child from the natural birth parents to another adult known as the adopter. The Adoption Certificate is valid for ever.

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• Registration can be completed on the same day.
• An adoption certificate can be obtained on the same day or after three days if the information is not found in the adoption registry.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

Please provide other instructions related to the certificate/documents.
e.g. The state office holds birth records since january 1908.

Required Information

• The name of the adopted child
• Year of adoption
• Name of adopting parents

Need for the Document

Adoption is the permanent legal transfer of parental rights and responsibilities for a child from the natural birth parents to another adult known as the adopter. Once an adoption is complete at the Supreme Court, the information is forwarded to the Registrar General’s Department and recorded in the Adoption Book.

Information which might help

As of now, this service is only provided in New Providence and Grand Bahama at the Registrar General’s Department.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

This certificate works as a proof of identity of the adopted child and can be replaced by the original birth certificate.

External Links

Link
Link

Others

More information which might help people.