Administrative services A-Z

Forms available: No
Written form required: Yes
Informal application possible: No
Personal appearance required: No

Online services available: No

You want to give your child up for adoption, the child also agrees, but the required consent of the other parent is missing? Then the family court can replace this missing consent in certain exceptional cases.

The substitution of consent is intended to prevent significant negative consequences for the child concerned if he or she cannot be adopted. Slight disadvantages do not justify substitution of consent to adoption.

If a parent shows indifference to the child, the youth welfare office must inform him or her that substitution of consent is possible. It must inform the parent that the family court may not replace the consent until 3 months have elapsed after the instruction.

This instruction is not required if the other parent's whereabouts are not known and cannot be determined in 3 months despite efforts by the youth welfare office.

This instruction does not take place if

• the child has already been in care for a longer period of time in the family that wants to adopt him/her, and
• severe harm to the child would be expected if the child were to be adopted into the parent's household.

In cases where, for example, you as the mother exercise sole parental care, the Youth Welfare Office must advise the father about his legal options. What is meant here is, for example, an indication of the possibility of the father applying for sole parental care of the child.

Substitution of a parent's consent to adoption is possible,

• if the latter is indifferent towards the child or grossly violates his or her duties towards the child for a longer period of time,
• if it would be associated with particularly serious (disproportionate) disadvantages for the child concerned if adoption did not take place,
• if this parent has violated parental duties in a particularly serious manner and for this reason it can be assumed that the child will never live in the household of this parent,
• if one of the parents suffers from a particularly serious mental illness or a particularly serious mental or psychological disability and for this reason cannot permanently care for and raise the child, and
• if the child's development would be seriously endangered if adoption did not take place.

No further documentation is required.

You will usually incur costs for family court proceedings to replace consent to an adoption.
You do not have to pay anything for the Youth Welfare Office's tasks in the proceedings.

• The application does not require any special form. It can be submitted in writing to the locally competent family court or declared in writing to the legal application office.
• Only the child itself is entitled to file an application:
  • For a child who has not yet reached the age of 14, the legal representative applies to replace the consent of the parent on behalf of the child. If the child has reached the age of 14 and is not legally incapacitated, he or she must apply for the replacement himself or herself.
• The family court
  • involves the parent whose consent is to be replaced,
  • if necessary, appoints a guardian ad litem for the child,
  • hears the youth welfare office and, if necessary, involves it at its own request,
  • decides by resolution whether to replace the consent of a parent.
• The decision shall be notified to the parties involved with instructions on how to appeal; it shall be served on the party whose declared will it does not correspond to.
• The proceedings must be legally concluded before a decision can be made on an application for adoption. The substitution of consent takes effect when the decision becomes final.

• Consent to adoption can be replaced by the family court at the earliest 5 months after the birth of the child.
• If the family court is to replace the consent because the parent is indifferent to the child, this can take place at the earliest 3 months after instruction by the youth welfare office, but in no case earlier than 5 months after the birth of the child.

The adoption placement office and the general social service of the öresponsibleäYouth Welfare Office

The adoption placement office of the locally responsible youth welfare office of the district or independent city

• §§ Sections 38 to 48 of the Act on Proceedings in Family Matters and in Matters of Non-Contentious Jurisdiction (FamFG)
• §§ Sections 58 to 69 of the Act on Proceedings in Family Matters and in Matters of Non-Contentious Jurisdiction (FamFG)
• §§ Sections 186 to 199 of the Act on Proceedings in Family Matters and in Matters of Non-Contentious Jurisdiction (FamFG)
• § Section 1748 of the German Civil Code (BGB)
• § Section 51 Social Code Book Eight (SGB VIII)

• Information on adoption on the federal family portal:

Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ)