This Alert Supersedes the Notice Posted on February 21, 2019

Intercountry adoptions from Poland to the United States will likely remain difficult for the foreseeable future. In February 2019, the Polish Central Authority (PCA) agreed to approve adoptions that met the criteria outlined below:

1. intra-family intercountry adoption;
2. intercountry adoption to reunite a child with his/her previously adopted siblings;
3. intercountry adoption of a child in exceptional life or health situations when local authorities are unable to find permanent or temporary domestic placements, such as foster care; OR
4. intercountry adoption by Polish citizens living abroad.

However, recent approvals from the Ministry indicate that most intercountry adoptions involve intra-family adoptions or are cases in which the prospective adoptive parents are already the adoptive parents of the child’s sibling.  Further, the PCA informed the U.S. Embassy that cases in which a Polish child was determined eligible for intercountry adoption and previously matched with a U.S. prospective adoptive family may be denied if a domestic placement is identified.  In cases that are ultimately approved, foreign families may encounter long delays in document processing.  

The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw has observed that filing well-documented appeals after receiving a negative decision from the Ministry of Family and Social Policy or from the Catholic Adoption Center concerning their match has been successful in some previous cases.   The Government of Poland authorities generally will answer inquiries about general policies applied in their decision process.