Adopting a Child in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• Single people and couples living in Portugal who want to adopt a child through the national system.
• Foreign residents, including same-sex couples, wondering whether they can apply and what extra papers they need.
• Residents of Portugal thinking about adopting a child from another country.

Not for you if: you want leave and pay after a birth. Read "Child Benefits and Parental Leave in Portugal".

Adoption in Portugal runs through Segurança Social, the social security service, and a family court. The process is free. You can apply alone from the age of 25, or as a couple married or living together for more than four years. After you apply, the adoption team must prepare, assess, and decide on you within six months. Waiting for a child after that can take years, and it depends mostly on the child you feel able to care for. The adoption becomes final only when a judge rules on it.

Who can adopt

The law sets the same conditions for Portuguese citizens and foreign residents.

• Couples: two people married to each other, or living together in a de facto union (união de facto), for more than four years. Both must be over 25. Time you lived together before marrying counts towards the four years.
• Single people: anyone over 25, whether single, married, widowed, or in a de facto union.
• Same-sex couples: yes, they can adopt. Couples get no priority over single applicants.
• Upper age: you must be 60 or younger when the child is placed with you. From the age of 50, the age gap between you and the child cannot be more than 50 years. A court can allow a wider gap for strong reasons, for example to keep brothers and sisters together.

The child must be under 18 when the adoption is requested. Your income must cover a child's costs, and your home needs basic hygiene, water, electricity, sanitation, and a bedroom for the child. You do not need to be well off.

If your partner has a child, adopting that child follows different rules, and the upper age limit does not apply.

What you need to apply

You receive the forms at your first information session. Bring:

• a full, up-to-date birth certificate for you and for any children you have
• a valid identity document, such as a Citizen Card, passport, or residence permit
• your marriage certificate or proof of your de facto union
• a criminal record certificate issued for adoption purposes
• a medical certificate on the adoption model that Segurança Social gives you
• your last payslip, a letter from your employer, or your last income tax return
• a photograph
• your social security number (NISS)
• a certificate of residence

If you are a foreign citizen living in Portugal, you also need a certificate setting out your own country's adoption law.

Step by step

1. Contact the adoption team where you live. In the Azores and Madeira this is the regional social security institute. Across the Lisbon district, the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa handles adoption. Everywhere else it is the district social security centre. You apply with one team only, the one for your area.
2. Attend the information session. It covers the conditions, the forms, and the children waiting.
3. Hand in your forms and documents. You get a certificate showing the date your application was formally accepted.
4. Go through the assessment. The team interviews you, visits your home at least once, and runs psychological and social assessments. You also attend a second training session. If you work, you may take time off for these sessions, with no limit on the number. Give your employer proof of each absence.
5. Get the decision within six months. If you are selected, you receive a selection certificate and join the national adoption list. The certificate lasts three years, and you can renew it before it runs out.
6. Wait for a proposal. You cannot choose a child. You tell the team what age, health, and background you feel able to care for, and the team looks for families that suit each child.
7. Meet the child. A transition period lets you and the child get to know each other before the child moves in.
8. Live together during pre-adoption. The child lives with you for up to six months while the team visits and supports you. This can be extended by up to three months.
9. Apply to the court. The team writes a final report within 30 days. You send it, with your request, to the family court where you live. The judge hears you, and also hears the child.
10. The ruling. Once the judge decides, the adoption is complete. You can ask the team for support afterwards.

How long it takes

The assessment has a legal limit of six months. Pre-adoption lasts up to six months, or nine at most. No official figure exists for the wait in between. Segurança Social says the wait is usually shorter if you can care for an older child (from about four to six), a child with a health problem, or a group of brothers and sisters.

If your application is refused

Before a refusal, the team must tell you its reasons and let you respond. You can look at your file and add new information. If the decision stands, you can appeal to the family court within 30 days.

Leave and pay for adoptive parents

Adoptive parents have the same parental rights as other parents, including absences, working hours, and benefits.

• Adoption leave: if the child is under 15, you get 120 or 150 days in a row. You get 30 more days for each extra child adopted at the same time.
• Adoption benefit (subsídio por adoção): pays 100% of your average earnings for 120 days, or 80% for 150 days. If both of you take at least 30 days of the leave alone, you gain 30 more days. You must have paid contributions for six months. The minimum is €14.32 a day in 2026.
• The other adoptive parent: has 28 days of compulsory leave, plus 7 optional days, paid at 100%.
• No contributions? If you have a low income, you may get the social adoption benefit instead. It pays €429.70 a month (€14.32 a day) in 2026, for 120 days or, if you share the leave, longer.

Apply within six months of the date the child is placed with you, online through Segurança Social Direta. If you apply late, you lose the days that have passed. No adoption leave or benefit is paid when you adopt your partner's child.

What adoption changes for the child

• The child becomes your child in law, with the same inheritance rights as any birth child.
• Legal ties with the birth family end. In exceptional cases, the court may allow some contact, especially with brothers and sisters.
• The child takes your surnames. A court can, exceptionally, change the child's first name if you ask and it is in the child's interest.
• The adoption is recorded on the child's birth record, and your identity is kept from the birth parents.
• Adoption cannot be undone, not even by agreement.

From the age of 16, an adopted person can ask Segurança Social for information and support to learn about their origins. Under 18, the adoptive parents must agree. The records are kept for at least 50 years.

Taking a baby home directly from a birth mother is not a legal adoption. A mother can only consent to adoption before a judge, and not until six weeks after the birth.

Adopting from another country

If you live in Portugal, start with the same local adoption team. The process is similar to a national adoption. Once you are selected, the Central Authority for International Adoption sends your application to the matching authority in the child's country. You may apply nationally and internationally at once, with two separate applications.

You must meet Portuguese conditions and the other country's rules. International adoption usually costs money: translations, legal papers, travel, and sometimes lawyers or interpreters. Under the Hague Convention, you may only pay costs linked directly to the process. Ask for an invoice and report it to the Central Authority. An adoption made abroad under that convention, with a certificate of conformity, is recognised in Portugal without a new court case.

If you live abroad and want to adopt a child from Portugal, apply in your own country. Children in Portugal go to international adoption only when no suitable family is available in Portugal or among Portuguese citizens abroad.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

This guide is written from official Portuguese and EU sources and, for prices and contact details, the providers' own websites.

• Instituto da Segurança Social, Guia Prático: Adoção (N32, v4.12, 5 June 2025): who can adopt, steps, documents, international adoption, FAQ (Portuguese only)
• Instituto da Segurança Social, Guia Prático: Subsídio por Adoção (3011, v1.32, 5 January 2026): eligibility, rates, deadline (Portuguese only)
• Instituto da Segurança Social, Guia Prático: Subsídio Social por Adoção: non-contributory benefit, 2026 amount (Portuguese only)
• gov.pt, Ter uma criança: Adoção de crianças e jovens em Portugal (time off for assessment, adoption leave) (Portuguese only)
• gov.pt, Pedir o subsídio por adoção (who can claim, six-month deadline, online claim) (Portuguese only)
• PGD Lisboa, Código Civil, consolidated text, articles 1973 to 1980 (who can adopt, who can be adopted) (Portuguese only)
• PGD Lisboa, Código Civil, consolidated text, articles 1982 to 1990-A (consent, effects, name, irrevocability, origins) (Portuguese only)
• PGD Lisboa, Lei n.º 143/2015, Regime Jurídico do Processo de Adoção, consolidated text (articles 6, 40 to 44, 50, 56) (Portuguese only)
• Diário da República, Lei n.º 46/2023, de 17 de agosto (adopter minimum age 25, child under 18) (Portuguese only)

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.