Adoption is regulated in Romania by Law No 273/2004 on adoption procedures, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented. Interested citizens can find information on the adoption procedure in Romania on the institution’s website, including the rights and obligations of persons wishing to adopt, as well as the forms required in the adoption procedure.

Birth

In Romania, a birth is registered by the civil status unit of the Local Community Public Service of Population Registration or, where applicable, by the superintendent registrar of the mayor’s office of the administrative territorial unit where the event has occurred.

The time limit for declaring and registering the birth of a child is:

• 15 days from the date of birth, for a child born alive and still alive;
• 3 days from the date of birth, for a stillborn child;
• 24 hours from the date of death, for a child born alive but who has died within the first 15 days;
• 30 days for a child up to one year’s old found or abandoned by the mother at the maternity ward/health care unit.

A birth must be registered using the following documents:

• a medical certificate confirming the birth, drawn up on the standard form, which should bear the registration number, definite date, seal/stamp of the health unit and the doctor’s stamp and signature;
• the identity card of the mother and/or of the declarant, if the birth is not declared by the mother;
• the marriage certificate of the child’s parents (the original and a photocopy), if married, and if they have different family names, the written declaration regarding the name to be given to the child;
• the father’s acknowledgment of a child born out of wedlock before the superintendent registrar registering the birth or the notary public, which also states the family name to be given to the child and to which the mother’s consent is annexed; fathers who are minors must be assisted by a legal representative.