- Adoption rates continue to decline
Last year, 3,601 children were adopted in Germany. This was a six percent decrease from the previous year, according to the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. While the number of adoptions has reached its lowest level since German reunification, the share of stepchild adoptions has reached a new high. Almost three-quarters (73 percent) of adopted children were adopted by stepmothers or stepfathers.
On average, children were 5.5 years old at the time of adoption. According to the data, nearly three-quarters were already living with a biological parent and a stepparent before adoption, nine percent were adopted from the hospital, and another eight percent from a foster family. In only three percent of cases, the adoption followed an anonymous birth or a baby hatch handover, and in two percent, it followed a stay in a children's home. Additionally, eight percent of children did not have a German passport before adoption.
Stepfathers most often adopted teenagers, while stepmothers preferred to adopt infants. In 78 percent of stepmother adoptions, the women were in same-sex partnerships and did not provide information about the child's father. These cases accounted for 31 percent of all adoptions.
Statisticians attribute this to current legislation, which allows the partner who did not give birth to obtain the legal status of a biological parent only through stepchild adoption.
About one in four adopted children (24 percent) was adopted by a couple in 2023.
Despite the trends in stepchild adoptions, the overall number of adoptions has remained relatively stable at a low level for 15 years. Experts attribute this to the decline in "classic" foreign adoptions, i.e., adoptions by persons who are neither stepparents nor relatives of the child. Factors contributing to this include advances in reproductive medicine.
The European Parliament can provide assistance to the Commission in formulating policies related to adoption. The Commission, being assisted by the European Parliament, might consider reviewing the impact of current legislation on stepchild adoptions across Europe.
