International adoption country guide
Bulgaria: adoption records and family tracing
Practical guidance for adoptees based in the UK who were adopted in Bulgaria, were born there and adopted in the UK, or have a birth parent from there.
Research last refreshed: September 2026
Ask the Adoptee Rights Assistant
Start by identifying the records and rules that apply
Historic record survival and pre-current-law cases remain separate from the modern Article 105 process.
ISS Bulgaria maintains a Sofia office for intercountry cases and can be contacted from abroad. The project materials are available in English and Bulgarian. Court access and current eligibility/procedure should be checked for current information before referral.
Check the current procedure before applyingThis guide explains the likely process, but forms, contact details, eligibility and access rules can change. Check the linked source before sending identity documents or paying a fee.
Choose the situation that describes you
Adopted in Bulgaria
What applies: First establish the date and place of the legal adoption in Bulgaria, and identify the original birth/civil, adoption, court, agency or welfare records separately.
How to look for records: Use the Bulgarian legal/court origins process first, then identify civil registration and institutional/social service material.
How to look for family: Use the Bulgarian court/origins-access process first to establish lawful access to biological-origin information. International Social Service Bulgaria has also run a specialist project specifically supporting adoptees and biological parents through origins searches, including preparation, psychosocial support and possible contact after access to origin information has been obtained.
Important: Do not assume that access to one Bulgaria record repository gives access to the whole adoption file. Historic law and record survival may differ from the current adult process.
Born in Bulgaria and brought to the UK to be adopted
What applies: First establish whether the legal adoption was completed in Bulgaria or in the UK. If that is unknown, keep both procedures open rather than assuming where the adoption order was made.
How to look for records: Use the Bulgaria birth/civil and before adoption record procedures described for this country, while separately tracing the UK adoption/receiving-agency, local authority, court and immigration trail.
How to look for family: Use the Bulgarian court/origins-access process first to establish lawful access to biological-origin information. International Social Service Bulgaria has also run a specialist project specifically supporting adoptees and biological parents through origins searches, including preparation, psychosocial support and possible contact after access to origin information has been obtained.
Important: The original birth-country record and the later UK adoption/recognition record are different sources. Nationality of the adopters does not determine where the original birth record is held.
One parent was from Bulgaria
What applies: Do not process this as an intercountry-adoption record case unless the user's own adoption occurred there. Start with the verified identity of the parent and the strongest known place/date in Bulgaria.
How to look for records: Use civil registration, archives and genealogy resources for Bulgaria once the parent's identity and locality are established. Adoption-specific authorities are relevant only if the parent's own adoption/history makes them so.
How to look for family: Use the Bulgarian court/origins-access process first to establish lawful access to biological-origin information. International Social Service Bulgaria has also run a specialist project specifically supporting adoptees and biological parents through origins searches, including preparation, psychosocial support and possible contact after access to origin information has been obtained.
Important: A parent being from this country does not by itself create an entitlement to adoption records. Living-person privacy and civil registration access rules may restrict what can be obtained.
Records and family finding
Start with records
Use the Bulgarian legal/court origins process first, then identify civil registration and institutional/social service material.
Looking for family
Use the Bulgarian court/origins-access process first to establish lawful access to biological-origin information. International Social Service Bulgaria has also run a specialist project specifically supporting adoptees and biological parents through origins searches, including preparation, psychosocial support and possible contact after access to origin information has been obtained.
DNA
Use DNA as a separate source of evidence, not as proof by itself. Prefer multiple matches/shared match analysis plus documentary evidence. Country-specific DNA programmes are listed where verified.
Peer support
ISS Bulgaria is not adoptee-led, but it is a specialist cross-border social-work organisation with a dedicated origins-search support project. Bulgaria-specific adoptee-led groups should still be checked for current information separately.
Practical next steps
If you have no namesUse the Article 105/court process to obtain biological-origin information, while identifying the original court, municipality, institution and adoption authority from the file.
If you have a name or placeOnce access to origin information has been lawfully obtained, consider ISS Bulgaria support for preparing a search/contact process and use Bulgarian civil/archive records for wider family history.
If the search has stalledIf the court process succeeds but tracing does not, ask whether ISS Bulgaria or another verified professional service can support locality-based search/contact; keep support services distinct from legal entitlement to records.
Verified sources and resources
Official services and independent or adoptee-led resources are shown separately. Check current eligibility, security, costs and capacity before supplying personal information.
Other verified resources
Cross-border social-work support and Sofia office for intercountry cases
Things to check: Not a court or civil registry authority
Tailored support to adoptees and biological parents in origins-search processes, including intercountry cases
Things to check: Project scope/current availability must be checked; support follows lawful access to biological-origin information
This country guide provides general information, not legal advice or a tracing service. Records and family finding across borders can involve privacy, consent and personal safety considerations. Verify the current official procedure before acting.
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