A new Decree signed by President Ilham Aliyev introduces amendments to the “Rules for the Adoption of Children Deprived of Parental Care, Including the Adoption of Children Who Are Citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan by Foreigners and Stateless Persons.”

The amendments aim to reduce the length of time children remain in institutional care by accelerating the adoption process and to ensure their integration into a family environment within a shorter period.

According to the Decree, the period during which a prospective parent matched with a child deprived of parental care meets with the child at the institution has been reduced by half. Accordingly, the meetings will be organised for at least 20 hours within one month, instead of at least 40 hours per month over a period of two months.

For children deprived of parental care under the age of three, this period may be reduced to up to six hours within 10 days based on a social worker’s report.

In addition, under the amendment, the requirement for social workers to observe the meeting at the institution for eight hours has also been differentiated. For children under the age of three, the observation period will cover the entire meeting period, while for children over the age of three, the observation period will be at least 10 hours.