Latvian Ministry of Welfare Missing Post-Adoption Reports from Adoptive Parents of Latvian Children

On September 26, 2017, the U.S. Department of State issued an alert explaining that it has been informed by the Latvian Ministry of Welfare that it is still missing post-adoption reports from U.S. families who adopted children from Latvia [PDF version]. The Latvian government asked the DOS to “stress the importance of post-adoption report submission to adoption service providers and adoptive families.”

The DOS explained that Latvian law requires families who adopt children from Latvia to submit two post-adoption reports. The first report must be submitted the first year following the adoption and the second report must be submitted the second year following the adoption. Adoptive families are allowed two extra months to submit the report. Reports should be notarized, contain an Apostille certification, and must be submitted along with a translation in Latvian. These reports may be “conducted by the adoptive family's adoption service provided or the appropriate child welfare officials in the state where the child resides.”

Post-adoption reports should be submitted to the following address:

Latvian Adoption Authority
Children and Family Policy Department
Ministry of Welfare
28 Skolas St.
Riga, Latvia, LV-1331

If adoptive families who are required to submit a post-adoption report by November 1 will not have their reports arrive by that date, they may email the report to the Latvian Ministry of Welfare at [email protected] while the hard copy is en route.

Adoptive families should ensure that they cooperate with all post-adoption reporting requirements. In addition to having agreed to do so in making the adoption, cooperation with the requirements will, with hope, build trust between the United States and the country in question and make it easier for future prospective adoptive parents to adopt children from that country.