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International adoption: Why a decision from China has no effect in Germany

Düsseldorf Local Court, decision of 16 April 2025 - Ref.: 278 F 100/23

An adoption pronounced in the People's Republic of China failed in an attempt to have it recognised in Germany before the Düsseldorf Local Court. The reason: the adoption was not a Chinese domestic adoption, but a International adoptionwhere a German Switchboard has not been involved.

A. Background

The applicant, a Chinese national resident in Germany, had adopted a (Chinese) child in China in June 2023 - without the involvement of a German adoption agency. She then applied in Germany for the Recognition of the foreign court decision (§ 2 AdWirkG). However, the court rejected this.

B. Legal standard: §4 AdWirkG

Since the entry into force of the reformed Act on the Effects of Adoption as a Child under Foreign Law (AdWirkG) in 2021 is regulated: A foreign adoption will be not recognisedif no international mediation according to § 2a AdVermiG has taken place.

→ The Düsseldorf District Court ruled on Section 4 para. 1 sentence 1 AdWirkG:

  • This was an international adoption procedure (child resident in China, adoption by person resident in Germany, to be brought to Germany).
  • It was No German switching centre integrated.
  • The requirements for recognition were not met.

→ The court then examined the Exception clause of Section 4 (1) sentence 2 AdWirkG:

An exception in accordance with § 4 Para. 1 S. 2 AdWirkG, according to which the adoption can nevertheless be recognised as an exception if a Parent-child liaisonage exists and the assumption is in the child's required was denied by the court:

"Both a parent-child relationship and the necessity of adoption for reasons of the child's welfare are lacking. With regard to the latter, the need for adoption is already lacking."

Instead, it is more likely to be Kinship care relationship to be assumed. In addition, alternative measures would have been needed in China to ensure the child's welfare - such as educational assistance or placement in the home country, as provided for in Article 21 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

C. Corrective: ordre public (§ 109 FamFG)

However, recognition would also have been ruled out if it led to a result that was obviously incompatible with fundamental principles of German law, in particular if recognition was incompatible with fundamental rights. This was assumed here: The applicant had given an address in China in the formal proceedings - and had not named her German place of residence and had not stated in the court hearing in China that she intended to move to Germany with the child. There was also no mention of this in the "adoption registration procedure in China". The court considered this to be a violation of the German ordre public (see OLG Celle, decision of 12 October 2011, case no. 17 UF 98/11; OLG Nuremberg, decision of 27 October 2015, case no. 7 UF 718/15), as a necessary assessment of the child's best interests abroad is therefore not possible. prevents had been made.

D. Conclusion

International adoptions are a highly regulated and complex area. The legal recognition of a foreign adoption decision in Germany requires transparent compliance with international and national regulations. The decisive factor is whether a International adoption procedure is present or not. In addition to the habitual residence of the child, that of the adopters is also decisive. If they live in the child's home country, no international adoption mediation will be necessary. In all other cases, the procedure under the Adoption Mediation Act (AdVermiG) or the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (HAÜ) must be carried out. If this is ignored, recognition can only be granted in very limited exceptional cases. This depends on the Child welfare and the Parent-child relationship to. And yet the lack of involvement of German specialised agencies, false information or the deliberate misleading of foreign authorities and/or courts prevent the result of an adoption procedure - which may have been carried out properly abroad - from being implemented in other legal systems, in this case the German one.

Dr Marko Oldenburger
Specialist lawyer for family law & medical law
Schneider Stein & Partner

Dr Oldenburger advises and represents individuals, different and same-sex couples on the path to fertility fulfilment, including surrogacy and international adoptions. Send him an e-mail at (oldenburger@schneiderstein.de) or use our Contact form.
By the way: We offer country-specific package prices for surrogacy and international adoption procedures from A-Z (fixed prices) or modular fees depending on your service requirements. This means that your expenses can be calculated from the outset. Further information on the desire to have children here.