Family benefits for adoptive parents

Parental allowance is compensation for lost income when parents take care of a child after its birth. The benefit allows parents to spend time with their child during this important phase. You can also receive parental benefit for your adopted child, up to the child's 8th birthday. You are entitled to parental allowance from the first day you take the child into your family or household. This means that you can receive parental allowance while you are still caring for the adopted child, even if the adoption procedure is still ongoing. You can find out which parental allowance variants are available and how to apply for parental allowance here on the Familienportal.NRW.

Adoptive parents are entitled to child benefits for their adopted children. The child benefit is independent of the child's nationality, but the claimant must live with the adopted child in Germany. They are entitled to child benefits from the time the child is adopted into the household. This also applies to children who are in adoptive care and have not yet been adopted. All information on child benefit and the application procedure is available here on the Familienportal.NRW.

Also adopted children must be health insured - either as a member of the statutory or a private health insurance. It is regulated by law in which insurance company the child is co-insured: If there is a difference in income, then the child in question is co-insured in the insurance company of the parent who has the higher income. If the parent with the higher income is legally insured, the child can be co-insured via the family insurance without having to pay premiums. If the parent with the higher income has private insurance, the adopted child must also have private insurance. Inquire for more information directly at your statutory health insurance or private health insurance.