Meliha Zulović and her husband, who live in Sarajevo, waited eight and a half years to adopt a child. They turned to the Center for Social Work 16 years ago, where they underwent basic processing, which was followed by a long wait.

In an interview with "Avaz", Zulović recalled the period of adoption of two children, who were then five and six years old, and today they are schoolchildren aged 13 and 14, who grow up in a happy family of five, because six years ago they also got a sister.

There is no deadline

- Our children were in the difficult-to-adopt category because they are brother and sister. Another thing is that our children were at an growing age. What the public doesn't know is that the focus is on children who are as young as possible and up to one year old, and our children were already of school age, and therefore we got priority on the list of adopters when we said that we don't have a limit - said Zulović.

She explained to us that the adoption process itself basically has no time limit.

- We waited a long time, and the centers for social work justified that wait by saying that there are not enough children who are ready to go through the legal adoption procedure - she added.

Although babies up to one year are most often adopted, the specificity of this case is that the children knew their biological parents and, as Meliha told us, they had the experience of growing up in a biological family. An adaptation period followed, which legally lasts from six months to a year.

- The essence of the whole process is actually finding a family for the child, not finding a child for a family that wants to adopt a child, the child's interest is key and that is what we as a society should talk about much more, how much we work for children, how much we damage every child who is without parental care for the reason that we are usurping his basic right according to all conventions, which is his right to create a family and grow up in a family - Zulović believes.

Happy end

Meliha does not hide her joy because off happy end and states that the wait was worth it. Six years ago, she gave birth to a baby girl, although she and her husband thought their chances of conceiving were minimal.

Frozen in space

Zulović mentioned a problem that is little talked about, and it refers to the family law, according to which, if the mother abandons the child, but does not renounce parental rights, that child cannot be adopted. In those cases, the alternative is for the child to be adopted by foster families.

- Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a family law and we are sensitive to the deprivation of parental rights, mothers leaves children they do not want to care for, and do not want to give up parental rights, these are the children who are frozen in space, live in institutions, and there is no legal basis to for them to be adopted - said Zulović.