Adoption in the UAE: What the Law Allows, Fostering Rules and Adopting From Abroad

Direct answer. Adoption in the UAE, in the sense of a child taking your family name and inheriting from you as your own, is not available under UAE personal status law. The government portal says it plainly: "While adoption is not allowed, eligible families may embrace and raise a child of unknown parentage, subject to specific terms and conditions." The lawful local route is state-supervised fostering under Federal Decree-Law No. 24 of 2022 Regarding Children of Unknown Parentage, as amended. Under the federal law, a married couple living in the UAE can apply together if both spouses are at least 25, and a woman on her own can apply if she lives in the UAE, is divorced, widowed or unmarried, and is at least 30. Each emirate's authority can add its own conditions, and Dubai's Community Development Authority lists its Foster A Child service for Emirati citizens, so confirm eligibility locally before applying. The child does not take your lineage, but you can provide for them by will. If you adopted a child abroad, recognition of the order and residence sponsorship are separate questions for the UAE courts and the residency authority.

What adoption in the UAE means: fostering, not a change of lineage

In many countries adoption makes the child the family's own for every legal purpose. UAE law does not. Lineage, called nasab, links a child to a father. Under the Personal Status Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024, a child's lineage to the father "is proven by birth in a marriage contract, by admission, by proof, or by scientific methods" (Art. 87). Adoption is not on that list. A court order or a private agreement cannot add it.

The UAE offers state-supervised custody by a vetted family instead. The governing law is Federal Decree-Law No. 24 of 2022, in force since 2 January 2023. Its detailed rules sit in the Executive Regulations, Cabinet Resolution No. 54 of 2024.

Two points trip people up:

• The old law is gone. Article 28 of the 2022 law repealed Federal Law No. 1 of 2012 on the custody of children of unknown parentage. Guides that still quote it are out of date.
• The English text says "Adopted Child". The official translation uses that label for a child of unknown parentage in a custodial family's care. It is a label inside a fostering law, not adoption in the lineage sense.

Which children can be fostered

The law covers a "Child of Unknown Parentage". Article 1 defines this as a person of unknown parentage found in the UAE, a child born to an Emirati mother and an unknown father, or a child whose lineage to the father is not legally established.

Where the mother is Emirati and the father is unknown, custody is established for the mother (Art. 14). If she is unfit, the committee recommends an application to the court.

To help without taking custody, Emiratis and residents can sponsor children's living costs through humanitarian programmes, including the Emirates Red Crescent Authority's. The Child Rights Law, known as Wadeema, also gives a child deprived of a natural family the right to alternative care; see our guide to the Wadeema law.

Who can foster a child in the UAE

Article 9 of the 2022 law sets the conditions:

Applicants also undertake in writing to give the child stable residence and not to change the child's identity or beliefs as recorded in official documents (Art. 9(4)).

Can expats and non-Emiratis foster?

Article 9 sets the conditions by residence and contains no nationality or religion condition. The Executive Regulations also expect non-citizen applicants: they ask for a passport and a valid residence permit "if either spouse is not an Emirati citizen".

But the law lets each authority add its own conditions, and local practice can be narrower. Dubai's Community Development Authority describes its "Foster A Child" service as one that allows "Emirati Citizens" to embrace a child. So if you are a resident, do not assume you qualify. Confirm eligibility with the authority in your emirate before you build a file.

How to adopt a child in the UAE: the fostering process step by step

Step 1: Apply to the right authority

The application goes to the federal ministry or the local authority (Art. 8). The law names the Ministry of Community Development; the government portal now lists the Ministry of Community Empowerment, which supervises child care homes and foster placements.

• Abu Dhabi: the Family Care Authority, under the Department of Community Development. The government portal's "Foster a child" link for it goes to TAMM.
• Dubai: the Community Development Authority, through its Foster A Child service.
• Sharjah: the government portal lists the Social Services Department as running the Children's Social Care Home; confirm with it whether it takes fostering applications.
• Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah: the government portal names no local body. Start with the Ministry of Community Empowerment.

Step 2: Prepare the documents

Article 7 of the Executive Regulations lists what the file must contain:

• identity card, plus passport and valid residence permit for any non-Emirati spouse
• marriage certificate, or, for a woman alone, an acknowledgement, a divorce document or a death certificate
• bank statement for the last six months
• salary certificate or income declaration
• criminal case investigation certificate
• latest educational qualification
• title deed or rental contract
• health certificate for infectious diseases
• medical report on mental, psychological and behavioural health
• personal photo
• any other document the ministry or local authority asks for

The regulations also require a fixed monthly income no lower than an amount set by a decision of the Minister or the head of the local authority, and family income that exceeds the family's basic needs in the committee's estimate (ER Art. 9). The regulations do not state the figure; it is set by that decision and can change, so confirm the current amount with the authority. If you were declared insolvent or bankrupt, two years must have passed since the ruling and you must show you are solvent again.

Step 3: Committee review and a trial placement

Each ministry or local authority has a Custodial Families Committee (Art. 7). If it approves the application, it hands the child to the family for a trial period of up to six months, which can be extended for a similar period. The committee then recommends issuing a Custodial Family certificate.

Step 4: Certificates and the child's documents

After the committee accepts the application, the ministry or local authority asks the competent court to issue a certificate for the custodial family (Art. 5(2); ER Art. 4(5)). The child's naming certificate, birth certificate and identity card from the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) are normally arranged earlier, after the child comes into the authority's care (Art. 5; ER Art. 4).

One child, with limited exceptions

An application covers one child (Art. 8(2)). The regulations allow a second child only in set cases (ER Art. 8): where one child has a disability, where the second child is the same gender, or, where the genders differ, where fostering happens during the breastfeeding period so the children count as siblings through breastfeeding. The Personal Status Law sets that kinship at five separate breastfeedings during the child's first two years (Art. 31).

After placement: supervision, disclosure, money and ending custody

• Visits. A social researcher visits at least six times a year while the child is under four, and four times a year after that (ER Art. 15).
• Telling the child. The family must tell the child about their "social reality" when the child is between four and eight years old, after first completing the authority's rehabilitation programme (ER Art. 10).
• Short stays with relatives. A child can be handed to the extended family temporarily for up to two months. The family gives at least ten working days' notice, and the authority decides within five working days (ER Art. 11).
• Returning the child. A family that can no longer continue must give at least 30 days' notice (Art. 10(8), ER Art. 12).

Money and guardianship

Custody is treated as voluntary work done without charge, and the family cannot claim its expenses back (Art. 16). Any money that belongs to the child pays for the child first. Otherwise, the state bears the cost of financial support (Art. 17). The family must preserve the child's funds under the guardianship issued by the competent court (Art. 10(2)), and the court may grant guardianship or custodianship to the custodial family (Art. 15(2)).

For how custody and guardianship differ, see this answer on custody versus guardianship and our guide to child custody after divorce.

Government employees who foster may get benefits set by the Cabinet or the local authority (Art. 18); ask your employer.

When custody ends

Foster custody ends if the child's lineage is proven by a final court ruling (Art. 13(1)(a)), and the family may ask to end it once the child turns 18 (ER Art. 14). Article 13 lists other cases too: for example, where a spouse dies or the couple separates and no family member or relative who meets the custody conditions can continue (the committee decides whether one spouse carries on, Art. 7(2)(c)), harm to the child, inability to care for the child, or loss of an Article 9 condition. The separate power to extend care past the age of majority (Art. 12, ER Art. 13) covers a young adult's stay in a care home.

Name, lineage and inheritance

A fostered child keeps their own identity. They do not take the family's nasab. The court's naming certificate gives the child a name; it does not make them your legal child.

Admitting filiation is not a way around the ban on adoption. An admission under Article 89 of the Personal Status Law declares that the child is in truth your own. Among other conditions, the child's lineage must be unknown and the age difference must support the truth of the admission, and the court may request a DNA test whenever it considers it necessary (Art. 89(2)). It is not a way to give lineage to a child you know is not yours.

Providing for the child by will

A fostered child is not your heir, so leaving them anything takes a will.

• Muslims: a will is executed "within the limits of one-third of the estate" (FDL 41/2024, Art. 173). Anything above one-third needs the heirs' approval, but a larger will is valid for someone who has no heirs (Art. 193). Our guide to Sharia wills for Muslims in the UAE explains the one-third bequest.
• Non-Muslims: see our guide to non-Muslim wills in Dubai.

Is there an adoption route for non-Muslim expats?

We found no working procedure in published federal legislation. The Civil Personal Status Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022, applies to non-Muslim foreigners on marriage, divorce, inheritance, wills and proof of parentage, unless they choose the law of their home country (Art. 1(1)). It says parentage is established "by marriage or by the acknowledgment of the father and mother" (Art. 14(1)).

Article 14(3) lets the Cabinet issue a resolution regulating adoption and its effects. We found no such resolution in the published federal legislation we checked. Its executive regulations, Cabinet Resolution No. 122 of 2023, do mention an "adopted child" in an "alternative family", but only in a marriage prohibition (Art. 2(6)). We did not check emirate-level family laws for non-Muslims. Treat Article 14(3) as an enabling clause, not a working procedure, and confirm the current position with a licensed UAE lawyer.

Adopted abroad and moving to the UAE

Will a UAE court recognise the adoption order? Under the Civil Procedure Code, Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022, a foreign judgment or order is enforced only if it does not conflict with an earlier UAE judgment or order and "contains nothing that conflicts with morals or public order in the State" (Art. 222(2)(e)). UAE personal status law does not create adoption that transfers lineage, so a foreign adoption order may face that public-order test. For non-Muslim foreigners the position is less settled: the Civil Personal Status Law lets them ask for their home-country law on proof of parentage (Art. 1(1)), and its regulations refer to an "adopted child" in an "alternative family". Confirm how your order will be treated with a licensed UAE lawyer.

Can you sponsor the child for residence? We found no statute or government page that names an adopted child as a sponsorable dependant. Whether an adopted child can be sponsored for residence, and on which documents, is set by ICP (in Dubai, the General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs, GDRFA) and can change; confirm the current requirements with ICP or GDRFA or a licensed UAE lawyer. See our answer on sponsoring a stepchild or adopted child and our parent sponsorship guide for how family sponsorship works.

Attest your documents first. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers attestation through UAE missions abroad at selected missions. See our guide to document attestation and the dictionary entry on MoFA attestation.

Adopting from your home country while living in the UAE

If you live in the UAE and want to adopt through your home country, that country's adoption authority sets who is eligible and what paperwork it needs. Its rules sit outside UAE law, so ask that authority directly. On the UAE side, the questions are the same as for a family that arrives with a child: whether the order will be recognised here (Civil Procedure Code, Art. 222(2)(e)), and whether the child can be sponsored for residence (ICP, or GDRFA in Dubai). Confirm both before you start, with the authority in your home country, the UAE residency authority and a licensed UAE lawyer.

Mistakes that cause problems

• Taking in a child informally. Handing a fostered child permanently to another family without approval, or receiving one without telling the police within 24 hours, is punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine of at least AED 50,000 (Art. 23).
• Keeping a found baby. If you find an abandoned child, the government portal says to take them to the nearest police station immediately. Failing to report is punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine of AED 10,000 to AED 100,000 (Art. 21).
• Blocking the social researcher. Obstructing supervision carries a fine of AED 5,000 to AED 50,000 (Art. 22).
• Refusing to return the child. Refusing to hand the child back after a withdrawal decision carries the same penalty as Article 23 (Art. 24).
• Relying on the repealed law. Federal Law No. 1 of 2012 was repealed (Art. 28 of the 2022 law). The current rules are the 2022 law and its 2024 Executive Regulations.
• Assuming the child inherits. A fostered child is not your heir, so without a will they receive nothing from your estate.
• Assuming a foreign order is enough. Recognition of the order and the child's residence are both decided in the UAE (Civil Procedure Code, Art. 222(2)(e); ICP or GDRFA).

Next steps

1. Read the government fostering page and the 2022 law.
2. Contact the authority in your emirate and confirm whether you qualify, especially if you are not an Emirati.
3. Gather the documents listed above and make a will that provides for the child.
4. For a foreign adoption order, a custody dispute or residence sponsorship, a family law lawyer or an immigration lawyer can review your documents. On related duties to children, see our guide to child maintenance (nafaqa).

This is general legal information, not legal advice. Confirm current procedure with the relevant authority or a licensed UAE lawyer.