There are 267 Bulgarian children, currently waiting from parents from other countries, deputy Justice Minister Margarit Ganev has said.

Of the children registered in the list for international adoption, only 10% to 15% are healthy or almost healthy, and the rest suffer from serious illnesses, Ganev underlined.

Bulgaria joined the Hague convention in 2003 and is now urged to keep international adoptions to a minimum, Ganev explained. He said that this has severely brought down the number of adoptions by foreigners that went from 1,200 in 2002 to 98 in 2006.

The total number of children awaiting adoption in Bulgaria is 2,400. There are another 6,400 children who are placed in orphanages but cannot be adopted, because their parents haven't signed release forms and are still keeping in touch from time to time.

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