Adoption, Civil Sponsorship and Foster Care
The Adoption, Civil Sponsorship and Foster Care is responsible for promoting and implementing the family integration of children, permanently or temporarily, deprived of their original family environment, through integration into an adoptive family or through civil sponsorship, or for the execution of measure for the development and protection of foster care, provided for in subparagraph e) of article 35 of the Law for the Protection of Children and Young People in Danger (LPCJP).

Adoption
Adoption, decreed by court decision, promotes the definitive integration of a child into a family, through the constitution of a family bond, regardless of blood ties, but considering the child’s best interests.

Civil Sponsorship
Civil sponsorship is a legal relationship that is formed between a child or young person and a natural person or family, who now exercise parental powers and duties, assuming the establishment of affective bonds that allow for the well-being and healthy development of the child or young person.

Foster Care
Foster Care is a measure to promote the rights and protection of children, with a transitory and temporary nature, which aims to provide the child or young person with a family environment, essential for their physical and emotional well-being and for their harmonious development.
APPLICATIONS
Those interested in adopting, being a civil sponsor or foster family, residing in the municipalities of Amadora, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Mafra, Odivelas, Oeiras, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira must attend an information session at the Adoption, Civil Sponsorship and Foster Family of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, where all the necessary information about the application process will be made available.