The UAE runs two entirely separate systems, and neither is adoption as most expatriates understand it. The domestic system is Custody under Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2022 on Children of Unknown Parentage, open only to Muslim UAE nationals resident in the State, while non-Muslim expatriates adopt under the law of their own country through their embassy.

The confusion is built into the statute itself, which defines “Adopted Child” as a child of unknown parentage placed with a Custodial Family while never transferring lineage. This guide sets out both routes, who qualifies for each, the conditions and obligations the law imposes, the mandatory disclosure rule most people have never heard of, and what happens, including the criminal penalties that apply to everyone, if you find an abandoned child.

Two Systems, Not One

Which route is open to you is decided by nationality and religion before anything else. There is no single UAE adoption process that a resident family applies to.

Who you are What is available Governing law Who decides
Muslim UAE national, resident in the UAE Custody of a child of unknown parentage. Lineage is not transferred. Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2022 Custodial Families Committee at the Ministry or local authority
Non-Muslim expatriate couple Adoption under the law of their country of citizenship and the child’s Home country law, applied in the UAE The couple’s embassy in the UAE
Muslim expatriate Sponsorship of a child’s living costs. Not adoption and not Custody. General law, no dedicated statute Licensed charitable channels

The federal portal states the position for expatriates directly: non-Muslim expatriate couples “can adopt while living in the UAE as per the laws of their country/ies of citizenship and that of the child’s”, their embassies “must determine whether the parents are fit to adopt and then may legalise the adoption”, and Muslims cannot adopt a child but “can sponsor the living costs of one”.

The UAE’s Own System Is Custody, Not Adoption

Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2022 defines Custody as “caring for and preserving Children of Unknown Parentage, as well as providing for their upbringing and care”. It does not create a parent-child legal relationship, and the child’s name is chosen by the Ministry in coordination with the concerned authorities rather than taken from the family.

The statute’s own vocabulary is where readers go wrong. Article 1 defines “Adopted Child” as a child of unknown parentage under the custody of a Custodial Family, so official English translations use the word adoption throughout while describing something legally different.

Article 12 makes the distinction concrete. Custody ends when the child’s lineage is proven by a final court ruling, or when the child reaches the age of majority, which is not how adoption behaves anywhere. A Minister’s decision can extend the period on a social researcher’s report.

The Child Gets Full Documentation

Article 5 sets out a complete documentary chain. The competent court issues a certificate naming the child, the concerned authorities then issue a birth certificate through the same registration system used for registering a newborn’s birth, and ICP issues an identity card.

Article 6 obliges the Ministry or local authority to provide living services, social, health, psychological and cultural care, public and university education, and integration into sports and cultural centres. Article 17 puts the financial support on the State where the child has no money of their own and no donor.

Who Can Be a Custodial Family

Article 9(1)(a) requires that the applicant spouses be Muslims who hold the nationality of the State and reside in it, with neither spouse under 25 years old. Three further conditions follow on convictions, health and financial capacity.

  • No conviction against honour or trust. Neither spouse may have been previously convicted of such a crime, “even if they have been rehabilitated”.
  • Health clearance. Both must be free of communicable and psychological diseases and mental disorders affecting the child’s health and safety, proven by medical reports from a health facility.
  • Financial capacity. The family must be able to support its members and the child on controls set by the Executive Regulations.
  • Any other conditions determined by the Ministry in coordination with the local authorities.

Cabinet Resolution 54 of 2024, the Executive Regulations, turns the financial test into three checks: a fixed monthly income not below an amount set by the Minister or the head of the local authority, income exceeding the family’s basic needs on the Committee’s estimate, and no prior insolvency or bankruptcy judgment unless two years have passed and solvency has been proven. The income floor itself is set by a decision that is not published, so it cannot be quoted here.

The Two Exceptions Most Summaries Omit

Article 9(2) lets the Committee recommend Custody in two situations outside the main rule. The first is where only one of the spouses holds UAE nationality, which opens the route to a mixed-nationality couple that the headline condition appears to exclude.

The second is a single applicant. A Muslim woman holding UAE nationality who is unmarried, divorced, widowed or whose husband is absent may apply, “provided that her age is not less than (30) thirty Gregorian years and not more than (50) fifty Gregorian years”.

Note the upper limit. The u.ae page on fostering children of unknown parentage, updated 3 February 2026, gives the minimum age of 30 for a single female applicant but does not mention the ceiling of 50 that the Decree-Law sets. Work from the statute.

How the Process Actually Runs

Applications go to a Custodial Families Committee established at the Ministry or the local authority. Under Article 7(2)(b) the Committee hands the child over for a period not exceeding six months, extendable for a similar period, and only then recommends issuing the Custodial Family certificate.

The first placement is therefore a supervised trial, not a final order. Periodic follow-up reports from the Competent Social Researcher drive the decision on whether the family is eligible.

Article 8(2) limits an application to Custody of one child. The Committee also decides what happens if a spouse dies or the couple separates, including whether one of them continues and whether another family member may take over.

When Two Children Are Allowed

The Executive Regulations permit an application for more than one child only where the financial and social capacity exists and one of three situations applies: one of the children has a disability, the second child is the same gender as the first, or, where the genders differ, “the fostering must occur during the breastfeeding period to fulfil the condition of the adopted children being considered siblings due to breastfeeding”.

That third limb is a religious-law rule expressed in a modern regulation, and it has a hard practical consequence. A cross-gender sibling placement is realistic only for infants, which is why families are usually offered a same-gender second placement instead.

Obligations That Surprise People

Article 16 states that Custody “is considered a voluntary work that takes place without charge”, and that the family may not claim from the child, the Ministry or the authority any expenses spent during the custody period. Article 10 then imposes nine continuing duties.

Three of them change how families plan. The family must obtain prior approval before temporarily handing the child to another family, must give at least 30 days’ notice if it wishes to return the child, and must facilitate the social researcher’s access to the house and to the child.

Article 11 removes the usual right of challenge. Where a breach of those obligations causes harm to the child, the Committee withdraws the child on the social researcher’s report “without the family having the right to object to the same”.

Disclosure Is Mandatory, and Timed

Article 10(3) obliges the family to disclose the child’s social status to the child, in coordination with the Ministry or local authority. This is not a matter of parental preference.

The Executive Regulations then set the window. The family or custodial woman must first pass a rehabilitation programme determined by the ministry or local authority, and the child’s age at disclosure must be “not less than (4) four years and not more than (8) eight”.

What Non-Muslim Expatriates Can Actually Do

The UAE does not run an adoption programme that a non-Muslim expatriate family can join. What the federal portal describes is recognition: a couple adopts under the law of their citizenship and the child’s, and the embassy in the UAE determines fitness and may legalise the adoption.

In practice this means the substantive process happens in your home jurisdiction or in the child’s, and the UAE’s role is documentary, in the same way it recognizes a civil marriage contracted under a non-Muslim regime rather than administering it. The portal’s own caution is that requirements differ from country to country and that you should check with your embassy.

Budget for the paperwork rather than for a local application. Foreign adoption orders, home study reports and consents generally need attestation before a UAE authority will act on them, and the chain is the one described in the guides to attesting foreign certificates for use in the UAE and to legal translation requirements.

The Residency Question

An adopted child still needs a residence visa to live here, sponsored on the same family sponsorship framework as any other dependent, and the conditions and documents are covered in the guide to UAE family visa requirements.

We could not find an official published statement setting out how ICP treats a foreign adoption order as proof of the parent-child relationship for sponsorship purposes, and we are not going to infer one. Raise it with ICP and with your embassy before the child travels, not after.

What Muslims Can Do Instead

The federal portal states that Muslims cannot adopt a child but can sponsor the living costs of one. For Muslim expatriates who are not UAE nationals, this sponsorship route is the only one available, because Custody under Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2022 requires UAE nationality.

Sponsorship of this kind runs through licensed charitable organizations rather than through the Ministry’s Custody system. Confirm the organization’s licence before transferring anything, because fundraising and donation collection in the UAE are separately regulated and unlicensed collection is an offence.

If You Find an Abandoned Child

Article 3(1) requires anyone who finds a child of unknown parentage to communicate it to the police station. Article 21 punishes a failure to do so with imprisonment and/or a fine of not less than AED 10,000 and not more than AED 100,000, and it applies to residents and citizens alike.

What follows is fixed by statute. The police station must ensure the child is taken directly to the nearest health facility and must notify the Public Prosecution and ICP within 24 hours of the report.

The police file a report describing the place, date and time of finding, the child’s gender and condition, distinguishing marks, clothing and the items found with the child, plus an accurate description of the finder. The health facility examines the child and reports to the Public Prosecution, which then investigates and submits a detailed statement on attribution to the Ministry or local authority within a maximum of six months.

The Other Offences

Three further penalties in the Decree-Law catch conduct people do not realize is criminal. Obstructing the Competent Social Researcher carries a fine of AED 5,000 to AED 50,000.

Permanently handing a child in Custody to another family without the Ministry’s or local authority’s approval carries imprisonment and/or a fine of not less than AED 50,000, as does receiving such a child from a Custodial Family without informing the police station within 24 hours. Refusing to hand the child back when the Committee has decided to withdraw carries the same penalty.

A Child With a Known Mother and No Established Father

Article 14 deals with a different situation from an abandoned child. Where the child has a known mother who holds UAE nationality and an unknown father, or where paternity is not legally proven, Custody is established for the mother.

The Committee only intervenes if the mother is incompetent to take Custody, or if the child’s staying with her threatens the child’s safety or her life, or where realistic circumstances require the child not to stay with her. In those cases it recommends that the Ministry apply to the competent court for a decision.

Guardianship is a separate legal question from Custody in every case. Article 15 applies the general guardianship provisions and lets the court grant guardianship to the Ministry, the local authority or the Custodial Family, and the wider framework is set out in the guide to guardianship of minors in the UAE.

Which Authority Handles It

Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2022 names the Ministry of Community Development as the supervising ministry, with local authorities running the service in each emirate. In Dubai that is the Community Development Authority, and in Abu Dhabi the Department of Community Development.

One caution on naming. The federal ministry responsible for family and community affairs has since been reorganized as the Ministry of Family, while the Decree-Law and the u.ae page still refer to the Ministry of Community Development, so expect the older name in the statute and the newer one on current service channels.

The child rights framework sitting above all of this is Federal Law 3 of 2016, Wadeema’s Law, which establishes the right of a child without natural family support to alternative care through a foster family. Its wider protections are covered in the guide to child protection under Wadeema’s Law.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can expats adopt a child in the UAE?

Non-Muslim expatriate couples can adopt while living in the UAE, but under the laws of their country of citizenship and the child’s country rather than under UAE law, with their embassy in the UAE determining whether they are fit to adopt and legalising the adoption. There is no UAE domestic adoption programme open to expatriate families.

Can Muslims adopt in the UAE?

No. The federal portal states that Muslims cannot adopt a child but can sponsor the living costs of one. The nearest domestic equivalent is Custody of a child of unknown parentage under Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2022, which is restricted to Muslim UAE nationals resident in the State.

What is the difference between Custody and adoption in UAE law?

Custody is care and upbringing without any transfer of lineage, and it ends when the child’s parentage is proven by a final court ruling or when the child reaches the age of majority. The statute confusingly uses the defined term “Adopted Child” for a child of unknown parentage in Custody, but the legal relationship it creates is not adoption.

Who qualifies as a Custodial Family in the UAE?

Article 9 requires spouses who are Muslims holding UAE nationality and residing in the State, neither under 25, with no prior conviction for a crime against honour or trust even after rehabilitation, medical clearance from a health facility, and proven financial capacity. The Committee may also recommend Custody where only one spouse holds UAE nationality.

Can a single woman foster a child in the UAE?

Yes, within limits. A Muslim woman holding UAE nationality who is unmarried, divorced, widowed or whose husband is absent may apply, provided her age is not less than 30 and not more than 50 Gregorian years. The u.ae summary gives the minimum of 30 but omits the ceiling of 50 that the Decree-Law sets.

Is fostering in the UAE paid?

No. Article 16 states that Custody is voluntary work taking place without charge, and the Custodial Family may not claim expenses spent on the child from the child, the Ministry or the authority concerned. Where the child has no money and no donor, Article 17 places the cost of the child’s financial support on the State.

Do I have to tell the child they are fostered?

Yes. Article 10(3) makes disclosure of the child’s social status an obligation of the Custodial Family, carried out in coordination with the Ministry or local authority. The Executive Regulations require the family to pass a rehabilitation programme first and set the disclosure window at an age of not less than four and not more than eight years.

Can a family foster more than one child?

Only in three defined situations, and only where the financial and social capacity exists: where one of the children has a disability, where the second child is the same gender as the first, or where the genders differ and the fostering occurs during the breastfeeding period so the children count as siblings by breastfeeding.

What happens if I find an abandoned baby in the UAE?

Report it to the police station immediately. Failure to do so is punishable under Article 21 by imprisonment and a fine of AED 10,000 to AED 100,000, and once reported the police must move the child to the nearest health facility and notify the Public Prosecution and ICP within 24 hours.

Can an adopted child get a UAE residence visa?

A child living in the UAE needs a residence visa sponsored under the ordinary family sponsorship framework. No official published statement was found setting out how ICP treats a foreign adoption order as evidence of the relationship for sponsorship, so confirm the documentary requirements with ICP and your embassy before the child travels.

Official Sources

Information current as of August 2026. The statutory provisions above were read in full from the official English texts of Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2022 and Cabinet Resolution 54 of 2024 on the UAE Legislation Portal, retrieved through archived copies because the portal blocks automated retrieval, and the expatriate position was taken from the u.ae adoption and fostering pages. Three limitations should be stated plainly. First, the portal’s English texts are translations and the Arabic prevails, which matters here because the translation uses “Adopted Child” for a relationship that is legally Custody. Second, the minimum monthly income for a Custodial Family is fixed by a decision of the Minister or the head of the local authority that is not published, so no figure is given. Third, no official statement was found on how ICP treats a foreign adoption order for residence visa sponsorship, and none is inferred here.

Disclaimer: This guide is general information, not legal advice. Adoption and Custody decisions turn on nationality, religion, the law of your home country and the circumstances of the individual child, none of which a general article can assess. Contact the Community Development Authority or your emirate’s community development department for Custody, and your embassy in the UAE for adoption, and take advice from a UAE-licensed lawyer before acting.