European institutions, as well as the UN Convention on the  Rights of the Child recommended more adoptions within a country, deputy executive director of the Social Assistance Agency (SAA) Silvia Tsanova said.

Each country was putting effort in preserving the identity of its children, Tsanova told Focus news agency.

All options for adoption within the country needed to be considered, before foreigners become eligible for the adoption of a Bulgarian child, said she.

Bulgaria needed to preserve the identity of its children, especially after the country's EU entry, Tsanova said. The interest of the child came in the first place and if it could not receive proper care within the country, adoption by foreigners was going to become a suitable option, said she.