International adoption
Encyclopedia
International adoption (also referred to as intercountry adoption or transnational adoption) is a type of adoption
in which an individual or couple becomes the legal and permanent parents of a child that is a national of a different country. In general, prospective adoptive parents must meet the legal adoption requirements of their country of residence and those of the country whose nationality the child holds.
International Adoption is not the same thing as Transcultural or Interracial adoption
.
The laws of different countries vary in their willingness to allow international adoptions. Some countries, such as China and Korea, have relatively well-established rules and procedures for international adoptions, while other countries expressly forbid it. Some countries, notably many African nations, have extended residency requirements for adoptive parents that in effect rule out most international adoptions. Malawi, for instance, requires residency except in special cases.
In the United States
, typically the first stage of the process is selecting a licensed adoption agency or agency to work with. Each agency or attorney works with a different set of countries, although some only focus on a single country. Pursuant to the rules of the Hague Convention (an international treaty related to adoption issues) the adoption agency or attorney must be accredited by the U.S. government if the child's country is also a participant in the Hague Convention. If the child's country is not a participant in the Hague Convention, then the rules of the Hague do not apply, and instead the specific laws of the child and adoptive parents must be followed. Even when the Hague does not apply, a home study and USCIS (United States Citizen and Immigration Services)(formerly INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) approval are requirements. The Hague is discussed below.
A dossier is prepared that contains a large amount of information about the prospective adoptive parents required by the child's country. Typically this includes financial information, a background check
, fingerprint
s, a home study
review by a social worker, report from the adoptive parents' doctor regarding their health, and other supporting information. Again, requirements will vary widely from country to country, and even region to region in large countries such as Russia. Once complete, the dossier is submitted for review to the appropriate authorities in the child's country.
After the dossier is reviewed and the prospective parents are approved to adopt, they are matched to an eligible child (except in some countries such as India, which does not allow "matching" of a child to (a) prospective parent(s)). The parent is usually sent information about the child, such as age, gender, health history, etc. This is generally called a referral. A travel date is typically included, informing the parents when they may travel to meet the child and sign any additional paperwork required to accept the referral. Some countries, such as Kazakhstan, do not allow referrals until the prospective parent travels to the country on their first trip. This is called a "blind" referral.
Depending on the country, the parents may have to make more than one trip overseas to complete the legal process. Some countries allow a child to be escorted to the adoptive parents' home country and the adoptive parents are not required to travel to the country of their adopted child.
There are usually several requirements after this point, such as paperwork to make the child a legal citizen of the adopting parents' country or re-adopt them. In addition, one or more follow up (or "post placement") visits from a social worker may be required — either by the placing agency used by the adoptive parents or by the laws of the country from which the child was adopted. In the United States, citizenship
is automatically granted to all foreign-born children when at least one adoptive parent is a U.S. citizen, in accordance with the Child Citizenship Act of 2000
. Depending on the circumstances of the adoption, the actual grant of citizenship takes place either upon the child's admission to the U.S. as an immigrant or the child's adoption in the parent's home jurisdiction.
, weight, psychological health, and ancestry are used by different countries to determine what parents are eligible to adopt from that country.
Items such as the age of the child, fees and expenses, and the amount of travel time required in the child's birth country, can also vary widely from one country to another.
Each country sets its own rules, timelines and requirements surrounding adoption, and there are also rules that vary within the United States for each state. Each country, and often each part of the country, also sets its own rules about what type of information will be shared and how it will be shared (e.g. a picture of the child, child's health). Reliability and verifiability of the information is also variable.
Most countries require that a parent travel to bring the child home; however, some countries allow the child to be escorted to his or her new homeland.
The U.S. Department of State has designated two accrediting entities for organizations providing inter-country adoption services in the United States that work with sending countries that have ratified the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
. They are the Council on Accreditation and the Colorado Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.adoption.state.gov/hague/accreditation/process.html The U.S. Department of State maintains a list of all accredited international adoption providers. http://www.adoption.state.gov/hague/agency4.php?q=0&q1=&q2=0&q4=0&q5=0&dirfld=01
(5453), Guatemala
(4728), Russia
(2310), Ethiopia
(1255), South Korea
(939), Vietnam
(828) Ukraine
(606), Kazakhstan
(540), India
(416) Liberia
(353), Colombia
(310), and Philippines
(265).(U.S. State Department) Other less common countries include Bulgaria
, Norway
, Australia
, Kenya
, Canada
, Haiti
, and Poland
. These statistics can vary from year to year as each country alters its rules; Romania
, Belarus
and Cambodia
were also important until government crackdowns on adoptions to weed out abuse in the system cut off the flow. Vietnam
recently signed a treaty openings its doors for adoption. Guatemala has recently closed its doors.
Although Nepal has not closed it doors for adoption, the United States government has suspended adoptions from Nepal. Documents that were presented in support of the abandonment of these children in Nepal have been found to be unreliable and circumstances of alleged abandonment cannot be verified because of obstacle in the investigation of individual cases.
China is the one major country where girls adopted far outnumber boys; due to the Chinese culture's son preference in combination with the official planned birth policy
implemented in 1979, about 95% of Chinese children adopted are girls. Although India also has a noticeable excess of girls being adopted (68% girls), most other countries are about even. South Korea is the one country that has a relatively large excess of boys being adopted; about 60% are boys. This is a switch from the 1980s, when most Korean adoptees (about two-thirds) were girls.
Adoption from Ethiopia has become an increasingly popular option for adoptive families in the US. According to the U.S. Department of State, there were 441 orphans visas issued to Ethiopian children in 2005, and 732 issued in 2006.
and Vietnam
, have relatively well-established rules and procedures for foreign adopters to follow, while others, the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) for example, expressly forbid it. Some countries, notably many African nations, have extended residency requirements that in effect rule out most international adoptions. Others, such as Romania
are closed to international adoption altogether, with the exception of adoptions by close relatives (such as grandparents). However, as of 2009, many countries around the world are completely closed off to international adoption because of accusations of exporting children, of selling natives to foreigners and the shame that most governments feel about not being able to support their own children.
Recognizing some of the difficulties and challenges associated with international adoption, and in an effort to protect those involved from the corruption and exploitation which sometimes accompanies it, the Hague Conference j on Private International Law developed the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, which came into force on 1 May 1995.
The main objectives of the Convention are:
As of October 2008, this Convention has been ratified by 76 countries. Ireland and the Russian Federation are signatories, but have not ratified.
The following is a quotation from the convention:
However, while the Hague Convention is an excellent ideal, in implementation it could actuality impede many adoptions. A country like Guatemala, which has had a plethora of child trafficking, prostitution and many orphans, are now temporarily closed to adoptions after the country's ratification of the Hague Convention. The convention causes some governments like India to run incredibly slow, creates a rigorous process that few pass, and instead of helping the children get out of orphanages, it keeps them inside them, getting older and older until they pass the age of adoption and simply wait until they are legal adults. Most children who grow up in orphanages and become legal adults get very little in the way of education, most become unemployed, or pregnant and begin the vicious cycle all over again.
While the Hague convention is an exemplary step in the right direction by most governments, it could sometimes actually hinder many adoptions to families that would normally qualify and causing children to miss opportunities that could have saved and changed their lives.
is a more precise term that refers to the stealing of children who are then sold to adoptive parents as legitimate "orphans." Often the pretence is that the child's parents are dead when in fact the child's parents are still alive. In some cases the children are stolen from the home; in other cases the children are left at orphanages for temporary care or schools for education. These then sell the children using false papers. In some cases the parents may even sell the children. This trafficking can occur anywhere but is most prominent in poorly regulated countries or where local corruption
is a factor. Up to the end of 2007, Guatemala
, was one of the top sources of adopted children, and was investigated for this sort of corruption. Guatemala changed the country's adoption law after massive international pressure, ratified the Hague-convention on intercountry adoptions, and the number of adoptions has fallen dramatically.
While most international adoptions are not tainted by child trafficking, some problems do exist. Receiving nations such as the United States have implemented safeguards to ensure that adopted children are in fact legally available for adoption. Occasionally, the United States has suspended adoption from certain countries in order to investigate fraud and, where needed, require change from the sending country.
The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (short title for Convention #33) is one measure intended to further shield international adoption against child trafficking.
Nowadays, however, the children and adoptive parents are encouraged to explore their origins of birth. From their birth parents, to their birth cultures exploration is almost expected. For example, Korea
holds “cultural training camps” where Korean adoptees are able to explore their birth country for the first time. Until recently, Korean adoptees were seen as outcasts, and these training camps are the Korean government’s way of changing the view of these “outcasts” to “overseas Koreans.” It has slowly shown positive results, and a closer kinship of adoptees to their birth country.
Questions still remain. Is it detrimental to a child’s well-being to keep them from getting to know their birth origin? Or are more problems caused by encouraging and allowing foreign adoptees to explore their birth culture? Also, how should the adoptive parents prepare to deal with a bi-racial family in which the adults are of one race while the child is of another? And how do we reconcile differences between adoptive parents' assumptions about adoption with adoptees' experiences of living with a condition that they were too young to decide on for themselves? As of right now, a critical mass of scholars, adoption professionals and community representatives are only beginning to explore these questions with the growing community groups made up of international adoptees (many who have finally now reached maturity). Anthropologists, for example, have very recently started to study the effects of kinship, belonging, culture, nation, and even genes and the roles they play in the upbringing of foreign adoptees. As Pauline Turner Strong
said in an article in Relative Values: Reconfiguring Kinship Studies: "Adoption across political and cultural borders may simultaneously be an act of violence and an act of love, an excruciating rupture and a generous incorporation, an appropriation of valued resources and a constitution of personal ties.”
Scholarly accounts in journal articles, higher-degree studies and books by authors such as Toby Volkman, David Eng, Sara Dorow, Indigo Willing and Tobias Hubinette also suggest that adoption is a contested practice, with a variety of competing voices ranging from adoptive parents who not only adopt but also dominate published accounts of the practice, to those who have been internationally adopted and are now beginning to enter research fields focusing on adoption (such as members of the International Adoptee Congress Research Committee).
All these researchers now have the benefit of drawing on populations of the "first waves" of internationally adopted people who have now reached adulthood, as seen in the rise of Korean and Vietnamese adoptee groups alone. At the same time, it is hard to determine any sort of best practice in adoption if only based on conflicting research agendas, paradigms and narratives presented by psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists alike. More serious consultation with a range of internationally adopted people from various professional and community-work based backgrounds needs to be included before the field of adoption study is more truly representative and rigorously informed.
The origin of the child also plays a role in whether he will adjust to adoption well. Children from orphanages, for example, have rarely ever slept in a room by themselves at night. When they are adopted and given a room of their own, they show likelihood to develop sleeping problems and ill health can result from their adjustment. It helps if parents allow the child to sleep in their bedroom, or in the bedroom of a sibling. Cultural backgrounds can affect adjustment as well. For example, children from Russia are in high demand the adoption market in the United States. Because of this, the price to adopt a child from Russia is very high, and Russian adoption agencies have become more of a business than a method to provide for children in need. Prior to adoption, children are neglected in orphanages, often do not receive proper nutrition, and are used as a bartering tool to make money. When these children are adopted, they are likely to act out because of the negative treatment they received in their country of origin. Cultural treatment of children and political situations in countries affect children when they are adopted internationally. Even being of a different race than the adopted family can cause the adoptee to feel like a misfit.
A recent study by Dutch professor Femmi Juffer challenges the notion that adoption hurts a child’s self-esteem in that adopted kids would unconsciously blame themselves for the loss of their birth families and on some level feel that they hadn't been good enough for their families to keep them. Juffer compiled data from 80 studies and concluded that adopted children are not at risk for low self esteem, even in the case of interracial adoptions and international adoptions. Differences in race between a child and their adoptive parents did not matter and children from interracial/international-adoption families performed the same as children adopted into families of the same race/culture. In the long term cultural differences were not as problematic as expected, and even older adopted children, those thought to be the most difficult and more severely and permanently damaged, adjusted over time as well. Overall, although adoption may have initial adverse effects and negative experiences for childhood, the children are capable of change and development for the better. But Steven Nickman of Harvard Medical School, who recently did a review of the adoption literature, says that while Juffer's study is careful and methodologically sound, there are some limits to her research. Essentially, Nickman says, the study doesn't include any of the most difficult cases and as someone who works with adopted kids, Nickman knows that not all adoptions turn out well. Some are incredibly painful. Still, he finds Juffer's work encouraging.
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
in which an individual or couple becomes the legal and permanent parents of a child that is a national of a different country. In general, prospective adoptive parents must meet the legal adoption requirements of their country of residence and those of the country whose nationality the child holds.
International Adoption is not the same thing as Transcultural or Interracial adoption
Interracial adoption
Interracial adoption refers to the act of placing a child of one racial or ethnic group with adoptive parents of another racial or ethnic group....
.
The laws of different countries vary in their willingness to allow international adoptions. Some countries, such as China and Korea, have relatively well-established rules and procedures for international adoptions, while other countries expressly forbid it. Some countries, notably many African nations, have extended residency requirements for adoptive parents that in effect rule out most international adoptions. Malawi, for instance, requires residency except in special cases.
Process overview
The requirements necessary to begin the process of international adoption can vary depending on the country of the adoptive parent(s). For example, while most countries require prospective adoptive parents to first get approval to adopt, in some the approval can only be received from a state agency, while in others cases, it can be obtained from a private adoption agency.In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, typically the first stage of the process is selecting a licensed adoption agency or agency to work with. Each agency or attorney works with a different set of countries, although some only focus on a single country. Pursuant to the rules of the Hague Convention (an international treaty related to adoption issues) the adoption agency or attorney must be accredited by the U.S. government if the child's country is also a participant in the Hague Convention. If the child's country is not a participant in the Hague Convention, then the rules of the Hague do not apply, and instead the specific laws of the child and adoptive parents must be followed. Even when the Hague does not apply, a home study and USCIS (United States Citizen and Immigration Services)(formerly INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) approval are requirements. The Hague is discussed below.
A dossier is prepared that contains a large amount of information about the prospective adoptive parents required by the child's country. Typically this includes financial information, a background check
Background check
A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....
, fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s, a home study
Adoption home study
A home study or homestudy is a screening of the home and life of prospective adoptive parents prior to allowing an adoption to take place. In some places, and in all international adoptions, a home study is required by law. Even where it is not legally mandated, it may be required by an adoption...
review by a social worker, report from the adoptive parents' doctor regarding their health, and other supporting information. Again, requirements will vary widely from country to country, and even region to region in large countries such as Russia. Once complete, the dossier is submitted for review to the appropriate authorities in the child's country.
After the dossier is reviewed and the prospective parents are approved to adopt, they are matched to an eligible child (except in some countries such as India, which does not allow "matching" of a child to (a) prospective parent(s)). The parent is usually sent information about the child, such as age, gender, health history, etc. This is generally called a referral. A travel date is typically included, informing the parents when they may travel to meet the child and sign any additional paperwork required to accept the referral. Some countries, such as Kazakhstan, do not allow referrals until the prospective parent travels to the country on their first trip. This is called a "blind" referral.
Depending on the country, the parents may have to make more than one trip overseas to complete the legal process. Some countries allow a child to be escorted to the adoptive parents' home country and the adoptive parents are not required to travel to the country of their adopted child.
There are usually several requirements after this point, such as paperwork to make the child a legal citizen of the adopting parents' country or re-adopt them. In addition, one or more follow up (or "post placement") visits from a social worker may be required — either by the placing agency used by the adoptive parents or by the laws of the country from which the child was adopted. In the United States, citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
is automatically granted to all foreign-born children when at least one adoptive parent is a U.S. citizen, in accordance with the Child Citizenship Act of 2000
Child Citizenship Act of 2000
The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 is a United States federal law that allows certain foreign-born, biological and adopted children of United States citizens to acquire United States citizenship automatically. These children did not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth, but they are granted citizenship...
. Depending on the circumstances of the adoption, the actual grant of citizenship takes place either upon the child's admission to the U.S. as an immigrant or the child's adoption in the parent's home jurisdiction.
Policies and requirements
Adoption policies for each country vary widely. Items such as the age of the adoptive parents, financial status, educational level, marital status and history, number of dependent children in the house, sexual orientationSexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
, weight, psychological health, and ancestry are used by different countries to determine what parents are eligible to adopt from that country.
Items such as the age of the child, fees and expenses, and the amount of travel time required in the child's birth country, can also vary widely from one country to another.
Each country sets its own rules, timelines and requirements surrounding adoption, and there are also rules that vary within the United States for each state. Each country, and often each part of the country, also sets its own rules about what type of information will be shared and how it will be shared (e.g. a picture of the child, child's health). Reliability and verifiability of the information is also variable.
Most countries require that a parent travel to bring the child home; however, some countries allow the child to be escorted to his or her new homeland.
The U.S. Department of State has designated two accrediting entities for organizations providing inter-country adoption services in the United States that work with sending countries that have ratified the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption is an international convention dealing with international adoption, child laundering, and child trafficking...
. They are the Council on Accreditation and the Colorado Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.adoption.state.gov/hague/accreditation/process.html The U.S. Department of State maintains a list of all accredited international adoption providers. http://www.adoption.state.gov/hague/agency4.php?q=0&q1=&q2=0&q4=0&q5=0&dirfld=01
Sources of children and adoptive parents
The most common countries for international adoption by parents in the United States for 2007 were ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(5453), Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
(4728), Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(2310), Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
(1255), South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
(939), Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
(828) Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(606), Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
(540), India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(416) Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
(353), Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
(310), and Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
(265).(U.S. State Department) Other less common countries include Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. These statistics can vary from year to year as each country alters its rules; Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
and Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
were also important until government crackdowns on adoptions to weed out abuse in the system cut off the flow. Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
recently signed a treaty openings its doors for adoption. Guatemala has recently closed its doors.
Although Nepal has not closed it doors for adoption, the United States government has suspended adoptions from Nepal. Documents that were presented in support of the abandonment of these children in Nepal have been found to be unreliable and circumstances of alleged abandonment cannot be verified because of obstacle in the investigation of individual cases.
China is the one major country where girls adopted far outnumber boys; due to the Chinese culture's son preference in combination with the official planned birth policy
One-child policy
The one-child policy refers to the one-child limitation applying to a minority of families in the population control policy of the People's Republic of China . The Chinese government refers to it under the official translation of family planning policy...
implemented in 1979, about 95% of Chinese children adopted are girls. Although India also has a noticeable excess of girls being adopted (68% girls), most other countries are about even. South Korea is the one country that has a relatively large excess of boys being adopted; about 60% are boys. This is a switch from the 1980s, when most Korean adoptees (about two-thirds) were girls.
Adoption from Ethiopia has become an increasingly popular option for adoptive families in the US. According to the U.S. Department of State, there were 441 orphans visas issued to Ethiopian children in 2005, and 732 issued in 2006.
International Adoption Laws
A country's willingness to allow international adoption will vary to accommodate that country's laws. Some countries, such as ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, have relatively well-established rules and procedures for foreign adopters to follow, while others, the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
(UAE) for example, expressly forbid it. Some countries, notably many African nations, have extended residency requirements that in effect rule out most international adoptions. Others, such as Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
are closed to international adoption altogether, with the exception of adoptions by close relatives (such as grandparents). However, as of 2009, many countries around the world are completely closed off to international adoption because of accusations of exporting children, of selling natives to foreigners and the shame that most governments feel about not being able to support their own children.
Hague Conference on Private International Law
- See also Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry AdoptionHague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry AdoptionThe Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption is an international convention dealing with international adoption, child laundering, and child trafficking...
Recognizing some of the difficulties and challenges associated with international adoption, and in an effort to protect those involved from the corruption and exploitation which sometimes accompanies it, the Hague Conference j on Private International Law developed the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, which came into force on 1 May 1995.
The main objectives of the Convention are:
- to establish safeguards to ensure that intercountry adoptions take place in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or her fundamental rights as recognized in international law;
- to establish a system of co-operation amongst Contracting States to ensure that those safeguards are respected and thereby prevent the abduction, the sale of, or traffic in children;
- to establish "formal international and intergovernmental recognition of intercountry adoption, working to ensure that adoptions under the Convention will generally be recognized and given effect in other party countries";
- to secure the recognition in Contracting States of adoptions made in accordance with the Convention.
As of October 2008, this Convention has been ratified by 76 countries. Ireland and the Russian Federation are signatories, but have not ratified.
The following is a quotation from the convention:
Intercountry adoptions shall be made in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or her fundamental rights. To to prevent the abduction, the sale of, or traffic in children each State should take, as a matter of priority, appropriate measures to enable the child to remain in the care of his or her family of origin.
However, while the Hague Convention is an excellent ideal, in implementation it could actuality impede many adoptions. A country like Guatemala, which has had a plethora of child trafficking, prostitution and many orphans, are now temporarily closed to adoptions after the country's ratification of the Hague Convention. The convention causes some governments like India to run incredibly slow, creates a rigorous process that few pass, and instead of helping the children get out of orphanages, it keeps them inside them, getting older and older until they pass the age of adoption and simply wait until they are legal adults. Most children who grow up in orphanages and become legal adults get very little in the way of education, most become unemployed, or pregnant and begin the vicious cycle all over again.
While the Hague convention is an exemplary step in the right direction by most governments, it could sometimes actually hinder many adoptions to families that would normally qualify and causing children to miss opportunities that could have saved and changed their lives.
UN Declaration Relating to the Welfare of Children
The UN declaration Relating to the Welfare of Children emphasises the preference for children being raised by family members, rather than by adoptive families. “The child shall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his parents and, in any case, in an atmosphere of affection and of moral and material security. The Declaration makes clear that international adoption should only be considered as a last resort. This is explained in Article 15 “If a child cannot be placed in a foster or an adoptive family or cannot in any suitable manner be cared for in the country of origin, intercountry adoption may be considered as an alternative means of providing the child with a family.” In such a situation, the Declaration also advocates time and patience in the adoptive process, i.e. not rushing into adoptions in the wake of disasters. Article 15 states “Sufficient time and adequate counselling should be given to the child's own parents, the prospective adoptive parents and, as appropriate, the child in order to reach a decision on the child's future...” Clearly, the UN Declaration is against the idea of international adoption as a whole, and is most certainly against rushed international adoption.Negative consequences of international adoption
See: List of international adoption scandalsChild trafficking or child laundering
Child trafficking is a broad term that refers to the buying, selling or illegal transportation of children. Child launderingChild laundering
Child laundering is the stealing and selling of children to adopting parents under false pretenses. Often the adoption agency or adoption facilitator hides or falsifies the child's origin to make the child appear to be a legitimate orphan by manipulating birth certificates, intake records, or...
is a more precise term that refers to the stealing of children who are then sold to adoptive parents as legitimate "orphans." Often the pretence is that the child's parents are dead when in fact the child's parents are still alive. In some cases the children are stolen from the home; in other cases the children are left at orphanages for temporary care or schools for education. These then sell the children using false papers. In some cases the parents may even sell the children. This trafficking can occur anywhere but is most prominent in poorly regulated countries or where local corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
is a factor. Up to the end of 2007, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, was one of the top sources of adopted children, and was investigated for this sort of corruption. Guatemala changed the country's adoption law after massive international pressure, ratified the Hague-convention on intercountry adoptions, and the number of adoptions has fallen dramatically.
While most international adoptions are not tainted by child trafficking, some problems do exist. Receiving nations such as the United States have implemented safeguards to ensure that adopted children are in fact legally available for adoption. Occasionally, the United States has suspended adoption from certain countries in order to investigate fraud and, where needed, require change from the sending country.
Richard Cross, the lead federal investigator for the prosecution of Lauryn Galindo for visa fraud and money laundering involved in Cambodian adoptions, estimated that most of the 800 adoptions Galindo facilitated were fraudulent--either based on fraudulent paperwork, coerced/induced/recruited relinquishments, babies bought, identities of the children switched, etc.
The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (short title for Convention #33) is one measure intended to further shield international adoption against child trafficking.
Loss of culture, family or identity
International adoption is a relatively new phenomenon when compared to domestic adoption. One of the debates in international adoption circles has been about the adopted child’s sense of belonging in their new country. Some believe that this is a particular concern for inter-racial adoptions. For example, Asian children who are adopted by Caucasians are of a recognizably different race than their adoptive parents, and might be expected to have a harder time fitting in than, say, a Russian child.Nowadays, however, the children and adoptive parents are encouraged to explore their origins of birth. From their birth parents, to their birth cultures exploration is almost expected. For example, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
holds “cultural training camps” where Korean adoptees are able to explore their birth country for the first time. Until recently, Korean adoptees were seen as outcasts, and these training camps are the Korean government’s way of changing the view of these “outcasts” to “overseas Koreans.” It has slowly shown positive results, and a closer kinship of adoptees to their birth country.
Questions still remain. Is it detrimental to a child’s well-being to keep them from getting to know their birth origin? Or are more problems caused by encouraging and allowing foreign adoptees to explore their birth culture? Also, how should the adoptive parents prepare to deal with a bi-racial family in which the adults are of one race while the child is of another? And how do we reconcile differences between adoptive parents' assumptions about adoption with adoptees' experiences of living with a condition that they were too young to decide on for themselves? As of right now, a critical mass of scholars, adoption professionals and community representatives are only beginning to explore these questions with the growing community groups made up of international adoptees (many who have finally now reached maturity). Anthropologists, for example, have very recently started to study the effects of kinship, belonging, culture, nation, and even genes and the roles they play in the upbringing of foreign adoptees. As Pauline Turner Strong
Pauline Turner Strong
Pauline Turner Strong is an American anthropologist specializing in literary, historical, ethnographic, media, and popular representations of Native Americans. Theoretically her work has considered colonial and postcolonial representation, identity and alterity, and hybridity...
said in an article in Relative Values: Reconfiguring Kinship Studies: "Adoption across political and cultural borders may simultaneously be an act of violence and an act of love, an excruciating rupture and a generous incorporation, an appropriation of valued resources and a constitution of personal ties.”
Scholarly accounts in journal articles, higher-degree studies and books by authors such as Toby Volkman, David Eng, Sara Dorow, Indigo Willing and Tobias Hubinette also suggest that adoption is a contested practice, with a variety of competing voices ranging from adoptive parents who not only adopt but also dominate published accounts of the practice, to those who have been internationally adopted and are now beginning to enter research fields focusing on adoption (such as members of the International Adoptee Congress Research Committee).
All these researchers now have the benefit of drawing on populations of the "first waves" of internationally adopted people who have now reached adulthood, as seen in the rise of Korean and Vietnamese adoptee groups alone. At the same time, it is hard to determine any sort of best practice in adoption if only based on conflicting research agendas, paradigms and narratives presented by psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists alike. More serious consultation with a range of internationally adopted people from various professional and community-work based backgrounds needs to be included before the field of adoption study is more truly representative and rigorously informed.
The origin of the child also plays a role in whether he will adjust to adoption well. Children from orphanages, for example, have rarely ever slept in a room by themselves at night. When they are adopted and given a room of their own, they show likelihood to develop sleeping problems and ill health can result from their adjustment. It helps if parents allow the child to sleep in their bedroom, or in the bedroom of a sibling. Cultural backgrounds can affect adjustment as well. For example, children from Russia are in high demand the adoption market in the United States. Because of this, the price to adopt a child from Russia is very high, and Russian adoption agencies have become more of a business than a method to provide for children in need. Prior to adoption, children are neglected in orphanages, often do not receive proper nutrition, and are used as a bartering tool to make money. When these children are adopted, they are likely to act out because of the negative treatment they received in their country of origin. Cultural treatment of children and political situations in countries affect children when they are adopted internationally. Even being of a different race than the adopted family can cause the adoptee to feel like a misfit.
Positive consequences of international adoption
In most cases, international adoption results from a child whose birthparents were unable to parent and provide for them within the environment of a family instead of an institution such as an orphanage. This can mean the difference between a life and death. In other cases, the children may be saved from a life of desperation, abuse, and squalor. Every child needs a family. [The Irreducible Needs of Children: What Every Child Must Have to Grow, Learn, and Flourish; Copyright 2000 by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. and Stanley I. Greenspan, MD; ISBN 0-7382-0516-8] Further, adopted children are happier and healthier, mentally and physically, than are orphans who are not adopted. [Brodzinsky, D. M. "Long-Term Outcomes in Adoption." The Future of Children 3, 1993]A recent study by Dutch professor Femmi Juffer challenges the notion that adoption hurts a child’s self-esteem in that adopted kids would unconsciously blame themselves for the loss of their birth families and on some level feel that they hadn't been good enough for their families to keep them. Juffer compiled data from 80 studies and concluded that adopted children are not at risk for low self esteem, even in the case of interracial adoptions and international adoptions. Differences in race between a child and their adoptive parents did not matter and children from interracial/international-adoption families performed the same as children adopted into families of the same race/culture. In the long term cultural differences were not as problematic as expected, and even older adopted children, those thought to be the most difficult and more severely and permanently damaged, adjusted over time as well. Overall, although adoption may have initial adverse effects and negative experiences for childhood, the children are capable of change and development for the better. But Steven Nickman of Harvard Medical School, who recently did a review of the adoption literature, says that while Juffer's study is careful and methodologically sound, there are some limits to her research. Essentially, Nickman says, the study doesn't include any of the most difficult cases and as someone who works with adopted kids, Nickman knows that not all adoptions turn out well. Some are incredibly painful. Still, he finds Juffer's work encouraging.
Reform efforts
Due to the appeal and otherwise obvious difficult issues presented by international adoption, the reform movement seeks to influence governments to adopt regulations that serve the best interest of the child and meet the interests of both the adoptive and biological family members. Significant advances have been made in increasing the regulation of International Adoptions. Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry AdoptionHague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption is an international convention dealing with international adoption, child laundering, and child trafficking...
International Adoption After a Disaster
Of special note to international adoption are campaigns for adoptions that occur after disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and wars. There is often an outpouring of adoption proposals in such cases from foreigners who want to give homes to children left in need. While adoption may be a way to provide stable, loving families for children in need, it is also suggested that adoption in the immediate aftermath of trauma or upheaval may not be the best option. Moving children too quickly into new adoptive homes among strangers may be a mistake because with time, it may turn out that the parents have survived but were unable to find the children, or there may be a relative or neighbor who can offer shelter and homes. Providing safety and emotional support may be better in those situations than immediate relocation to a new adoptive family. There is also an increased risk, immediately following a disaster, that displaced and/or orphaned children may be more vulnerable to exploitation and child trafficking.Further reading
- Rosenberg, Elinor B., The Adoption Life Cycle : the children and their families through the years, New York : Free Press ; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada ; New York : Maxwell Macmillan International, 1992. ISBN 0-02-927055-3.
External links
- adoption101.com
- Hague Conference - Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption
- David M. SmolinDavid M. SmolinDavid Mark Smolin is a professor of law at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama where he is the Harwell G...
- Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stealing Children.