International adoption

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 who 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.However, the fact is that a family will often become a transcultural or interracial family upon the adoption of a child internationally.

The laws of countries vary in their willingness to allow international adoptions. Some countries, such as China and South 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 . Often an "orphan" is a child whose living birth family has consented to an adoption. Some describe orphanages as “nurseries” or "children's homes" because many of the children’s parents have not consented to an adoption of their children. It is not uncommon for a parent to put a child in an nursery temporarily while they deal with poverty or work. Orphanages are considered charities where impoverished parents can place children if they cannot afford to feed them, or pay for child care, or want to take advantage of the educational opportunities in the orphanage. Because the institutions often provide education, they function more like subsidized boarding school.

Prospective parents of international adoptees wait to get a referral for a child, which often means waiting until one of these parents of the children in nurseries consents to the adoption. Bureaucracy is often blamed for the slow process it takes for a prospective parent to get a child, but often what is to blame is that the demand for children in the third world exceeds the supply. A senior advisor on child protection with UNICEF, Alexandria Yuster, argues that international adoption is now more about finding children for first world parents than finding homes for children.

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 Adoption 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 then the rules of the Hague do not apply, and the specific laws of the child's and adoptive parents' countries 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, fingerprints, 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 provided at a later time in most adoptions. However, some countries might also provide a travel date at the time of referral, 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 grant of citizenship takes place 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. Information such as the age of the adoptive parents, financial status, educational level, marital status and history, number of dependent children in the house, sexual orientation, weight, psychological health, and ancestry are used by countries to determine what parents are eligible to adopt from that country.^{[citation needed]}

Information 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.^{[citation needed]}

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, sets its own rules about what 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 variable.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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. The U.S. Department of State maintains a list of all accredited international adoption providers.

Sources of children for adoptive parents in the United States

The most common countries for international adoption by parents in the United States for 2007 were China (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). 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.^{[citation needed]} Although India also has a noticeable excess of girls being adopted (68% girls),^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} This is a switch from the 1980s, when most Korean adoptees (about two-thirds) were girls.^{[citation needed]}

Adoption from Ethiopia has become an increasingly popular option for adoptive families in the U.S. According to the U.S. Department of State, there were 442 orphans visas issued to Ethiopian children in 2005, and 731 issued in 2006.

Ban on adoption of Russian children by US families

In December 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a measure, effective January 1, 2013, banning the adoption of Russian children by US families. The ban was seen as diplomatic retaliation for the passage of the Magnitsky Act in the US, while popular support in Russia focused on incidents of abuse to adoptees by US families. In January 2013 about 20,000 people marched against the law in Moscow.

International adoption laws

A country's willingness to allow international adoption will vary to accommodate that country's laws. Some countries, such as China 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.

Hague Conference on Private International Law

See also: Hague Adoption Convention

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 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 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 impede many adoptions.^{[citation needed]} 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 slowly, creates a rigorous process that few pass; instead of helping the children get out of orphanages, it keeps them inside them, getting 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 cycle all over again.^{[citation needed]}

Despite its intentions, the Hague convention could sometimes actually hinder many adoptions to families that would normally qualify, prolonging the emotional trauma of being in an orphanage instead of with a family.

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 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.

Consequences and problems

Negative consequences of international adoption

See: List of international adoption scandals

Allegations of corruption

Child trafficking is a broad term that refers to the buying, selling or illegal transportation of children with intent to harm the child, and therefore does not apply to adoption. Some organizations have alleged that orphanages modify documents to indicate a child's parents are dead when in fact the the orphanage has not been able to locate the parents and relatives have never visited. In a few rare instances, allegations have been made that the children are stolen from the home; in other cases the children are left at orphanages for temporary care. Some agencies and orphanages have been accused of altering children's papers so that they meet the narrow legal definition of orphan and can then be adopted. 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.

The vast majority of international adoptions are not tainted by corruption, however. It is extremely difficult for poor countries to produce the detailed paperwork necessary to complete an adoption, and the Hague Convention on International Adoption has created more problems than it has solved. 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.

However, this claim has never been verified and many knowledgeable of Vietnamese adoptions at that time believe Cross' estimate is a gross exaggeration. The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (short title for Convention #33) is one measure intended to further shield international adoption against corruption in adoption.

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 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. Before 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 birth parents were unable to parent and provide for them in 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. Further, adopted children are happier and healthier, mentally and physically, than are orphans who are not adopted.

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 Adoption

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 it may turn out that the parents survived and 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 an increased risk, immediately following a disaster, that displaced and/or orphaned children may be more vulnerable to exploitation and child trafficking.

See also

• Effects of adoption on the birth-mother

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. Smolin - Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stealing Children.