International adoption

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International adoption refers to adopting a child from a foreign country. This is almost always an interracial adoption and some of the issues, e.g. cultural dislocation, are the same. American citizens represent the majority of international adoptive parents, followed by Europeans and those from other more developed nations. The laws of different countries vary in their willingness to allow international adoptions. 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.

The most common countries for international adoption by parents in the United States for 2004 are China (7,033), Russia (5,878), Guatemala (3,252), South Korea (1,708), Kazakhstan (824) and Ukraine (772). Other less common countries include Bulgaria, Colombia, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Philippines, 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.

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 1981; 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.

Adoptions from South Korea were far more prevalent in the 1980s than today, and most young adult foreign adoptees are Korean. About one-tenth of all Korean-Americans are adoptees.

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[edit] Policies and requirements

Adoption policies for each country vary widely. Items such as the age of the adoptive parents, financial status, marital status and history, number of dependent children in the house, sexual orientation, 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.

[edit] Process overview

The requirements necessary to begin the process of international adoption also vary widely, 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, it can be obtained from a private adoption agency.

In the United States, as a general example, typically the first stage of the process is selecting an agency or facilitator to work with. Each agency or facilitator works with a different set of countries, although some only focus on a single country. While some countries do allow independent adoption (i.e., an international adoption not done in coordination with an agency), and in fact this process may often be the least expensive option for prospective adopters, it is rare for them to go this route, especially with their first adoption.

A dossier is prepared that contains a large amount of information about the prospective adoptive parents. Typically this includes financial information, a background check, fingerprints, a home study review by a social worker 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. 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 United States citizen or re-adopt them under United States law. 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. However, children adopted into Canadian families achieve "permanent resident" status only; Canadian citizenship must be acquired through a lengthy application process, often taking up to one year to complete.

[edit] Waiting children

Children referred to as "waiting children" tend to either be older, healthy children or have special medical needs. The parental requirements for adopting these children is commonly less strict, and the waiting time for the referral is usually a lot less. Sometimes fees and expenses can be reduced for these children. As always, this varies widely by country and agency.

[edit] Hague Conference on Private International Law

Recognising 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 secure the recognition in Contracting States of adoptions made in accordance with the Convention.

To date, this Convention has been ratified by 46 countries. Several more countries are signatories to the Convention and are at various stages in taking steps to achieve full ratification.

[edit] Consequences of International Adoption

International adoption is a relatively new phenomenon when compared to domestic adoption. Psychologists and sociologists alike are worried as to what some of the consequences of adopting internationally could be, both good and bad.

Perhaps the biggest concern is the adopted child’s sense of belonging in their new country. Will the child grow up with a sense of feeling out of place? Until recently, children adopted from foreign countries were expected to forget about their home countries and were raised purely as natural members of the culture in which they currently lived. No ties or bonds to the child’s home country were made, and the idea of doing so was virtually unheard of. 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.

The question still remains, 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? As of right now, very little work has been undertaken to explore these questions. Anthropologists 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 Strong said in her 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.” Until more research is done it is hard to determine any sort of trend based off of very little information which has only recently started to become of interest to psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists alike.

Some countries feel that when Americans adopt children from their countries that it is nothing more than American imperialism and arrogance. Other countries feel that Americans adopting their children helps give these children who would otherwise not have a good life in their birth country (oftentimes poor, third world countries) a chance at a better life. Furthermore, international adoption also bring lots of money into these states as it is very expensive, which also helps out these mostly poor, third world countries, and it can also help strengthen ties between countries.

[edit] Child Trafficking

Child trafficking may be seen in poorly regulated countries or in cases of local corruption as a way to exploit international adoption. Generally, however, receiving nations have safeguards in place to prevent international adoption of trafficked children. The U.S., for example, has suspended adoption from some countries in the past in order to investigate and, where needed, require correction of procedures. The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (short title for Convention #33) is one measure intended to further shield international adoption against child trafficking.

[edit] External links

[edit] Government Sites

[edit] External links

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  • Asian-Nation - Article written by a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies that explores the history and cultural issues of Asians adopted by predominantly White American families.
  • Adopted Vietnamese International - Managed and maintained by now adult aged adopted Vietnamese War orphans focusing on a range of resources for this community including an egroup and searching for birth parents register. Also has online library, newsletter and research.
  • Cumberland School of Law Symposium on Intercountry Adoption Reform . Website features audio and video download of guest speaker Richard Cross's entire lecture. Cross is a senior special agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] assigned to the ICE Human Trafficking Unit in Seattle, Washington. The Symposium goal was to "explore the question of how intercountry adoption can be reformed to ensure that all parties to the adoption triad (birth families, children and adoptive families) have their rights and human dignity respected."
  • Ethica - Ethica is a nonprofit corporation that seeks to be an impartial voice for ethical adoption practices worldwide, and provides education, assistance, and advocacy to the adoption and foster care communities.
  • Research-China.org Weblog - Informative articles on China adoption written by an adoptive dad who conducts research on China Adoptions.
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