International Adoption - The Basics of Adopting from another Country

The issue of “Foreign Adoption”, “Overseas Adoption”, “International Adoption”, “Intercountry Adoption”, call it what you will or prefer, has been raised a great many times. The common misconception of a well meaning family from the developed world carrying a suitcase full of cash and dubious papers to some shady third world agency and coming home with a child wrapped in blankets seems to arise every now and then. Probably because occasionally (and I emphasise the word occasionally) this does indeed happen but on a great many more occasions (and very much in the majority of cases) the process is entirely different, well run and works extremely efficiently.

This article serves by and large to provide a basic understanding of what International Adoption (Foreign Adoption etc) is all about and the basic International Legislation that covers it.

Firstly the basic question arises time and time again, why do many International Governments allow Adoptions from another Country to happen when there are probably still a great many children within the country who need new families. Well basically the answer is as follows, although there are many children at home looking for an adoptive family, there are still many children in other countries who need homes. Adoption from abroad may be their only opportunity to belong to a permanent family. For humanitarian reasons, Government allow International Adoptions to proceed where:

• the child cannot be cared for in any suitable manner in his/her country;

• the adoption would be in the best interests of the child and with respect to the child's fundamental rights as recognised in international law; and

• the adopter has been assessed as eligible and suitable to adopt from abroad by a registered adoption agency (a local authority or voluntary agency registered to work on International Adoptions).

Currently it can take anything from 1-3 years in total to adopt a child from another country, depending on the adoption system in the other country and the availability of suitable children for adoption.

The world of International Adoption has by it’s very nature needed very tight legislation – after all child trafficking is an extremely abhorrent, cruel and nasty practice (not to mention very illegal) and now it appears that this legislation is now starting to take effect. The major item of International Law that covers International Adoption is the Hague Convention.

The 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption aimed to establish an international system of co-operation that aims to prevent the abduction of, the sale of, and illegal traffic in children. The Convention requires that International adoption happens only when it is in the child's best interests, that all adopters are assessed and approved as suitable to adopt and that no profit is made from the adoption process.

Where an adoption has been completed under the Hague Convention the child will automatically receive Citizenship from the Country that you or your partner originates from. The adoption will be automatically recognised in all other contracting Countries.

Taking this all into account is it still possible to legally adopt a child from a Country that has not either recognised or been recognised by the Hague Convention? The Answer to this question is yes, but if the adoption order is not recognised in the country of either origin or your own, you will need to re-adopt the child in a domestic court from your own country for the adoptive relationship to be legally recognised.

What is the process for adopting from a Hague Convention country? You should first contact your local authority social services department or a registered adoption agency to discuss your plans to adopt a child from a Hague Convention country. Your agency will provide advice and information about adoption that will set out the legal requirements and procedures for adopting from a Hague Convention country.

If you are eligible to adopt under the Hague Convention, the social services department or a registered voluntary adoption agency will carry out an assessment of your suitability to adopt, involving in-depth social worker interviews, police and medical checks and interviews with your personal referees (privately commissioned assessments are not acceptable).

The information gathered, on which you will have an opportunity to comment, will be presented to the social services department or adoption agency's panel. The panel will consider the assessment and make a recommendation about whether you are suitable to adopt.

A senior manager at the agency will then, taking the panel's recommendation into account, make a decision about whether to approve you as suitable to adopt.

An Adoption Order severs all legal ties with the birth family and confers parental rights and responsibilities on the new adoptive family. The birth parents no longer have any legal rights over the child and they are not entitled to claim him back. Your child becomes a full member of your family; they take your surname and assumes the same rights and privileges as if they had been born to you, including the right of inheritance.

Bringing up a child can be mutually rewarding and great fun, as well as being hard work and a big responsibility. This is especially so when you choose to bring up a child who was not born to you.

As of the time of writing this article (things do change from time to time) a fairly comprehensive list of member governments who have signed up to this convention can be found at: http://www.internationaladoptioninformation.com/hagueconventionmembercountries.html

Patrick is the principal advisor for International Adoption Information, an independent advisory organisation in Social and Child Welfare. http://www.internationaladoptioninformation.com, http://www.internationaladoptionusa.info and http://www.internationaladoptionresourcecentre.com

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