The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, designed to protect the best interests of the child in intercountry adoption, has been signed by 83 nations. We evaluate both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Convention in achieving this purpose and also in protecting a second vulnerable population, birth families. A case study example of the United States' implementation of the Hague requirements reveals several weaknesses with respect to non-Convention countries as sending nations, financial oversight, and oversight of foreign collaborators. International birth families, especially birth mothers giving consent to an adoption, are often vulnerable because of a lack of power and resources, as well as different cultural understandings of the nature of family and adoption. We conclude that in order to protect vulnerable children and birth families, individual sending and receiving countries need to supplement the Hague Convention with specific, contextually appropriate laws and regulations.

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The number of global surrogacy arrangements increased exponentially over the last decade, and the rise in the practice has led to concerns over issues such as social justice, exploitation, and human rights abuses. Currently, there are no international regulations or guidelines regarding global surrogacy arrangements, and in some countries where the practice is prevalent, i.e., India, there is limited national regulation or oversight. Global surrogacy is a complex issue that includes questions related to morality, parentage, the natural motherinfant bond, and the complexities of inequalities in a globalized world that interface with a multi-million dollar industry. The purpose of the paper is to present global surrogacy dynamics written in a manner to help the reader understand this complex phenomenon, including a discussion of the associated problems and ethical dilemmas. The USA and India, two contrasting global surrogacy destination countries, are presented as cases, and some unique matters related to surrogacy in each country are emphasized to highlight the issues. Human rights instruments and international private law are discussed to frame global surrogacy regulation including the rights of the child and the rights of women. The analysis is concluded with pragmatic policy recommendations oriented to some of the practices necessary to regulate global surrogacy arrangements in a fair and consistent manner, while maintaining that ultimately the voices of all involved in global surrogacy contracts, and most especially the surrogates themselves, need to be included in further discussions of the issue.