Does the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption Adequately Protect Orphaned and Vulnerable Children and Their Families?

Abstract

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.

Regulating Commercial Global Surrogacy: The Best Interests of the Child

“…Overall, the profession of social work has been pragmatic in framing intercountry adoption and the future of the practice: a number of social work scholars have taken a clear human rights-based approach to child welfare, providing guidance to strengthen systems and thereby preserving intercountry adoption as an intervention only for the appropriate children (Roby 2007;Gibbons and Rotabi 2012). International treaties and law have framed Bappropriate children^as children who truly have no humane alternative care options other than adoption, to first attempt domestic adoption in their homeland, and lastly intercountry adoption in cases where sending a child to another country becomes necessary.…”

“…While it can provide goods and opportunities to those children who are adopted, it leaves the vast majority in unjust social structures. Social workers have called for action in addressing the global inequalities, as well as ethical problems underlying intercountry adoption practice (Gibbons and Rotabi 2012;Roby et al 2013). Issues of adoption trafficking have occurred in a number of countries and include deception of birthmothers and purchasing/kidnapping of children (Cheney 2014a;Gibbons and Rotabi 2012;Mapp 2014;Rotabi and Bromfield 2017).…”

“…Social workers have called for action in addressing the global inequalities, as well as ethical problems underlying intercountry adoption practice (Gibbons and Rotabi 2012;Roby et al 2013). Issues of adoption trafficking have occurred in a number of countries and include deception of birthmothers and purchasing/kidnapping of children (Cheney 2014a;Gibbons and Rotabi 2012;Mapp 2014;Rotabi and Bromfield 2017). Some countries, such as Guatemala, entered into an intercountry adoption moratorium after a number of years of serious and persistent human rights abuses in the system, including brazen child abductions into adoption (see Mónico 2013).…”

“…Some countries, such as Guatemala, entered into an intercountry adoption moratorium after a number of years of serious and persistent human rights abuses in the system, including brazen child abductions into adoption (see Mónico 2013). At the time of the enactment of the moratorium in 2008, international regulatory standards were finally implemented to safeguard the process of adoption to prevent child sales and abduction into adoption (Cheney 2014b;Rotabi 2014;Rotabi and Mónico 2016;Rotabi and Gibbons 2012). This change was the result, ultimately, of the implementation of Hague Convention, and its protections, conceptualized as safeguards, have helped to reduce the number of inappropriate children moving to intercountry adoption.…”

“…The Hague Convention is an international private law developed to prevent the sale and abduction of children in the intercountry adoption process (HCCH 1993). The best interest of the child is the central principle, and the regulatory standards instituted are recognized to be important steps forward in improving global intercountry adoption systems (Cheney 2014b;Gibbons and Rotabi 2012;Roby and Maskew 2012;Rotabi and Gibbons 2012). Fundamentally, the HCIA institutes ethical standards and safeguards to prevent force, fraud, and coercion in adoption.…”