Strengthening the International Adoption Regime

This is a great (very balanced, in my opinion) article I read this morning that explains the role of the Hague convention in trying to ensure international adoptions are kept moral and ethical. As more and more people are opening their homes to children overseas, corruption is becoming more prevalent. There are many discussions going around the adoption community right now as to to what is the best way to make sure that these adoptions are happening ethically, ensuring that only children who are truly orphans are being adopted, rather than foreigners seeing adoption as an opportunity to allow their children to become American citizens. And how to ensure people profiting from adoptions are not influencing how and when and which children should be adopted out to the USA. The original article can be read here.

I am pleased that the author does not suggest banning international adoption as some have tried to do, but is rather suggesting stricter regulation processes and accountability, as I have seen a great need for. You can the list of adoption agencies that ARE Hague-accredited here. And to see which agencies have been denied Hague accreditation click here. I have learned this the hard way, but in my opinion it is extremely important that the first thing you do when you decide to adopt is to check out your agency. I can give you a lot of resources on how to do that, if you would like to email me privately.

Here is one quote from the article, and I cannot agree more: "The world’s governments must take strong preventive action when adults take part in supplying and fueling the global trade in children."