Family and Child Welfare

Family and Child Welfare 3 (3+0)

Lesson 25 : Court Actions in Relation to Adoption

Intercountry Adoptions

Factors contributing to intercountry adoptions include the mobility of families around the world: the increase in international marriages, the greater ease of communication between countries, the continuing large numbers of American servicemen stationed abroad, many of whom seek to adopt children during their residence in another country or father children illegitimately with no means to care for them; and a humanitarian concern by many persons for the plight of refugee and other homeless children, man of whom are grossly neglected or discriminated against in their own country because of illegitimacy or mixed racial background.

The legal adoption of children from other countries requires the cooperation of social agencies in two or more countries. There are some sectarian agencies as well. The cooperation of child welfare agencies at state and local level is also required.
Because geographical distances and national boundaries create additional hazards to an adoption services, cooperating agencies attempt to maintain the same standards of child care that exist for local adoptions and observe some additional standards as well:

1. Since there are various risks inherent in transplanting a child from one culture to another, careful consideration should be given to possible alternative plans for children within their own countries before intercountry adoption is decided upon.
2. An adequate social study of the prospective adopters by a recognized child welfare agency must be done in the country and locality where they live, rather than only in the country where they seek a child or may be residing temporarily. The study should be completed before a child is suggested to or promised to a couple.
3. When consideration is being given to placing a child for adoption with relatives in another country, the same elements should be weighed in determining whether children and relatives are suitable for each other as when placing unrelated children.
4. Steps should be taken to assure that the adoption is legally valid in both countries. Sociological aspects of intercountry adoptions require special attention to parental consent and the child’s status in matters of guardianship, nationality citizenship, and birth certificate. Some adopting parents have resorted to proxy adoption, that is, they grant power of attorney to a third person in a foreign country to adopt a child for them. This is a questionable practice from both a social and a legal point of view.

The realization that international adoptions could be successful and the demonstration of adaptive capacities of both adopting parents and children appear to have been factors in influencing agencies in this country towards more flexibility in requirements and procedures.