The aftermath of transnational illegal adoptions: Redressing human rights violations in the intercountry adoption system with instruments of transitional justice

A growing movement of illegally adopted individuals request remedies and reparations for the human rights violations that they and their biological families had suffered. This article explores a number of measures that the stakeholders in the receiving countries can use in an effort to repair the human rights violations caused by illegal intercountry adoptions, borrowing ideas from transitional justice. In order to effectively redress the harm inflicted upon victims of illegal adoptions, a policy on remedies should combine instruments of retributive justice, aimed at holding wrongdoers accountable, with measures of restorative justice that focus on the victims’ needs and interests.

Intercountry adoption swimming against the tide: Restitution in Samoa

Intercountry adoption (ICA) is a contested practice represented by competing discourses of humanitarianism, exploitation, poverty and wealth. Multiple factors have contributed to decreasing numbers of adoption globally including documented incidents of fraud which have accumulated over the last two decades. There is little recompense for families subjected to the fraudulent removal of their children, the children, and adoptive parents who are also defrauded. This article reports on the troubled progression of fraudulent ICA, presents a case of fraud and novel restitution in Samoa and concludes that restitution pathways should also facilitate contact and reunification of children with their families.

Implications of irregular transnational adoptions within international standards: A review of intercountry adoption systems and Guatemalan birthmother perspectives

With growing global emergencies, child abduction became a concern in countries of origin and reception of transnationally adopted children. Improved regulations and standards to prevent child trafficking exhibit failures to ensure the best interest of children and the principle of subsidiarity. The article reviews relevant literature documents the Guatemalan birthmothers’ experiences and documented child theft, deception by trafficking networks, fraudulent adoptions, and familial coercion. Human rights and child welfare system implications drawn may be relevant to irregular transnational adoptions elsewhere.

‘I prefer not to know’: Spain’s management of transnational adoption demand and signs of corruption

The safeguards and measures to prevent child trafficking mentioned in the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption have proven insufficient in curbing the so-called irregular adoptions. An analysis of how Spanish central authorities and intermediary agencies managed the flow of adoption dossiers between 2003 and 2013 presents their inability to react swiftly to the imbalance between adoption demand and supply. The 2015 reforms in the Spanish law introduced measures to bring demand in line with real needs. However, imaginaries that portray adopters and children from the Global South as victims of meaningless bureaucracy continue to hold true even today.

INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION AND THE SUBSIDIARITY PRINCIPLE: A PROPOSAL FOR A VIA MEDIA

This article discusses implementation of the principle of subsidiarity in intercountry adoption cases. The authors demonstrate that, whilst this principle has become well established in international law, the precise nature of its application remains uncertain. The adverse effects of this uncertainty on the reception of the principle of subsidiarity in South African Law are analysed. It is shown that neither our courts nor the legislature have been able to provide the degree of clarity required by professionals and parties involved in intercountry adoption cases. A proposal for improved guidance is put forward.

‘Writing about our adoption’: A qualitative study on intercountry adoptive parents’ narratives during the first post-adoption year

Intercountry adoption requires adoptive parents to assume their parenthood as well as to acknowledge the cultural and ethnic origins of their child. Narratives are effective means to help individuals cope with non-normative transitions, including adoption, as they allow them to make sense of and legitimise their experiences. This qualitative study sought to extend knowledge about the value of using narrative methods with adoptive families to explore how the language they employ determines the ways in which they perceive situations and vice versa. It uses the word-driven textual analysis software T-LAB to identify key topics highlighted by parents and analyse them in relation to specific variables. Child characteristics, such as gender, age at adoption and birth country, and family variables, such as mother’s and father’s narratives and first or not-first parenting experience, were considered. From the 37 narratives sampled, those parents adopting from Asia and Eastern Europe, mothers and first-time parents faced the most challenges.

Closing New Loopholes: Protecting Children in Uganda’s International Adoption Practices

Despite closing a legal guardianship loophole that enabled foreign prospective adoptive parents to bypass restrictive Ugandan adoption laws in 2016, corruption in intercountry adoption persisted, with the courts legitimating new end-runs around the requirements. But US sanctions issued in 2020 bring new hope for reform. By highlighting what children’s advocates are doing to fight back, I suggest strategies for effective child and family safeguarding practices against adoption corruption as well as efforts to seek justice for affected children and families.

19. Adoption and Special Guardianship

This chapter discusses the law on adoption. It covers the nature of adoption and background to the legislation; comparison of adoption with other legal relationships and orders; adoption and human rights; the changing pattern of adoption; responsibility for placing children for adoption; general principles when reaching decisions about adoption; adoption service under the Adoption and Children Act 2002; placement for adoption; the procedure for the making of adoption orders; contact considerations; registration of adoption and the adoption contact register; the effects of an adoption order; transfer of parentage. It then examines the international aspects of adoption and, in that context, the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. The chapter ends with a discussion of special guardianship.

Connecting The Uprooted: Parents' Use Of Bi-Cultural Socialization In Facilitating Transnationalism Among Chinese Adoptees

This Major Research Paper explores the distinct form of transnationalism experienced by Chinese adoptees in Canada by examining adoptive parents‟ use of bi-cultural socialization mechanisms. In doing so, this paper addresses the ways in which parents utilize cultural exposure to facilitate internal community ties and transnational connections between their children and China. The researcher attempts to present a link between parents‟ fostering of cultural knowledge and a resulting unique form of transnationalism that is not initially established or maintained through the efforts of the immigrant population (Chinese adoptee community). A qualitative research approach was undertaken through a purposive sampling technique, self-selection and elite interview data. Data was collected through in-depth one-on-one interviews with eight parents of adopted daughters from China. Through analysis of this empirical interview data and a theoretical reliance on the post-colonial paradigm of intercountry adoption, it was determined that Chinese adoptees in Canada experience and are attached to two or more places simultaneously.