Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Would-Be Parents Wait as International Adoptions Plunge

From NPR:
"The era of the boom time for international adoption, I think, has passed us by," says Adam Pertman, head of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. "International adoption used to more or less occur under the radar, and it was pretty much the Wild West.

"Then people started paying attention — really paying attention," Pertman says. "And they saw the good, the bad and the ugly."

With allegations of baby trafficking and fraud widespread, the U.S. and other nations have signed onto the Hague Adoption Convention, which imposes strict regulations to ensure transparency throughout the adoption process. While Pertman says the agreement is much needed and well intentioned, he fears some countries have overreacted, shutting down adoption programs altogether as they struggle to meet the new standards.

The media has also had an impact. Press coverage was intense in 2010, when a Tennessee mother returned the 7-year-old son she had adopted from Russia, sending him back on a plane alone. Russia reacted angrily and quickly restricted adoptions to U.S. families.

Many nations also feel increasingly stigmatized for sending their babies abroad. Both Russia and China are now encouraging domestic adoptions over international ones.

In the wake of these shifts, international adoptions to the U.S. have plunged by more than half in the past eight years, from a peak of nearly 23,000 in 2004 to fewer than 10,000 last year.

4 comments:

zhou.and.mc said...

Sad that countries may care more about their public image than children.

Unknown said...

Thought you might like this positive adoption story to give you heart!

http://baafadoption.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/i-was-lucky-to-have-been-adopted.html

Reena said...

That is what the numbers for the actual adoptions indicate. How many PAPs are still "in line" for adopting from other countries. One reason adoptions from China to the US (to all receiving countries) is that China is not issuing referrals as quickly as they did. I don't these numbers telling the full story. You read these articles and it gives the impression that fewer families are interested in IA and I don't know that is accurate.

Mia said...

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