A parliamentary commission of inquiry is needed!
The dossier of this issue, exceptional for its scope and the variety of contributions, intends to review international adoption, by examining the evolution of international and national regulations and by pointing out abuses and shortcomings, sometimes of a criminal nature, that these procedures have known.
He also largely gives the floor to people who were adopted as children, to show how these shortcomings had long hidden, minimized, ignored consequences on their life, their development, the construction of their personality and their personal journey. . One of the most striking aspects is the construction of identity, in a context where most of the time, important components of this notion are non-existent, have disappeared, have been deliberately destroyed.
Hence, obviously, the focus on the search for origins which sometimes leads to the discovery of illegalities and criminal behavior. This research is therefore of capital, even vital, importance for adopted children, and requires support and accompaniment. We will see that this is also where the shoe pinches cruelly.
We cannot ignore the role of the actors involved in intercountry adoption. We thus explain the structures set up in Belgium and their missions (including the Higher Adoption Council, the COSA), evoke the local actors in the countries of origin of the children, and analyze more particularly the role of the intermediaries of the intercountry adoption, including accredited bodies, which had, and some of them still have, crushing responsibilities in criminal actions. We will not ignore the financial dimension that makes international adoption a lucrative business, which some consider more lucrative than drug trafficking!