France suspends adoptions of children from Madagascar

This decision was justified by the conclusions of a report by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child pointing out the flaws in adoption procedures in Madagascar.

International adoption procedures for children from Madagascar by people residing in France have been suspended, according to a decree published on Sunday, October 22, in the Official Journal (OJ) .

“All international adoption procedures concerning children habitually resident in Madagascar by any person habitually residing in France are suspended ,” according to this decree dated October 17.

Adoption procedures for Malagasy children were already subject to a provisional suspension for one year since October 2022.

Stop illegal adoptions

This decision, unsuccessfully challenged before the French administrative justice system, was justified by the conclusions of a report from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child pointing out the flaws in adoption procedures in Madagascar.

Since a law of February 2022, international adoptions by individual process have been prohibited, in order to stop illicit adoptions which have developed at the international level since the 1980s.

In France, international adoption developed significantly in the 1950s, culminating in 2005 with the arrival of more than 4,000 children from abroad in the territory, according to the State Secretariat responsible for adoption. 'childhood. Since then, the number of adoptions has seen a significant drop, going from 4,136 in 2005 to 421 in 2019, according to figures communicated in November 2022 on its site.