Slik ble Norge varslet om ulovlige adopsjons-betalinger - VG - This is how Norway was notified of illegal adoption payments

About NOK 50,000. Norwegian couples had to pay directly to orphanages in Colombia in order to adopt a child.

This was in addition to the costs of the adoption itself.

Colombian authorities responded that the sum was called a "donation".

- After all, the children do not live in a six-star hotel, said the head of the Colombian adoption governing body, Beatriz Helena Guzman, to the Norwegian authorities when they were on an inspection trip to the country.

Nevertheless, 11 years passed from the time the Norwegian authorities were first notified of the donations in 1994 until they put an end to them in 2005. 

Time and time again, the Norwegian authorities were notified of the practice:

• It could be illegal
• There was no full control over what the money was used for
• The orphanage demanded that the money be deposited into a foreign account 

It reveals inspection reports from the Norwegian authorities that VG has now reviewed.

- I get associations with human trafficking, says professor of jurisprudence at Oslo Met, Julia Köhler-Olsen, after learning about the contents of the reports.

- It is the child's best interests that must be the basis for adoption - not financial gain. That the Norwegian authorities have known about this for 11 years without intervening seems simply unjustifiable, says Köhler-Olsen. 

Previously, VG revealed that Camilla Austbø (37) was bought, sold – and adopted to Norway. In addition, VG has revealed systematic cheating in adoption papers from South Korea.

Now VG has mapped all reports from 1988 to 2022 after inspection trips to countries Norway adopts from.

They show that Norwegian couples who adopted children from Colombia, China, Taiwan and India had to give large monetary gifts to orphanages.

• In Colombia and China, there was no control over what the money was actually used for, according to the inspection reports.
• In Colombia, it was the orphanages themselves that determined the amount Norwegian couples had to pay.
• The money went to a "partially unspecified purpose".

"The combination of an unwelcoming attitude and the information that the institution must have the donations transferred to an account abroad is apt to cause concern," the Norwegian authorities wrote after the Colombia visit in 2001.

Four years later, Bufdir decided that Norwegian adoptive parents should only pay for real costs - and thus the sum was adjusted from around NOK 48,100 to NOK 3,500 per month the child lived in an orphanage.

Bufdir is responsible for ensuring that adoptions to Norway proceed legally.

Their role in foreign adoptions is to be scrutinized following a series of revelations about illegal adoptions .

Neither Bufdir nor Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe now wants to answer specific questions VG has asked about this case. Both refer to the investigation, which is expected to be completed in two years.

In a general answer, department director for international services in Bufdir, Kristin Ugstad Steinrem, says:

- We welcome the committee's scrutiny of international adoptions to Norway, and do what we can to ensure safe future adoptions. 

China and Taiwan

Norwegian couples who adopted children from China have also had to give monetary gifts, according to the reports reviewed by VG.

In 2002, the donation to Chinese orphanages was 3,000 US dollars - about NOK 26,400. The sum had been the same in "all years". But there was no detailed control of the use, the report states.

Bufdir suggested no reactions or measures aimed at the donations.

On an inspection trip to Taiwan in 2015, the Norwegian authorities were warned that orphanages were completely dependent on donations from foreign adoptions - which entailed a risk of domestic adoptions being de-prioritized.

This may contravene the Hague Convention.

No measures or reactions were proposed by Bufdir.

Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp) says she reacts strongly to the information VG is now bringing. 

- People must be confident that Norway's cooperation with the countries they come from is thoroughly assessed in terms of soundness and legal certainty, says Toppe. 

- But these notifications are already known to the ministry - in that they are in reports that have been delivered to you? 

- The cases VG mentions are about matters that happened before my time in the ministry. Several stories have come to light from the adoption field which I have reacted to and which is the reason why I have now launched an independent investigation into foreign adoptions. [...] 

- The starting point for the investigation is information from countries about illegalities in international adoptions and very serious conditions in certain foreign adoptions to Norway. I want to bring to light what has happened. 

This is how the adoption associations respond

The associations Adoptionsforum, Verdens Barn and Inoradopt facilitated adoption from the countries VG mentions in this article and took part in inspection trips. 

This is how they answer: 

Adoption forum, mediates adoption from Colombia: 

- Due to the upcoming investigation, it will be wrong for the Adoption Forum to comment in the media on both individual cases and questions related to inspection visits, says chairman Andrea Mæhlum.

Children of the World , mediated adoption from China: 

- The costs of an adoption must, among other things, be used to cover the operation of orphanages or foster homes abroad, says Young K. Kim, general manager of the association Verdens Barn

- The adoption associations and the Norwegian authorities were not given insight into the finances of the orphanages, but we learned that the standard at the orphanages improved significantly during the 90s, says Kim. 

Inoradopt, relayed from Taiwan:  

- It is InorAdopt's experience that the adoption work in Taiwan is transparent, very well regulated, and that there is careful supervision of the adoption work and payment for services in connection with this, both by the court and the Taiwanese authorities, says chairman and general manager of Inoradopt, Siren Høgtun. 

She also says that Inoradopt today requires a signed self-declaration from all applicants in which they promise never to give donations or financial contributions to orphanages, the child's carers or people connected to the adoption process, beyond set adoption fees and legal costs. 

- InorAdopt is very aware that international adoption should not be an option, if having a family in a child's country of origin is a possibility, says Høgtun.