Norwau: It could have been my boys

Stopping foreign adoptions deprives children of their right to a family.

A childhood in an institution. Without parents. Without family. Without the unconditional love and the close, secure care that only parents can provide. This will be the reality for many children if Norway stops adoption abroad.

That could also have been the situation for my two boys. They are both adopted from South Africa.

Adoption regulations in South Africa require social workers to first provide advice and guidance with the hope that biological parents or someone else in the family can care for the children.

If this does not lead to success, they try to find adoptive parents in their home country. But in South Africa it is difficult to find parents for children over one year old, children born prematurely and children who have been exposed to drugs during pregnancy.

Like my boys, the options for these children would be institutionalization or overseas adoption. Which of these two options is in the child's best interest speaks for itself. It is also laid down in the Hague Convention.

Some adoptions should never have happened

Bufdir has recommended the Ministry of Children and Families to temporarily stop all foreign adoptions. The background for this is adoptees who have told about highly unethical conditions and possible violations of the law in their own adoption process.

"It would be a grave mistake to cut all countries across the board."

Some of these adopted children - now adults - have discovered that their biological parents probably did not want to adopt them away. Some have most likely been victims of kidnapping or human trafficking. Discovering in adulthood that there is such uncertainty around the start of your life is an identity crisis of enormous dimensions.

A survey carried out by VG shows that from the 70s until now there have been many warnings that the Norwegian authorities should have been aware of. This criticism is serious and points to possible weaknesses in the adoption system, not only in partner countries, but also here at home.

Now, the Norwegian authorities have set up a committee to scrutinize adoptions to Norway and investigate whether the controls have been good enough.

I fully support this.

Safer than before

Most of the illegal adoptions that VG has uncovered took place in the 70s and 80s. Fortunately, the view of children and childhood has changed a lot since then.

Children are no longer perceived as the property of their parents, but as full human beings with strong rights. We also know a lot more today about what is needed for children to feel good and develop in a healthy and good way.

This knowledge has led to changes in how we as a society and parents relate to and raise our children. It has also led to changes in the rules for foreign adoption. Any suspension should therefore be based on the current adoption system as it is practiced in each individual country, rather than on adoptions that were carried out 40-50 years ago.

A temporary halt in all foreign adoptions while the investigation is ongoing (ie for two years) appears to be an unwise and very drastic conclusion. The Minister's response to the recommendation rightly states that the basis for the decision is too poor. For example, the Directorate has not assessed the conditions in the individual partner countries and how they vary.

The outcome of this type of simple work can, for example, be a complete halt in adoptions from South Africa because there is a risk of document forgery and corruption linked to adoptions from other countries.

Look at South Africa

Adoption from South Africa to Norway takes place through a collaboration between Abba Specialist Adoptions and Social Services and the Norwegian adoption association Verdens Barn.

My experience is that the process has a high ethical standard that both safeguards the child's best interests and the biological parents' rights. In South Africa, the consent process is led by a judge, without Abba being involved.

Biological parents, often a young single woman in a vulnerable situation, can withdraw their consent within 60 days of it being given. During this time, the parents are offered counseling and are informed about various options for adoption.

Many then choose to place their child in foster care instead, while others come to the conclusion that they want to take care of the child themselves or have it cared for by someone else in the family. In 2023, 17 children were reunited with biological parents or other family members as a result of this type of guidance at the Cape Town office.

"It would be a grave mistake to cut all countries across the board."

When adoption becomes the solution, South African authorities try to find adoptive families nationally. I have been informed by Abba Cape Town that only one in five children adopted through the organization was adopted out of the country. The rest found new families in South Africa. But the older the child gets, the more difficult it becomes to find a family in the home country, especially for children with health challenges or special needs.

It is these children who are adopted to Norway and other countries.

A high price

Criticism and uncovering of serious deficiencies in the adoption system should and must lead to changes that can prevent future failure of the system, but Bufdir anticipates the course of events by recommending a halt before the investigation committee has done its work.

It would also be a grave mistake to cut all countries across the board. Also, it would be very condescending. Some countries have as good a set of regulations and practices as Norway.

The thought of the adult adopted children who have been let down by the system is very painful. But the thought of those children who may lose the opportunity to have a family pains me just as much.

We must not lose sight of those children.

Change: In the first publication of the chronicle, it was written that there was a risk of document forgery and corruption linked to adoptions from Madagascar. It has been removed in the latest publication. The correct thing is that bufdir has stopped adoptions from Madagascar to Norway because the directorate "does not have the security necessary for adoptions from Madagascar to Norway to be carried out in accordance with international principles for adoption" Changed 26.01. at 12:54 p.m.