Minutes of the plenary meeting
Current question
Current questionabout the uncertainties surrounding international adoption
95 (2025-2026)
from Freya Perdaens to Minister Caroline Gennez
Report
Mrs Perdaens has the floor.
Minister, we've discussed international adoption several times recently. In 2023, then-Minister Crevits imposed a pause on adoptions following abuses and uncertainties in the adoption procedure. This was entirely justified, as the context at the time absolutely did not prioritize the well-being of children.
The adoption pause also meant that no new mediations would be initiated. That was essentially the definition of the adoption pause at the time. It was also agreed to wait to start adoptions until a decree provided clarity.
That decree was approved in this parliament at the end of the previous legislative period, and then it was still waiting for the implementing decree to implement that decree.
The next phase is our coalition agreement. In our coalition agreement, we mention the implementation of that decree and provide for an evaluation after two years. Currently, we don't have that implementation yet, so the evaluation of the implementation cannot take place yet.
What we did do last summer was open several new cases. We opened several new cases for people who received a suitability ruling for the adoption pause. There were 49 cases at the time. Of those 49, 42 indicated they wanted to continue. Seven couples received a parent profile, and for seventeen cases, it wasn't really clear—I couldn't tell from the answer to the question—what the current status was.
So, Minister, my very specific question: what is the definition of an adoption pause if it doesn't mean that no new mediation procedures are initiated? What is the current status of the seventeen cases? (Applause from the N-VA)
Minister Gennez has the floor.
Minister Caroline Gennez
Thank you, colleague Perdaens.
Adoption and the right to care for a child is a fundamental issue and an important question. You've outlined it very well. During the previous legislature, it was decided to implement a pause on adoptions due to the fact that numerous abuses, including child trafficking and child theft, had come to light regarding intercountry adoption. This wasn't a one-off, but rather a fairly systematic and large-scale occurrence. I therefore believe this pause in adoption is entirely justified. Safety and the child must always be paramount.
But what the previous government also decided, and you outlined this correctly, was to process ongoing cases, specifically for prospective parents with a suitability ruling from before the 2023 adoption hiatus. Naturally, we are honoring that promise in this case as well. Some of these parents already had an agreement with the adoption agency and therefore simply continued their proceedings. That was 33. Fifty-nine couples only had a suitability ruling. We contacted these couples, both under the previous government and now, asking if they wanted to continue the adoption procedure. These were couples with a suitability ruling from before the adoption hiatus. 42 adopters answered "yes," and 17 adopters—and that is the specific answer to your question—answered "no." Their case has therefore been discontinued, and the Flemish Adoption Center (VCA) will not contact them again. But of course, as agreed in the context of the adoption pause, people who were entitled to it will continue to receive assistance.
Mrs Perdaens has the floor.
Thank you for the answers, Minister.
International adoption is a multifaceted issue. You have the abuses, as you rightly pointed out, the ongoing adoptions, and the completed adoptions. Denying the complexity of the whole issue is essentially ignoring the well-being of the child. We absolutely agree that the well-being and safety of these children must be paramount.
Within this complexity, aftercare is, of course, incredibly important. Even if there are no abuses, you remove a child from their environment and place them in a completely different context and culture. This creates problems, it breeds resentment, and that necessitates the need for aftercare. Currently, aftercare is provided for 1,400 cases. That number will increase as cases are still being finalized. A single adoption agency provides aftercare, but that funding expires at the end of this year. So my next question is very simple: how are we going to ensure aftercare for those 1,400 cases and more starting next year? (Applause from the N-VA)
Mr Vaneeckhout has the floor.
Minister, colleagues, thank you to my colleague Perdaens for putting this on the agenda here.
It remains a huge challenge, Minister, to deal with this properly. I think that many of us, along with many colleagues, have heard harrowing stories in recent years. These were often the result of good intentions, for example, on the part of adoptive parents, but sometimes also of the perverse intentions of people who genuinely wanted to abuse children in their country of origin, or who also had less noble intentions here. The biggest victim is always the child in question.
The difficulty of discussing this means we don't want to dismiss those good intentions, nor do we want to deny that they existed. But at the same time, we must realize how drastic the choices we're making here are. That's why we support the adoption pause announced here. We also support investigating which channels are still safe and which aren't. We also want the decree from the previous legislative term implemented.
But if we know that several dossiers remain open, this question arises in the interim period, Minister. We know that work continues with several established partner countries. Do you have rock-solid guarantees today that there will be no abuse there or that abuses cannot recur? Are those guarantees in place? Because you know that the sector itself has never really been able to substantiate those guarantees in previous hearings. Do you have those rock-solid guarantees today?
Mrs Claesen has the floor.
Mercina Claesen (Flemish Interest)
At the end of 2023, there was an adoption pause. However, there are still ongoing processes and parents waiting because they were promised a start-up. That doesn't sound like a pause at all. It's not a pause at all.
You stated in the committee meeting of June 10th that no intercountry adoption will take place if it cannot be guaranteed with 100% certainty that the child will be adopted to ensure their safety. Can you guarantee me today that these adoption procedures will proceed smoothly – today, but also in the future? That's a rhetorical question, Minister. You cannot. Other organizations also say you cannot, so take a clear stand: stop these intercountry adoptions to ensure that child trafficking is nipped in the bud. (Applause from the Vlaams Belang)
Mrs Schryvers has the floor.
Minister, I know of few issues within the entire Welfare sector that are as delicate and emotionally charged as international adoption. This is perfectly understandable, of course, and we must therefore rightly handle it with great care. In recent years, views on international adoption have also changed significantly. After all, history has shown that international adoptions don't always proceed smoothly. Even when they proceed smoothly, and with the best intentions, there's still a huge impact on the adoptee.
For these reasons, Minister Crevits has imposed a pause on adoptions at the end of 2023. The intention is to implement several thorough reforms during this pause, but also to investigate several past abuses. You have extended this pause, Minister. Meanwhile, things remain quiet, Minister. I want to ask you what is happening now. Because the uncertainty is weighing on prospective adopters, and sometimes bad news is less serious than an excruciatingly long wait. (Applause from CD&V)
Mrs De Bleeker has the floor.
The fact that there have been problems with international adoption in the past is, of course, unacceptable. Addressing these malpractices, investigating them, and so on, is absolutely essential.
The current situation is indeed that there's a pause in adoptions, but essentially everything is on hold. There's a great deal of uncertainty. We liberals are asking that this issue be addressed and that a sound system for international adoption be reinstated in the long term. Naturally, this will involve a joint preliminary process, proper guidance, aftercare, and the elimination of all legal uncertainties.
But that won't happen automatically, of course; it needs to be addressed. My question to you is: where do you stand on this? You say you're proposing a new draft decree to address the ambiguities of the previous decree. But my fundamental question is whether you truly intend to ensure that international adoption will still be possible in the long term, primarily in the best interest of the children themselves, of course. Or are you engaged in delaying tactics, and is the real intention that international adoption will no longer be possible by the end of this legislative term, and perhaps that it will simply be abolished altogether? (Applause from Open Vld)
Minister Gennez has the floor.
Minister Caroline Gennez
As rightly stated: this is a sensitive and extremely important issue, colleague Perdaens. Intended parents are desperate to provide care, and children and their rights are, I assume, always central to everyone here.
Adoption, especially international adoption, always has a huge impact—as has been said—on both the biological parents, if any, the intended parents, and certainly on the children themselves. That's why there's a growing international consensus to strictly regulate international adoption. And rightly so, I think. Everyone here agrees.
What are we doing at the moment? We are indeed conducting the evaluation as agreed. On the one hand, there were prospective adoptive parents who had established rights and received a suitability decision. They will be able to continue in the process. We are also evaluating the countries of origin. That does indeed take some time, colleagues. Our services visit countries of origin to ensure absolutely that adoptions are safe. In several countries, it has already become clear that this guarantee is not available. That is why several countries have been removed from the list with great conviction. I'm talking about India, Haiti, Vietnam, Morocco, and Togo. Therefore, intercountry adoption will no longer be considered in those countries.
And yes, colleagues, there is a right to clarity, including for all those in aftercare programs. We will also guarantee the staff currently providing aftercare that they can continue to provide it, both within the services and within the Flemish Adoption Center. Everyone advocates for care, everyone advocates for a certain degree of clarity. We are working on this, and I have great confidence, including in the people at the VCA, in correctly presenting this evaluation. I also have great confidence in the caring approach to this phenomenon, intercountry adoption, in the best interests of the child, within this Flemish Government. (Applause from Vooruit)
Mrs Perdaens has the floor.
Thank you, Minister.
One thing is paramount: the well-being and safety of the child. I think that's true for almost every speaker you heard on this topic today. This must be paramount in future projects, in past projects, always.
But colleagues, today we've mainly discussed ongoing cases or cases from the recent past that hopefully went well. We've spoken very little—it would be completely wrong not to mention them, Minister—about the children, the people involved, including the families, whom we were referring to when we discussed the abuses.
Minister, may I urge you to please continue to recognize and care for those people in that situation? (Applause from the N-VA)
The current inquiry has been resolved.