Unicef Handbook: last resort art 21b

Intercountry adoption only “if

the child cannot be placed in

a foster or an adoptive family

or cannot in any suitable

manner be cared for in the

child’s country of origin”

In other words, intercountry adoption must be a

solution of last resort. States are under an obligation

to take active measures to ensure that all possible

efforts have been made to provide suitable

care for the child in his or her country of origin.

This “last resort” provision is consonant with article

20(3) requiring due regard to be paid to “the

desirability of continuity in a child’s upbringing

and to the child’s ethnic, religious, cultural and

linguistic background”; with article 7, upholding

the child’s rights to know and be cared for

by parents, and with article 8, the child’s right

to preserve identity. It is confirmed in the 1993

Hague Convention on Protection of Children and

Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption,

which establishes the “subsidiarity principle”

that an intercountry adoption should only take

place “after possibilities for placement of the

child within the State of origin have been given

due consideration”. Prolonged institutionalization

in most cases is unlikely to constitute “suitable”

care in the child’s country of origin.

The Committee is concerned when countries

seem to have a disproportionate number of intercountry

adoptions, for example in Bolivia and

Latvia:

“… the Committee is concerned about the

limited understanding and acceptance in the

State Party that domestic adoptions are more

desirable than intercountry adoptions, the

lack of mechanisms to prepare prospective

adoptive parents, and the lack of mechanisms

to follow up and monitor the situation of

adopted children…” (Bolivia CRC/C/15/Add.256,

para. 41)

“The Committee is concerned that the number

of children adopted domestically remains

significantly lower than the number adopted

through intercountry adoptions…” (Latvia

CRC/C/LVA/CO/2, para. 34)

It recommended that Latvia take steps

“… to encourage domestic adoptions,

including through the dissemination of

accessible information relating to the

conditions for adoption, offering preparatory

assistance to persons willing to adopt and

working groups for adoptive parents. The

Committee also recommends … preference is

given to domestic adoption over intercountry

adoption.” (Latvia CRC/C/LVA/CO/2, para. 35)

)