'Time for thorough reflection on adoption'

The Netherlands decided yesterday, after a damning report, to suspend intercountry adoptions. Flanders does not want to do the same helplessly.

The Dutch government has immediately decided to suspend adoptions of children from abroad. Candidate families that are well advanced in the procedure can still continue with it. The decision follows a damning report by the Joustra Commission, which concludes that abuses from the past have still not been completely resolved and that the Dutch government has looked away for years.

The report had already been leaked on Friday, but was officially presented on Monday. Adoptees here also eagerly looked forward to this and the response from the Dutch government.

Happy surprise

"I didn't expect this decision so soon, but it's a happy surprise," says San-Ho Correwyn, 51, co-author of the recently released book Feeling Adopted . 'I have also cherished the hope for a long time that Belgium and my country of origin Korea will do the same, and hit mea culpa. Intercountry adoption doesn't exactly have a clean history. '

'I have cherished the hope for a long time that Belgium and my country of origin Korea hit mea culpa'

San-Ho Correwyn (51)

Co-author of the book Feeling Adopted

'In every major adopted country, things have gone wrong: files have been changed or disappeared, the age of the children has been adjusted downwards to make them more “adoptable”. In many cases searches for origins turn out to be almost impossible. In Korea and India, two major countries of origin from the past, chaos is the order of the day. It is the big issue among adult adoptees: we would like more support from the government in our search. '

Correwyn hopes that the Dutch decision will be a reason to take an adoption break in our country, or at least in Flanders: 'Don't let any more candidates join the waiting list, because it is already far too long. Let's use that time to think thoroughly about whether it is okay to continue. '

Flemish minister Wouter Beke (CD&V), competent for adoption, does not immediately go into this proposal. He is awaiting the recommendations of the expert panel on intercountry adoption, which has been delayed due to the corona crisis. The experts' report must be ready before the summer recess. In the meantime, Beke hopes to be able to build a broader bridge between adoption and foster care: 'The foster care services are currently looking for candidate parents for more than 700 foster children.'

Flemish Member of Parliament Lorin Parys (N-VA) thinks this is a good plan. He acknowledges that there is a mismatch between the many adoptive parents on the waiting list and the limited number of children coming to our country via adoption - last year there were 23. 'They are now almost all children with disabilities, children of older age, and siblings who want to be adopted together. Information for prospective parents should focus even more on this. '

"What we have done to adoptive children and parents in the past cannot be repeated," says Parys. 'But there are also many good adoptions. So now to say that everything has to stop is to abdicate a bit. There are 8 million orphans and half-orphans in the world who do not find a home. We must not abandon them. '

'Nevertheless, we have to dare to enter into the conversation', says Katrien Verhegge, head of the Opgroaien agency. 'We shouldn't do the same thing as the Dutch, but it is time for a thorough reflection: for a number of children, intercountry adoption will remain a good solution, but that group is getting smaller and smaller.'

Verhegge is particularly pleased that the mindset about intercountry adoption has changed: 'Ten years ago I could hardly say that the best interests of the child come first, without getting much resistance. Now the child's perspective is much more central, thanks to the voice of the adult adoptees that is getting louder and louder. '

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