'Retain adoption options from certain countries'
'Retain adoption options from certain countries'
June 7, 2021-
Retain adoption opportunities from certain countries. COC Nederland and Meer dan Gewenst make that appeal in a letter to the House of Representatives, which will discuss the adoption policy on Wednesday 9 June.
UPDATE June 10:
The adoption ban for children from abroad may end in the autumn for certain countries. That is what Minister Dekker (Legal Protection) said on 9 June during the adoption debate in the House of Representatives. More than Desired, COC, other organizations and MPs had insisted on this.
Minister Dekker has the situation in a number of countries investigated further. If his study shows that there are no problems with adoptions from certain countries, they could perhaps be resumed in the autumn, he promised the House. "If there is broad support in this Chamber that there are good reasons and guarantees to continue it with certain countries, then there could be," he said. Although there are serious problems with adoption from certain countries, previous research has shown that virtually no abuses have been identified in other countries. These countries include Portugal, South Africa and the US, the three countries from which same-sex couples are allowed to adopt.
In February, Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection, photo above) decided to completely suspend intercountry adoption to the Netherlands. He was responding to a report by the Joustra Commission of Inquiry, which found serious abuses in adoption from various countries.
COC and Meer dan Gewenst plead with the House for a differentiated policy. They propose that, for the time being, children may still be adopted from countries where the Commission of Inquiry has found virtually no abuses and that comply with guarantees as laid down in the Hague Adoption Convention.
The Joustra Committee noted many serious abuses in adoption from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka in the period 1967-1998. This has led to pain, anger and sadness in many adopted children.
COC and Meer dan Gewenst think it is good that there is attention and recognition for the suffering that some of the adopted children, and often their biological and adoptive parents too, had to deal with. The organizations also find it positive that the government is investigating how the intercountry adoption procedure can be improved.
The report of the Joustra Committee also describes that adopted persons themselves are on average moderately positive about intercountry adoption. Seventy percent, for example, believe that intercountry adoption should remain possible. In certain cases, intercountry adoption can be a desirable solution in an emergency situation.
More than Gewenst and COC therefore argue for a differentiated approach, in which not all cases are lumped together. For example, adoption from countries where virtually no abuses have been found should remain possible for the time being. For example, in the three countries from which same-sex couples are allowed to adopt (Portugal, United States, South Africa), the Joustra Commission found virtually no abuses. Countries should also at least meet guarantees as laid down in the Hague Adoption Convention.
[Source: COC NL – Photo Minister Dekker: Rijksoverheid.nl]
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