Cabinet still allows foreign adoption so as not to 'exclude' prospective parents

Justice minister Franc Weerwind wants to make foreign adoption possible again in order to "not exclude" prospective parents. Children's and human rights organizations are outraged. They believe that the minister does not put the interests of children first.

"There will always be people with an unfulfilled wish to have children. For example, people who have a same-sex partner. We want to offer that group a choice by still allowing adoption from abroad," a spokesperson for Minister Weerwind told NU.nl. . "If we completely stop foreign adoption, we will exclude these prospective parents. For the time being, we therefore see no reason to stop adopting from abroad."

The minister says that foreign adoption is only possible if a child cannot receive suitable care in its own country and there is no other option. The government will monitor this more closely. In addition, the Ministry of Justice and Security (JenV) expects that foreign adoption will automatically decrease. For example, 145 children from abroad were adopted in 2019. In 2015, this was still 304 children.

Intended parents can now adopt children from six countries: Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, South Africa, Lesotho and Hungary. Adopting a child from China, the United States, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Colombia, Peru, Slovakia and the Czech Republic is no longer possible. In these countries it is more difficult to supervise adoption practices strictly, or the minister is of the opinion that suitable reception can better be arranged in the own country. The ministry is also investigating whether it will also remain possible to adopt children from Portugal and Bulgaria.

Mistakes cannot be avoided

Children's and human rights organizations are disappointed in the minister's decision to allow foreign adoptions to continue. They are also indignant about allowing adoption from abroad again so as not to exclude prospective parents. "Every child who becomes the victim of abuse or otherwise suffers from a foreign adoption is one too many," says Mieke Breedijk of Defense for Children.

Living in uncertainty about their descent and identity can cause a lot of psychological damage to adoptees from abroad, says the children's rights organization. For example, research by CBS shows that adoptees received psychological help much more often than non-adopted ones. This is also apparent from the investigation report of the Joustra committee, which led to an adoption stop last year.

Minister Weerwind admits that he cannot completely prevent abuses involving foreign adoption. This concerns, for example, children forcibly given up by teenage mothers, forged adoption papers and child trafficking. The interest groups find it all the more strange that foreign adoption is now allowed again in six countries.

Weerwinds spokesperson emphasized in a response on Monday that foreign adoption is not intended to fulfill a child's wish. Although this is an option for people with an unfulfilled wish to have children, the interest of the child is central to a foreign adoption.

Demand for adopted children creates supply

"The child, and only the child, should be central to considerations for adoption, according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child," says Sarah de Vos, program manager at children's rights organization International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI).

According to De Vos, it is impossible for the Dutch government to guarantee that a child cannot receive any other care in its own country. Stricter supervision of adoption practices abroad does not work, she says, because the Netherlands has no authority to monitor adoptions in those countries of origin.

"There is no right to a child. Adopted children are not a solution to childlessness. They are individuals, with a family and an identity," De Vos continues. She herself was adopted from abroad and has a good relationship with her adoptive parents.

Nevertheless, she was touched by the Ministry's ruling to allow foreign adoptions to continue because they did not want to exclude prospective parents. "It's as if adopted children are some kind of commodity that have to fill a question. And that while so much goes wrong and has gone wrong in the past, and so many adoptees and their (original) parents have to bear the pain of it every day."

Together with the Coordination Center against Human Trafficking (CoMensha) and Defense for Children, ICDI wrote an open letter to the House of Representatives in June. The organizations call for an end to foreign adoption forever. According to the authors of the open letter, the demand for adopted children creates the supply, which means that it always remains a kind of commercial practice. The letter was signed by fourteen interest groups of adoptees from abroad, experts and scientists.

Foreign adoption should eventually become superfluous

Ultimately, adopting countries themselves must provide suitable care for children who cannot grow up in their own family. Minister Weerwind writes this in a letter to Parliament dated 2 November. During a committee debate in June, the minister said that the ultimate goal is to eventually make foreign adoption superfluous. But he couldn't put a time limit on that.

"If you continue with foreign adoption now, you will deprive a child of the opportunity to receive suitable care in their own country," says Breedijk. "You also don't put pressure on the adoptive countries to arrange suitable care for children who cannot grow up in their own family."

Many foster children in the Netherlands need a family

Ina Hut, director of CoMensha, agrees. From 2003 to 2009 she was director of Wereldkinderen, a foundation that facilitates foreign adoption. She herself had been on the waiting list for adoption from abroad for a long time. But when Hut found out about the abuses, she immediately dropped her adoption application. At the end of 2009, she publicly resigned as a whistleblower, because she could no longer support foreign adoption due to the abuses and system errors.

"Why do we have to bring children from abroad if necessary? We have many foster children in the Netherlands who need a family. Couldn't we give priority to that?" she wonders. "For these children no foster families can be found, but for adopted children it is. I think it's because an adopted child is legally your own child, and a foster child is not."

"Once the original parents have given their child up for adoption, they no longer have any rights to the child," she continues. "The child cannot just undo this decision at an adult age. Whose interests do we stand up for? The prospective parent or the child? If the latter is the case, please look into foster care."

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