Explanatory note to the House of Representatives on intercountry adoption and meetings of the expertise center

Volume 2, 2022 edition 7

This newsletter is for everyone who is involved in or wants to be informed about the expertise center for intercountry adoption. In the newsletter, the project team of the Ministry of Justice and Security (JenV) shares the progress in the development of the center. To this end, the team collaborates with organizations that already support adoptees in their searches for biological parents and/or family.

On this page

Explanation of the letter to the House of Representatives and assignment to Fiom

Proceeds from second expert table

Report of theme meeting psychosocial

Consult access to files and lineage information

Letter to the House of Representatives about the future of intercountry adoption

Explanation of the letter to the House of Representatives and assignment to Fiom

In an online meeting on March 24, interested interest groups received an explanation of the decision of the Minister for Legal Protection to explore the feasibility of and the preconditions for placing the expertise center for intercountry adoption at Fiom.

Fiom already has a great deal of expertise in-house when it comes to searches, psychosocial help, questions about identity and parentage and access to files and parentage information. The organization is also the most general and well-known point of contact when it comes to adoption.

Important conditions for the administrative embedding at Fiom are that the center of expertise acquires an independent and recognizable position, offers high-quality services and has a solid knowledge base for this. Moreover, experts by experience and experts must have a clear voice in what the expertise center will do and how. Fiom will write an action plan for this, which must be delivered at the beginning of May.

Ellen Giepmans, director of Fiom: “We understand that there is not broad support for positioning at Fiom, but we want to take a serious look at the minister's request based on the responsibility we feel. The results of the previous and upcoming meetings are the building blocks for the center of expertise and Fiom wants to continue working with interest groups in order to be of real significance to adoptees, adoptive parents, family members and birth parents. Fiom therefore does not see itself as a determiner, but wants to find a form for joint responsibility based on the content.”

Proceeds from second expert table

On March 28, experts from science, from universities of applied sciences and other knowledge organizations and experts by experience met for the second time in Utrecht to work on the knowledge base of the expertise center for intercountry adoption. The aim of the meeting was to work together on a knowledge agenda for the center of expertise. On the basis of four central themes, subgroups discussed the vision of the role of knowledge in service provision, the substantive focus of the knowledge agenda, knowledge development (including the further elaboration of a chair) and making knowledge accessible.

A selection of the results for the knowledge agenda:

Take the knowledge triangle (experience, practice and science) as the basis for services and actively ensure a connection between these three perspectives;

Make sure that the intended chair has a visible connection with the center of expertise;

A “documentation center” can work, but above all it also uses digital possibilities;

Carefully identify the question and need of the adoptee from the counter (is it a question for information and/or a request for help?);

Take a good look at existing knowledge and knowledge needs of adoptees and adoptive parents to determine substantive priorities for further knowledge development;

Offer knowledge in an accessible and interactive way, appropriate to the needs of the target group.

The project team processes the results of the meeting in a new version of the knowledge agenda.

Report of theme meeting psychosocial

On April 7, the second theme meeting on psychosocial support took place. With representatives of organizations and individual experts, further thought has been given to this function of the center of expertise. This was based on the following themes: vision on psychosocial support, the counter function and the buddy network, awareness of adoption-specific problems and the development of care on offer.

Rich yield

After a short update from the project leader about various meetings, the group split into four sub-groups to continue discussing the input required for each theme. It was emphasized to take the report of the Joustra committee as a starting point and thus to focus on the interests of the adoptee. In addition, attention was asked for awareness of what it can mean to be given up as a child in the development of an adopted person. It is important to (be able to) deal sensitively with identity issues and any loyalty conflicts that may arise in different phases of life. Therefore, ensure that knowledge is developed and safeguarded through intervision, multidisciplinary consultation, refresher courses, knowledge days and conferences. A tip was also given to have the expertise center also function as a national consultation point where professionals can go with their questions. Participants emphasized the importance of providing both a physical support counter and support via telephone or chat.

The rich proceeds from the session will be included in the further elaboration of the plans and building blocks for the center of expertise.

Consult access to files and lineage information

How can we organize access to files more centrally and what is needed for this? This question was central during the consultation on 12 April 2010 with archive holders of intercountry adoption files. The Central Authority, permit holders, the National Archives, the Council for Child Protection and Fiom discussed where files can be found, central access and guidance when inspecting files and the role of the expertise center in this.

This meeting has created a sharper picture of what is needed to improve access to files for adoptees. This will be further elaborated in the coming weeks in order to reach mutual agreements between the archive holders, so that the center of expertise can provide central information and access.

Letter to the House of Representatives about the future of intercountry adoption

On Monday, April 11, the House of Representatives was informed by letter about Minister Weerwind's decision to allow intercountry adoption under stricter conditions. The link to the letter to Parliament, the news item and the list of frequently asked questions can also be found here.

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