'Offer adopted children from the US the chance to have a family in the Netherlands'

November 3, 2022-

Also offer adopted children from the US the chance of a family in the Netherlands. With this call, COC Netherlands and Meer dan Gewenst respond to the decision of Minister Weerwind (Legal Protection) to break the adoption relationship with the US.

In a letter to the House of Representatives dated 2 November, Minister Weerwind announced that he would break off the adoption relationship with the United States and seven other countries.

"Children are now at risk of being left behind in temporary US foster care when they could be given a loving home in the Netherlands," said COC and the organization for rainbow families Meer dan Gewenst . "That is regrettable and undesirable."

The aim of the review by the Netherlands of the intercountry adoption policy is to reduce the risk of abuses. In the past, abuses have led to suffering among adopted children and often also among their biological and adoptive parents. COC and Meer dan Gewenst wholeheartedly support the objective of preventing abuses.

No abuses

However, according to the Dutch government, 'no abuses were found' in the United States. According to the government, the adoption procedure from the US 'meets the standards you can expect from a Western country.'

The objection of the Dutch government to adoption from the US is that it believes that children should be taken care of in the US itself. In practice, however, the US appears unable to do so, and there is no reason to assume that changes to Dutch adoption policy will change this.

Partly for this reason, American biological mothers often consciously chose available parents in the Netherlands in recent years, including male couples. These children also had the opportunity to stay in touch with their biological mother.

The consequence of the adoption stop from the US is that many American children now end up in overcrowded, temporary American foster care, instead of with a loving family in the Netherlands, for example. The Dutch government does not regard temporary foster care as suitable shelter either.

Part of the revision of the adoption procedure is also that there will be one central mediation organization, under stricter supervision by the government. This organization will be shaped by the adoption organization Wereldkinderen. In the past, Wereldkinderen almost never placed adopted children with available same-sex couples. Meer dan Gewenst and COC ask Minister Weerwind to ensure that the new mediation organization will do so.

The United States is one of the few countries that places adoptive children with available same-sex parents. South Africa and Portugal also do this. Adoption from South Africa remains possible in the new adoption policy. Adoption from Portugal will be decided at a later stage.

Source COC Netherlands – Photo: Ketut Subiyanto – Pexels