International adoption
How fair is the adoption process is and is it really skewed in favour of the celebrities?
Adopting children from abroad is a trend that seems to be growing in popularity among the A-list, from Angelina Jolie and Madonna to Calista Flockhart, Sheryl Crow and Ewan McGregor, even Britney Spears hasn't ruled it out in the future .
The Material Girl offered a home to 13-month-old Malawian David Banda. His father then claimed he didn't understand the legal papers he signed; seeing the `adoption' as a temporary measure. Several children's charities were also not happy, believing Madonna used her wealth and fame to sidestep adoption protocol.
Whatever your view point, the facts are that Madonna offered a home to a child, who was living in an orphanage. As long as all rules and regulations were been adhered to, as Madonna's lawyers claim, all is well, if not then it would seem the system can be corrupted.
A recent example of this is the case of Lauren Galindo and the Cambodia scandal. Lauren Galindo helped hundreds of Americans, including Angelina Jolie, adopt from Cambodia, but was subsequently found guilty of visa fraud and money laundering. It was discovered that some of the children she was offering for adoption were not orphans, but children that had been taken from their parents. Since the scandal,it has been made illegal for British and American families to adopt from Cambodia
David Holmes, Chief Executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering says, `The attention given to Madonna in Malawi has pushed adoption to the top of the agenda. It may also cause misconceptions.
`People may think inter-country adoption is easy,' warns Holmes. `In fact people who want to adopt a child from abroad must go through exactly the same assessment and approval process as someone who wants to adopt a child under UK law from within the UK.
`Adopting a child from another country can take years, and adopters are likely to have to comply with follow-up requirements, for example reports on how the child is doing' says Holmes. `So this is not the soft option.'
Can I adopt children from any county in the world?
At the end of World War II inter-country adoption was seen as a humanitarian response to young victims of war from Germany, Italy or Japan.
Professionals working in the field say that the emphasis became less about `matching' children with appropriate families and more about `finding' children for wannabe parents. All agreed that new international regulations were needed to prevent a recurrence of the Romanian `baby bazaar' where thousands of children were `auctioned' off after the fall of the Ceausescu regime in 1989.
Today UK inter-country adoption is regulated by The Hague Convention.To adopt under this, the country of origin must prove:
- The child is adoptable
- There is no family to adopt them in their own country
- That necessary consent is preceded by counselling, is in writing, has not been induced by payment, and, in the case of a mother, is given only after birth.
1 | 2 | next
printer friendly
send to a friend
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Horoscopes| Message Boards | Quizzes | Newsletters | Join
iVillage Ltd is a UK company registered in England & Wales (3837269) at 80-110 New Oxford Street, London WC1 1HB
