Sixteen adopted children returned last year
17/4/2010
Last year 16 children were returned to the state-run institutions from where they were adopted, according to Idália Moniz, adjunct State-Secretary for Rehabilitation, who highlighted unexpected divorces as one of the main causes for their return.
There are currently 2,776 children in Portugal who are eligible for adoption (data from February 2010), 547 of whom State Secretary Moniz says ‘no one wants’ as they are older than three years of age, have siblings, are ill, or simply because of the colour of their skin.
Nevertheless last year fewer children were given back to the system than in 2009, when 20 adoptees were replaced into state care.