Dear Friends of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Food for thought is a new feature in our newsletter in which we’ll raise important philosophical, moral or legal questions about specific issues that we may think carry a high risk of child right violations. I want us to think about them together. If we feel strongly that there is something wrong about them, is that just a feeling, is that feeling personal, or are there good common grounds to feel alarmed by them AND to think that DCI as a movement, or DCI in a particular country or region, should express itself clearly about it, reminding the rules of law as applicable to that situation, as we understand them from remedy the evil based on research and analysis of the situation in the light of the Convention.
Today I would like to raise the question of international child adoption in the twenty first century. Some of you may know that DCI was a forerunner in raising awareness about the hostile aspects of international child adoption or inter-country adoption (ICA) that had started to become apparent already in the late seventies and early eighties.
Thus, for example, the very first issue (1.1) of DCI’s International Children’s Rights Monitor, in 1983, devoted its main story to reviewing the nature and incidence of inter-country adoption, problems documented over the preceding years.
Subsequent editions gave regular updates on the subject. DCI sections in Latin America were particularly concerned about the situation: those in Chile (1985) and Bolivia (1987) produced preliminary studies on the phenomenon, and DCI-Argentina carried out a landmark investigation into illegal inter-country adoption practices in that country, which has since virtually outlawed international adoption.