37 Danish families were on a waiting list when the mediator of international adoptions, DIA, put an end to all adoptions from abroad.

The couple Sanne and Morten Kjær Tornøe from Randers have been approved for adoption since January last year. They got on the waiting list to receive a child from Taiwan in August.

It was not many days ago that they were last in contact with the organization Danish International Adoption (DIA), which is the only organization in Denmark that mediates international adoptions.

At that time, the couple was assured that there was no danger that the DIA would stop their adoptions to Denmark.

Denmark’s only overseas adoption agency says it is “winding down” its facilitation of international adoptions after a government agency raised concerns over fabricated documents and procedures that obscured children’s origins abroad

Denmark’s only overseas adoption agency said Tuesday that it is “winding down” its facilitation of international adoptions after a government agency raised concerns over fabricated documents and procedures that obscured children's biological origins abroad.

The privately run Danish International Adoption mediated adoptions in the Philippines, India, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. Last month, an appeals board suspended DIA's work in South Africa because of questions about the agency's adherence to legal standards.

The Danish agency announced it was getting out of the international adoption business on the same day Norway’s top regulatory body recommended stopping all overseas adoptions for two years pending an investigation into several allegedly illegal cases.

Chairperson of the Child Welfare Gauteng, Angelique McAdam, is calling for the investigation of all adoption agencies and related laws to be reviewed.

McAdam says child traffickers get away with their crimes due to lax laws.

“Where money is involved there’s always an opportunity for criminal activity,” she adds.

McAdam, who has adoptive children, says there needs to be stricter processes put in place.

She says it took her years to adopt her children due to gaps in the process, lack of communication between departments and adoption agencies that charge exorbitant fees with lack of service.

The trust no longer lasted

Adoption og Samfund, like the rest of Denmark, has today become aware that DIA's board of directors has decided yesterday to wind down their activities as mediators of international adoptions.

This means that there are currently is no one to mediate any international adoptions, either ongoing or upcoming. Adoption & Society has been informed that work is being done on a plan around this, just as the minister in the area, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, has also stated in the press.

A strained relationship between the Danish authorities and DIA, the only intermediary organization for international adoption in Denmark, has now resulted in the temporary closure of international adoption to Denmark. The trust that international adoption through DIA can take place legally, ethically and morally correctly is gone, and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and the Elderly has therefore temporarily suspended all country agreements. DIA has therefore now taken the consequence and is shutting down their work as mediators of international adoption.

The trust between the Danish authorities and DIA is gone and therefore we believe in Adoption & Society that it is the right decision. For everyone's sake, not least the adopted, adoptive families, biological and foster families, etc. 

We have received many inquiries from families with adopted children who experience that the children have reactions to what they hear in the press right now. The reactions are natural, but it is wise to be in them together.

Phrases like:

• Children who are separated from their parents.
• Errors in adoptions.
• Families who do not have their children.

These are just some of the phrases that abound in the press right now about adoption. Sentences which can be very violent for many children and young people with an adoption background, and these days we have heard about children who feel ostracized by Denmark, why isn't it just wonderful that I am here? And children and young people who ask their parents about, among other things

• Are there mistakes in my adoption?
• Is there something wrong with the children?
• Is it true that I am here in Denmark?
• Can you take the children back?

Federal Minister of Justice Dr. Marco Buschmann today published two key issues papers on the modernization of family law: a key issues paper on the reform of child custody law with proposals for new rules in custody, visitation and adoption law and a key issues paper on the reform of parentage law.

Source: BMJ

In particular, children in separated families, patchwork and rainbow families as well as non-marital partnerships should benefit from the proposed new regulations.

Federal Justice Minister Dr. Marco Buschmann:

“We need a boost to modernization in Germany - also in family law. Many children today grow up in separated families, in patchwork and rainbow families or with parents who are not married to each other. Our family law lags behind this reality. Parents and children pay the price: family law makes life unnecessarily difficult for many people.

Denmark's only adoption agency, Danish international Adoption, is now turning the key. Document inspection reveals double work and double pay for an employee in South Africa

Danish International Adoption, also called DIA, is from today the past as Denmark's only adoption agency. In a press release, the adoption agency writes that at an extraordinary board meeting they have decided to close and switch off.  

"It is a difficult decision for the DIA board to make. But we see no other way out. The area of ​​international adoption can no longer, under the current conditions in Denmark, be run by an NGO like ours", the press release states, among other things. 

The decision has come after the Danish Appeals Board informed DIA on Friday that they would recommend to the Minister of Social Affairs to stop the mediation from DIA's largest mediation country, South Africa. Two days later, the Appeals Board then announced that they would also suspend all adoptions from five other countries for a period. 

The Danish Appeals Board has for some time been concerned about South Africa in particular. Danwatch has obtained access to the correspondence between the Danish Appeals Agency and DIA, which shows that for more than a year the agency has been asking critical questions about a problematic employment relationship and opaque bookkeeping in the country.

Minister of Social Affairs and Housing Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil (S) expresses great understanding for the difficult situation in which the 36 families who are currently waiting to adopt are in

Earlier in the day, Denmark's only mediator of international adoptions, Danish International Adoption (DIA), announced that they are stopping their work.

It was decided at an extraordinary board meeting in DIA and takes place after the organization has been hit by a number of sanctions from both the Danish Appeals Agency and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and the Elderly, which is responsible for supervising the adoption agency.

And the latter ministry makes no secret of the fact that this is a serious situation in a press release on Tuesday afternoon.

'It is the most serious crisis in the area of ​​adoption in the past ten years,' they write.

ARC Adoption hit the milestone in December 2023.

A North East adoption agency is celebrating the momentous achievement of finding loving homes for over 300 children.

ARC Adoption North, which supports and prepares people to become approved adopted parents, achieved the milestone in December 2023.

Carly and Ashleigh, a North East based couple and now new parents, registered to start the adoption process with ARC Adoption in early 2023. After completing the preparation training and assessment process they were approved to adopt in August, before being matched with a gorgeous little boy who joined them just before Christmas.

“After going through many options to have a family together, adoption felt like it was the right thing for us and for our family," the couple said. "When thinking about the love and stability we had to give to a child, it was an easy choice to help a child in need and choose adoption.

Denmark's only mediator of international adoptions, Danish International Adoption, stops its work.

Danish International Adoption (DIA), which as the only organization in Denmark mediates international adoptions, has decided on Tuesday to stop mediating adoptions from abroad to Denmark.

This means that in practice it is no longer possible to adopt from abroad.

The decision was taken by DIA's board of directors after the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and the Elderly notified the organization that the last five countries from which DIA mediates adoptions will be suspended for a period of time.

Below you can learn more about how adoptions from abroad work: