THE NORDIC APPROACH TO INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION
is based on the rights of the child and higher ethical standards in intercountry adoption
The Nordic Adoption Council’s Conference 2009 on intercountry Adoption took place in Iceland from 3th to 6th of September. Present at the Conference were all of the NAC-members, who represent all but one of the Nordic organizations, i.e. the organizations from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark, accredited to work with intercountry adoptions plus parents organizations from some of the countries. The Conference agreed upon the following joint global venture in intercountry adoption context, based on the ambition to put children’s rights and higher ethics at the forefront of the agenda when it comes to practices and basic rules in intercountry adoption.
The background is well known: intercountry adoption is under increasing pressure due to the fact, that more and financially strong receiving countries have dramatically increased their number of approved families for adoption, while many of the traditional countries of origin have either put restrictions or barriers upon intercountry adoption or have closed up their intercountry adoption programmes completely due to better living conditions in the country, increased domestic adoption or - in worst case - excessive pressure from potential adoptive families resulting in scandals involving trafficking.
The Nordic organizations have – globally - the longest experience in mediating in intercountry adoption due to the fact, that intercountry adoption became a recognized social and legal phenomenon in the Nordic countries already some years after the Second World War. At the conference celebrated in Iceland, the Nordic Adoption Organizations – many of whom have celebrated 40 years’ anniversary - agreed on the following standpoints to secure intercountry adoption processes based on ethics and responsibility: