Illegal adoptions in Switzerland: "At the time, we thought we were saving these children"

On 8 December 2023, the Federal Council revealed the results of a study on the adoption of foreign children in Switzerland. The report highlights frequent irregularities in the adoption process and pushes the executive to want to revise international adoption law.

The Federal Council has not yet finished with the issue of illegal adoptions. Indeed, after a shocking report published in 2020 which revealed the illegal and sometimes mafia-like practices of private intermediaries and Sri Lankan authorities in the 1980s, the executive made public, at the beginning of December, the conclusions of a second study, this time on the adoptions of children from ten other countries between 1970 and 1990. This study conducted by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) states:

"There are also indications of illegal practices in these countries, child trafficking, falsification of documents and false indications of origin."

What happened? What was Switzerland's role? What are the responsibilities? Watson spoke with Sitara Chamot, coordinator of the Bureau d'Aide à la Recherche des Origines (BARO), which supports adopted adults.

On Friday, December 8, the Federal Council issued a statement on the report reporting irregularities in international adoptions committed in the past. What was your reaction to this statement?
Let's say that these are not major revelations; for me, who has worked in supporting adopted people for about ten years, what this report shows was not a surprise. Obviously, we regret these events and the role played by the Swiss authorities who sometimes turned a blind eye, but we are satisfied that this large-scale study was commissioned by the Federal Council.

What were the irregularities found?
They are multiple. Concretely, it can be lies, intermediaries who want to give the child up for international adoption and who deceive his birth family by saying that he will go to boarding school or school for example.

"Documents were falsified, fake identity cards were created for the child or even fake birth certificates."

In some countries, there were networks that were in cahoots with so-called orphanages where children were "waiting" to be adopted. Some irregularities noted in the report are blatant, such as falsification of documents, but others are difficult to identify, such as lies or arguments given to families so that the child would be placed in institutions and subsequently put up for adoption illegally.

The report also notes that the authorities have shown a certain "flexibility" regarding the entry of adopted children into Switzerland, sometimes ignoring irregularities. How do you explain this?
You know, it is much more complex than that. Most of the children who arrived in Switzerland had authorizations to leave their country of origin. In the Sri Lankan case, for example, some adoptive parents were in possession of official documents issued by the country of origin; it was not conceivable for the Swiss authorities to question these documents without causing a diplomatic incident. But to return to the new countries that appear in this report, we are rather pointing out a certain "pragmatism" on the part of the Swiss authorities.

"We sincerely believed that the children would be much better off in Switzerland than in their country of origin"

At that time, we were looking for "solutions" and we were dealing with each case to allow these children to enter Swiss territory. In the 1980s, we started from a fundamental belief, that we were doing something good by wanting to "save" these children. In hindsight, perhaps we could have done otherwise and allowed them to live with their family members in their country of origin, but that was not the way of seeing things at the time.
 

What is BARO?

The Bureau d'Aide à la Recherche des Origines responds to the information and support needs of adults adopted from a foreign country or in Switzerland, through a professional, global, multidisciplinary and intercantonal approach, free of charge and open to any adopted person. BARO's services are not limited in time; the adopted person can be welcomed to reconnect with the puzzle of their history throughout their existence.

So the Swiss authorities wanted to "do the right thing", if I may use that term?
In a way, yes, it was a way of thinking at the time. For adoptive parents and authorities, there was no need to question certain incomplete or missing documents too much, because in the end, the belief was that the adopted child would have a better life in Switzerland. This vision was also the same in all adoptive countries.
 

Switzerland again questioned over illegal adoptions in Sri Lanka

The report also criticizes adoptive parents who may have put pressure on the Swiss authorities to advance their file or to validate an incomplete file. What do you think?
I think that the report overcharges adoptive parents and I don't think that's fair. It should be remembered that at the time, embezzlement by adoptive parents was rare. I think that they were also victims of some unscrupulous intermediaries.

"We are still talking about a time when medically assisted procreation did not exist. Couples who could not have children and who resorted to international adoption were vulnerable."

Some will say that I excuse the adoptive parents a lot, but I think that they were simply doing what the intermediaries and the authorities on site asked them to do. I repeat myself a little but at the time, the ideology was not centered on the best interests of the child, we thought that we were simply offering them a better life. Moreover, the adopted child acquires the name of his adoptive parents, or even a new first name, it is a new identity that we give him.

What impact has the report commissioned by the Federal Council had today?
It is indeed enormous. In the case of the 2020 report on illegal adoptions of children from Sri Lanka, adopted people wonder whether their adoptive parents had simply bought them. This can also arouse desires to know one's origins when one had not initially thought about it. Being confronted with this doubt calls into question all your relationships with your adoptive family. No one thought that these children would one day search for their origins.

After such a report and the revelation of these irregularities, do you think that international adoption should be questioned?
There are adoptees who are virulent on this subject and who want to ban international adoption. Concerning our association, we are more nuanced. Most of the adoptees I have met do not only want to find their biological parent, but also to know their story. What is my background, what happened so that my mother could no longer raise me? In what conditions did I live?

"I think that instead of condemning international adoption, we need to open dialogue, better prepare parents for adoption and strengthen monitoring of procedures."

I am adopted myself and in my family it went well. I think that the main question lies in the belief of the time, the famous "the child will be better off in Switzerland than in his country of origin". The life of adults who have been adopted is not necessarily better here, it is just different from what it would have been in their country of origin.

Some associations believe that the Confederation's regrets are not sufficient and that they are waiting for an official apology, is this necessary to close this chapter?
We are also more nuanced on this issue. The associations you are talking about are made up of people who discovered that they had been adopted illegally, they have certain demands and I completely understand their position. The BARO association was not set up with this in mind and the expression of regrets by the Federal Council is already important, but insufficient in the sense that it does not present a concrete solution for the people concerned. I would also like to qualify the figures that have appeared in certain media, we are talking about 8,000 entry permits into Switzerland and not 8,000 illegal adoptions, it is very different. I think that the very existence of the report is beneficial for our society and that it helps to raise awareness of this issue that is largely unknown to the general public.