Adoption of children from abroad will no longer be possible from 2030

As of 2030, it will no longer be possible to adopt children from abroad. Parents now have six years to complete current adoption procedures, writes State Secretary Teun Struycken in a letter to the House of Representatives. In the NOS Radio 1 Journaal, a conversation with Reinout van Haperen of the National Association of Adoptive Families.

Van Haperen would like to start the conversation with something positive: "The tone of the letter is really much better than that of Mr. Struycken's predecessors." But, he continues: "What we find very sad is that the interests of the children are not taken into account at all in this weighing of interests."

Permanent home situation

Adoption is primarily a child protection measure, Van Haperen argues. "You want children to grow up in their country of origin, that's the ultimate goal. But if that's not possible, a permanent home situation is more important than growing up in their country of origin." He believes that the interests of children should come first. That parents should be sought for children, instead of the other way around.

Due to abuses in adoptions, the previous cabinet decided in May that no new adoptions would be processed. Van Haperen states that this is an overreaction: "A period up to 1998 was investigated and the report was presented in 2021, 23 years later. The abuses at that time were resolved in the process long ago and yet some kind of measure had to be taken." He continues: "The investigation took a very long time, people where there were abuses were left out in the cold for a very long time. And now you get a kind of overreaction and that is a shame."
 

To wait

There are still 600 people (singles and couples) in the process of adoption, who are waiting. But there are between fifty and seventy children who are eligible for adoption, from countries where adoption is still permitted until 2030. Van Haperen fears that it will therefore not be possible to complete the adoption procedures within six years. "Another thing is that new people can still register as long as the law has not been amended. In the letter from State Secretary Struycken, registration is still discouraged. It remains to be seen how many people will do it."