Adoption from abroad will soon be allowed again: 'This gives hope of finally having a baby'

After an adoption stop of a year, children from abroad will soon be allowed to be adopted again under strict conditions. A great relief for Dirk Jan and his husband Christiaan, who have been working on adoption for years. "A lot is still unclear about the new rules, but we hope that we can decorate our children's room soon."

The attic of Dirk Jan (33) and Christiaan (35) has been waiting for years to be transformed into a children's room. "We have already completed the courses and medical examination. Last year we were about to get the green light so that we can be considered for adoption," says Dirk Jan (full name is known to the editors).

But then came that damning report on the adoption system. Due to the abuses, an adoption stop for foreign adoptions was immediately introduced.

Stricter conditions

The procedures for adoptions from abroad will resume in the coming months. However, stricter conditions will be introduced and mediation will be in the hands of a single government organisation. Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) announced this today.

The basic principle is that in the future adoption will only be possible for children for whom 'no suitable care is available in countries of origin'.

The adoption stop was a dark period for Dirk Jan. "Suddenly there was uncertainty and doubt. You are going to ask yourself: should we still continue to adopt if there are all kinds of abuses? Are we still doing the right thing?"

Great relief

That Minister Weerwind has now decided to allow foreign adoptions again comes as a great relief. "We see this as confirmation that adoption is above all something good and beautiful. That a child's right to a family is guaranteed."

He continues: "We adopt not only because a child is a beautiful addition to our lives, but also because we as a family want and can be a beautiful addition to the life of a child."

Why was there an adoption freeze?

The so-called 'intercountry' adoptions were halted in February last year. The reason was a very critical report. A committee investigated the adoption of children from the countries of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka between 1967 and 1998.

The committee discovered practices such as child theft, child trafficking, corruption, forgery and theft of documents, unethical behavior by civil servants and the transfer of children to the Netherlands under false pretenses. Because the adoption culture is still not in order, the committee wanted a temporary adoption freeze.

For prospective parents, the fact that adoptions are starting up again means that a period of many questions and uncertainty is ahead. The government will discontinue the current four intermediary agencies and will from now on arrange adoptions through one central government organization. That organization must get to work as soon as possible, but there is no clear date yet.

Mistakes in the past?

"The good news: luckily we don't have to start our adoption process from scratch," says Dirk Jan. "But we also have questions: do we have to go to an intermediary agency or does the adoption process already go through the new government organization? And how fast is everything going?

Dirk Jan hopes that the expertise of the existing mediation agencies will be transferred to the new government organization that will soon be responsible. "I am also really hopeful that abuses are really a thing of the past."

Because they are a gay couple, Christiaan and Dirk Jan are only eligible for adoptive children from Portugal, South Africa and the United States. "We also wonder if anything will change in this." The couple would like to adopt a child from the US.

The government wants to strengthen cooperation with countries from which children can be adopted and support the countries in making childcare possible themselves. If they have reached that point - or if they do too little to achieve that goal - cooperation with a country can be terminated.

Offer a bright future

Despite the uncertainty, the desire to have children has remained with Christiaan and Dirk Jan after all these years. "We have a beautiful life and are very happy with each other. But we both think that we can offer a child who may not have a future in our own country a bright future."