Opinie | Stop adoptie uit het buitenland (Opinion | Stop adoption from abroad)

Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind wants to resume intercountry adoptions and set up a 'new' adoption system with stricter conditions. The best interests of the child must come first [BD April 8; 'Adoption from abroad will now go through the state'].

Opinions differ on what this importance means. "Stop," says one. "Continue," says the other. The minister wants to accommodate both groups. The result, however well-intentioned, is a dragon of compromise that does not resolve structural abuses. It should not be about the supporters and opponents of adoptions from abroad. It is about protecting vulnerable children against the loss of their identity and preventing abuses.

irreversible

One child suffering from intercountry adoption is one too many. The same goes for their birth parents. Intercountry adoption is very drastic for children. They are separated from their birth parents and country of birth. This is irreversible and has a major impact on the development of their identity. When they look for information about their adoption, their original family and origins, that information often proves impossible to retrieve. This causes anger, pain and sadness among many, now adults, intercountry adoptees and their birth parents.

The problem with this adoption is that the system entails structural abuses. An 'adoption market' has emerged, in which the demand for adopted children creates supply. Even the government has been involved in fraudulent adoptions in the past. The minister acknowledges that it is impossible to set up the system in such a way that abuses can be prevented. He wants to reduce the risks by merging the brokerage firms and placing them under stricter government authority. But we already know that this will actually have no effect. The Netherlands has no say whatsoever in the countries of origin. The country of origin itself determines whether a child can be offered for intercountry adoption.

Reception in your own country

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Adoption Convention, a child is only eligible for intercountry adoption if there really is no suitable care in their own country. This condition has been in effect for years, although the minister is presenting it as a new rule. It is impossible for a recipient country such as the Netherlands to check whether this condition is actually complied with. The system proposed by the minister does not change that, while it costs millions of euros every year. Moreover, adoption undermines the development of alternative forms of reception in the countries of origin.

We believe that the Netherlands can better use the money to support the development of local forms of shelter, such as foster care, in the countries of origin. This will reach a much larger group of children. The minister's current plan is anything but sustainable and watertight. As mentioned, every child suffering from intercountry adoption is one too many. That is why we insist on a permanent cessation.

Mirjam Blaak is director of Defense for Children, Ina Hut is director of CoMensha and Nico van Oudenhoven is director of International Child Development Initiatives.

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