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The recent case of Haitian officials detaining ten Americans for apparently attempting to take thirty three children out of the country has raised again the issue of foreign adoptions. It was said that the Americans had travelled to Haiti to rescue children from orphanages that presumably were damaged or destroyed in the terrible earthquake.
When in previous years there have been outcries over for example conditions in Romanian orphanages the argument has been made that a lot of children's lives could be saved or improved by streamlined adoption processes.
The balance has to be struck between the very positive benefits of inter country adoption for the child who is lifted out of potential despair and the safeguarding against child trafficking.
Anyone considering adopting a child from another country requires specialist legal advice. The adoption must follow the laws of both the country where the child lives and this country.
If the country of origin of the child is a signatory to the Hague Convention then it should be possible for the Foreign Adoption Order to be accepted in this country. However if the country of origin for the child is not a signatory to the Hague Convention then the Court would need to satisfy itself that the Order made abroad was the right one. Adoptive parents therefore could face undergoing the adoption process abroad and then a further process in the Courts of their home country.
Anyone contemplating making a foreign adoption should seek specialist legal advice not only as to the rules for the country from which they are adopting the child but also the impact that a foreign adoption order would have in this country.
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