Essays --

Inter-country adoption has become increasingly difficult over the past few years. In 2004, at its peak, there were about 22,991 adoptions whereas in 2012, there were 8,668 adoptions (Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State), a significant decline. Many countries have put in place policies that have, in effect, made it difficult to adopt. With these restrictive regulations, inter-country adoption has been opening and closing in many countries, leaving the prospective parents and children in an undetermined state. There are two different processes for International Adoptions; the Hague vs. the Non-Hague process. Under the Hague process, children receive more protection as it is more thorough and requires more documentation on the child’s country of origin. The Hague Adoption Convention took place in 1993; the US signed the convention in 1994 and it was enforced in April 2008. About 90 countries were involved and signed this treaty. According to the U.S. Department of State, the main purpose of the convention is to certify that every child adopted is eligible for adoption. A child that is considered to be eligible means that the child was truly given up by the biological parents and was not abducted or sold; this process has decreased the rate of adoptions. Steven Whitehead, Vice President of Overseas Adoption Support and Information Service, stated, ‘Instead of Hague cleaning up a potentially corrupt situation, everything close[d] down’ (Greenblatt, 2011). Initial identification of this concern was via the media presenting international adoptions decreasing with a vivid graph. From there, research was obtained through the U.S. Department of State/Bureau of Consular Affairs. Their website presents statistics over the l... ...ntry will also be important once agreements are made. Advocacy and awareness is still important even after the bill is passed. Supporting agencies and sponsors will be requested to regularly speak to the community and those in position of power to express continued concerns and progress updates. There is no answer or easy solution; there is, however, an opportunity to take steps in the right direction. While there will always be obstacles to overcome, with continued perseverance, we hope to help get children out of institutions, off the streets, and into safe and nurturing homes. Leaving children on the streets and in institutions is unacceptable. Putting aside all other political and social concern, the goal is to place children in happy and safe homes while maintaining processes to deem the child eligible for adoptions and decrease the amount of abuse and fraud.