Most children placed for intercountry adoption now have special needs, conference told

The only children being placed for intercountry adoption are increasingly those with special needs, a conference was told yesterday.

Laura Martínez-Mora, the principal legal officer with the Hague Conference which regulates intercountry adoptions, said the trend is for children to be adopted within their country. Ms Martínez-Mora told a conference organised by the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) the emphasis is towards doing everything to ensure families raise their own children.

The next option is to find suitable adoptive parents in the same country as the child. This is happening with increasing frequency in China, Chile and Lithuania – countries which used to be popular for those seeking to adopt from abroad.

“Where previously children were adopted internationally, children in good health are now adopted nationally,” she said. “The children in need of intercountry adoption are children that are older or have medical problems.”

Ireland adopted the Hague Convention in 2010. As a result, adoptions from countries not part of the convention, notably Russia and Ethiopia, are no longer recognised by Irish law.

Domestic adoptions
Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said there are approximately 1,000 applicants who wish to adopt in Ireland. She admitted there is "no way" the number of children available for adoption domestically will be anywhere near that, leaving most dependent on abroad.

“It’s important that people are realistic about the situation. The number of intercountry adoptions is falling worldwide. That’s part of a general trend.”

Ireland is concentrating on having “robust relationships” with those countries where there are agreements for intercountry adoptions, she explained. In 2008, 422 children were adopted from abroad in Ireland; last year it was 141.

AAI chairman Dr Geoffrey Shannon said it was untrue to suggest it was more difficult to adopt from abroad if you live in Ireland than elsewhere. He said the decline as a result of the Hague Convention simply brought Ireland back to a level of intercountry adoption similar to most developed nations.

Ireland has a rate of intercountry adoptions of 24.49 per million, similar to the USA (27.43 per million), France (23.55 per million) and Belgium (23.42 per million).

“We are in the median figure. We are not way down there as some would have you believe,” he said.

Dr Shannon revealed he and Ms Fitzgerald had been to Haiti with a view to allowing the adoption of Haitian children by prospective applicants in Ireland. Haiti ratified the convention at the start of this month. There are 30,000 Haitian children in orphanages, many as a result of the devastating earthquake which hit the country in 2010.

He also said 10 referrals had been approved from Vietnam this year. Referrals relate to parents who have been matched with Vietnamese children and are the last stage before actual adoption takes place.