Adoption and Kafala

Adoption is the formal, permanent transfer of parental rights to a family other than a child’s own and the formal assumption by that family of all parenting duties for the child. Where a child’s parents are living and their parental rights have not been terminated, they must provide informed consent for adoption. In some countries it is not culturally acceptable to give the parental rights to a non-family member, and therefore alternative long-term care options must be pursued e.g. kinship care. In some Islamic countries, the term ‘Kafala’ in Islamic law is used to describe a situation similar to adoption, but without the severing of family ties, the transference of inheritance rights, or the change of the child’s family name.

Given the permanency of adoption, it should be used very carefully and only when it is in a child’s best interests. In some cases difficult choices must be made between keeping a child in a temporary care situation in the hope of eventual family reunification, and a child’s developmental need for permanent attachment and care within a family environment. Adoption should not be considered an option in an emergency context. In the case of family separation in an emergency all tracing activities must be exhausted before adoption can be considered.

The long term care of a child requires thorough assessment and planning, and should include the participation of all those affected, especially the child in question. The choice for adoption must meet the child’s long term needs and wishes, and enable their healthy development into adulthood. Wherever possible, children should remain with siblings and encouraged to maintain contact with relatives. All adoptive placements should be in keeping with applicable national law and international standards.

Ideally adoptive parents should come from a similar cultural and religious background to the child, so that the child can retain her heritage and sense of identity. This will be more likely when the adoption is within the country of the child’s origin. The child care policies of a country must therefore provide mechanisms for formal state adoption procedures, and provide workers to support this process. Intercountry or cross border adoptions should be used with caution since the child is likely to grow up in unfamiliar surroundings, and may therefore be more isolated and exposed to risk. When intercountry adoption is in the best interests of a child, international protection agencies should ensure standards are met and procedures should be in keeping with the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption.

This section of papers includes country and policy examples of the use of adoption and guidance on practice.

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‘I’m the centre part of a Venn diagram’: belonging and identity for Taiwanese-Australian intercountry adoptees

Jennifer Stoddart, Amy Conley Wright, Margaret Spencer, Sonja van Wichelen - Adoption & Fostering, 09 Mar 2021

This study uses a constructivist approach to analyse narrative interviews with a sample of Taiwanese intercountry adoptees in Australia ranging in age from early to middle adulthood.

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Attachment as Affective Assimilation: Discourses on Love and Kinship in the Context of Transnational Adoption in Denmark

Lene Myong & Mons Bissenbakker - NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 08 Mar 2021

This article attempts to initiate a critical dialogue on the politics of love and attachment by investigating the way in which the concept of attachment governs the field of transnational adoption.

Assessing and assisting prospective adoptive parents: Social workers’ communicative strategies in adoption assessment interviews

Madeleine Wirzén, Asta Čekaitė - Qualitative Social Work, 05 Mar 2021

In this study, the authors examine the structure and function of professional social workers’ follow-up questions in assessment talk with adoption applicants.

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The Legacy of Exploitation in Intercountry Adoptions from Ethiopia: “We Were under the Impression That Her Birth Parents Had Died”

Shelley A. Steenrod - Adoption Quarterly, 13 Feb 2021

Through interviews with adoptive parents, this study explores what and how adoption-related exploitation occurred in Ethiopia.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Institutionalization of Children and Alternative Family-Based Care Options for Children in Kenya

Association for Alternative Family Care of Children, in collaboration with the National Council for Children Services and Department of Children’s Services, 01 Feb 2021

This booklet emphasizes the importance of family based care for the care of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in Kenya, provides answers to regularly asked questions, and lists current government efforts to support OVC, including the policy and legal frameworks and existing forms of family and community-based care.

Committee on the Investigation of Intercountry Adoption Report [unofficial translation]

Committee on the Investigation of Intercountry Adoption, Government of the Netherlands, 01 Feb 2021

This report presents the results of an independent investigation into abuses in intercountry adoption in the Netherlands during the period 1967-1998, and the role of the Dutch government in this regard.

Governing belonging through attachment: marriage migration and transnational adoption in Denmark

Mons Bissenbakker & Lene Myong - Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31 Jan 2021

Based on analysis of legal documents on family reunification and educational material concerning transnational adoption in Denmark, this article suggests that the concept of attachment may be conceptualized as a specific operationalization of belonging, and that belonging and biopower may be viewed as intertwined (rather than opposites).

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The right to identify one’s ancestors, ‘limping parentage’ and origin deprivation

Alice Diver - Korean Adoptee Adoption Research Network, 27 Jan 2021

This seminar was given as part of the Korean Adoptee Adoption Research Network's inaugural seminar series, The Right to Know. Each speaker of the series discussed the concept of the right to origin and examined the broader social, legal and political implications in South Korea as a sending country along with experiences from North America and Europe as receiving countries.

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Evidence of Son Preference in the Child Trafficking Market for Illegal Adoption in China

Wanru Xiong - Journal of Human Trafficking, 24 Jan 2021

This article presents evidence of son preference in the child trafficking market for illegal adoption in China, where son preference is explicitly revealed by choice and quantified by the price premium of a boy.

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Enhancing diurnal cortisol regulation among young children adopted internationally: A randomized controlled trial of a parenting-based intervention

K. Lee Raby, Kristin Bernard, M. Kathleen Gordon and Mary Dozier - Development and Psychopathology, 11 Jan 2021

The current study used a randomized controlled trial to assess whether Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC) improved the diurnal functioning of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis among 85 children who had been adopted internationally when they were between the ages of 4 and 33 months

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