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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Social Workers’ Reflections on Ethics in Relation to Adoption in the UK: Everywhere but Nowhere?

Brid Featherstone & Anna Gupta - The British Journal of Social Work, 09 Apr 2019

Empirical research with social workers exploring their understandings and use of codes or ethical theories in practice remain underdeveloped in the UK. This article, based on the British Association of Social Work commissioned Enquiry into the role of the social worker in adoption with a focus on ethics and human rights, provides an important contribution in this context.

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Country Care Review: Senegal

Better Care Network, 09 Apr 2019

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Risk and protective factors among Korean adult international adoptees: A latent class analysis

Jayashree Mohanty, Srinivasan Chokkanathan, Wansoo Park - Children and Youth Services Review, 26 Mar 2019

The first aim of this study was to find subgroups of adult international adoptees based on common risk and protective factors using a latent class analysis. The second aim was to examine whether the identified subgroups differed in outcome variables such as life satisfaction and psychological adjustment.

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Nurturing attachments parenting program: The relationship between adopters’ parental reflective functioning and perception of their children's difficulties

J. Staines, K. Golding, J. Selwyn - Developmental Child Welfare, 13 Mar 2019

This paper draws on an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Nurturing Attachments groupwork programme provided by AdoptionPlus for adoptive families in England. The Nurturing Attachments programme, informed by Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (Hughes, Golding & Hudson, 2015), was developed to help foster and adoptive parents strengthen their relationships with the child and support children who had experienced developmental traumas.

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Country Care Review: Czech Republic

Better Care Network, 05 Mar 2019

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committees' recommendations on the issues relevant to children's care are highlighted, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.

Factors influencing child placement in adoption practices in South Western Nigeria: In the best interest of the child?

Olayinka Modupe Onayemi & Adeyinka Abeeden Aderinto - Children and Youth Services Review, 04 Mar 2019

Using qualitative methods of data collection, factors influencing child placement in Southwestern Nigeria were examined in this article.

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"Baby Factories": Exploitation of Women in Southern Nigeria

Jacinta Chiamaka Nwaka & Akachi Odoemene - Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence, 01 Mar 2019

This paper examines the development and proliferation of baby-selling centers in southern Nigeria and its impacts on and implication for women in Nigeria. It demonstrates how an attempt to give protection to unwed pregnant girls has metamorphosed into “baby harvesting” and selling through the notorious “baby factories,” where young women are held captive and used like industrial machines for baby production.

Country Care Review: Guinea

Better Care Network , 28 Feb 2019

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of its examination of Guinea’s periodic report to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Child Trafficking for Adoption Purposes: A Criminological Analysis of the Illegal Adoption Market

Elvira Loibl - The Palgrave International Handbook of Human Trafficking, 19 Feb 2019

This chapter identifies the structural components of the transnational illegal adoption market by applying the basic logic of the routine activity theory that has been developed by Cohen and Felson.

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Special Section of the Journal of Research on Social Work Practice: Understanding Adoption Breakdown: When Adoptive Placements Don’t Go as Intended

Research on Social Work Practice, 01 Feb 2019

This special section of the journal of Research on Social Work Practice focuses on adoption breakdown.

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