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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Black South Africans’ Perceptions and Experiences of the Legal Child Adoption Assessment Process

Priscilla Gerrand, Garth Stevens - Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 2019

This paper explores how Black South Africans perceive and experience the adoption assessment process regarding the adoption of abandoned children.

Adoption in the Netherlands: Preparation and post-care of adoptees, biological parents, adoption applicants and adoptive families in the Dutch adoption practice

Deutsches Jugendinstitut e.V, 2019

This report from the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut e.V., DJI) assesses the adoption system in the Netherlands.

Promoting Adoptees’ Well-Being in Transracial Adoptive Families

Ellen E. Pinderhughes - The Future of Adoption: Beyond Safety to Well-Being, 2019

This paper discusses critical tasks facing adoptive parents of transracially adopted persons (TRAs), what we know about parents’ role and children’s outcomes.

Principle of Subsidiarity - ISS/IRC comparative working paper 1: Spotlight on solutions

International Social Service, 2019

Having the best interest principle and taking into account the individual needs of each child in intercountry adoptions, this paper endeavours to promote the two tier approach of the principle of subsidiarity by examining the drafting spirit behind international standards (Section 1), providing examples of legislation and jurisprudence (Section 2) and identifying promising practices (Section 3) that reflect the principle.

Are the early benefits of the Adoption Support Fund (therapeutic support for adoptive families) sustainable?

Sadie King, Giorgia Iacopini, Anna Sophie Hahne, Heather Stradling - Journal of Public Mental Health, 07 Dec 2018

The purpose of this paper is to explore the wider context in which the UK national evaluation of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) was delivered and raise concerns about the sustainability of the early outcomes.

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Parenting under Adversity: Birth Parents’ Accounts of Inequality and Adoption

Shirley Lewis and Geraldine Brady - Social Sciences, 06 Dec 2018

This paper aims to highlight inequality in current adoption processes and procedures in England and Wales.

Investing in Adoption: Exploring Child Development Accounts for Children Adopted from Foster Care

Wright, Amy Conley - Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 01 Dec 2018

This article suggests that financial supports for adoption could be extended by introducing Child Development Accounts for children adopted from foster care in New South Wales, Australia.

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Adoption of Russian children by foreign citizens: some problems concerning the implementation of norms of international law

Eugene S. Anichkin, Kseniya E. Kovalenko, and Anton A. Vasiliev - Estação Científica (UNIFAP) , 01 Dec 2018

This article outlines the prospects for ratifying the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in the Field of Intercountry Adoption of 29 May 1993 and the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (revised) of 27 November 2008.

Adoption and child protection trends for children aged under five in England: Increasing investigations and hidden separation of children from their parents

Andy Bilson & Elizabeth Hunter Munro - Children and Youth Services Review, 28 Nov 2018

This study provides an analysis of the ‘investigative turn’ in England by comparing two large cohorts of children, one whose fifth birthday was in 2011–12 and the other in 2016–17.

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The effect of the colonialist terms “orphan” and “adoption” on the citizenship status of indigenous Fijian adoptees within their own community

Erica Newman - AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 26 Nov 2018

This article investigates the colonialist definitions of the terms “orphan” and “adoption”, contrasting them with how the traditional practice of child circulation in Fiji cared for orphaned children.

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