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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Country Care Review: Haiti

Better Care Network, 13 Apr 2018

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.

Cambodia's Stolen Children: Fraud and Corruption in the Inter-Country Adoption System

Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), 30 Mar 2018

This report from the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) presents the stories of three Cambodian women whose children had been adopted overseas at different times over the last 15 years and exposes corrupt and fraudulent practices in Cambodia's Inter-country adoption system.

Institutionalized Chinese children with congenital medical conditions: Placement delay, developmental issues at arrival and current wellbeing

Tony Xing Tan & Emily A. X. Robinson - Children and Youth Services Review, 23 Mar 2018

This study investigated the relationship between congenital conditions and post-adoption mental disorder diagnosis and treatment in 235 female youth who were adopted from China about 15 years prior.

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“It’s Not a Job!” Foster Care Board Payments and the Logic of the Profiteering Parent

Melissa Hardesty - Social Service Review, 01 Mar 2018

This ethnographic study of a foster care adoption program shows how board payments elicit commodification anxiety at this local site, and in American culture more broadly.

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The Assessment of Children and Young People for Adoption Support The evidence from 20 referrals to the National Adoption and Fostering Team at the Maudsley

Matt Woolgar, Carmen Pinto and Olivia Tomaselli, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, 01 Mar 2018

This Briefing Note adds to the developing picture of adoption support issues by analysing data on 20 children and young people consecutively referred to the special adoption and fostering service at the Maudsley – a wellrespected and established national CAMHS service.

Adoptive parents' evaluation of expectations and children's behavior problems: The mediational role of parenting stress and parental satisfaction Author links open overlay panel

Marta Santos-Nunes, Isabel Narciso, Salomé Vieira-Santos, Magda Sofia Roberto - Children and Youth Services Review, 26 Feb 2018

This study aimed to test the impact of parents' evaluation of expectations on their child's behavioral problem by investigating a sequential mediation effect of parenting stress and parental satisfaction.

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ICAV Perspective Paper: Would We Adopt via Intercountry or Transracial Adoption? Why, Why not?

InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV), 17 Feb 2018

This perspectives paper from InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV) includes statements from a group of international adoptees in response to the question: "Would you adopt via Intercountry or Transracial Adoption? Why, why not?

Adoption in the Digital Age

Julie Samuels, 14 Feb 2018

This chapter raises questions about the use of unregulated websites and the commodification of children that seek forever families, how far adoption in the digital age will be further redefined remains to be seen.

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Adult psychosocial outcomes of men and women who were looked-after or adopted as children: prospective observational study

Alison Teyhan, Dinithi Wijedasa, John Macleod - BMJ Open, 08 Feb 2018

The objective of this study was to investigate whether men and women who were looked-after (in public care) or adopted as children are at increased risk of adverse psychological and social outcomes in adulthood.