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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Providing Adoption Support and Preservation Services

Child Welfare Information Gateway, Children's Bureau, 01 Feb 2018

This bulletin draws from available literature and practice knowledge to summarize key issues related to providing effective services to support the stability and permanency of adoptions.

Behavioral adjustment of Chinese adoptees: The role of pre-adoption experiences

Chloë Finet, Harriet J. Vermeer, Femmie Juffer, Guy Bosmans - Children and Youth Services Review, 31 Jan 2018

In the current study the authors examined associations between children's pre-adoption experiences (type of pre-adoption care and early deprivation) and their adaptive and maladaptive behavioral adjustment.

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A qualitative exploration of the experiences of adoptive parents attending ‘Nurturing Attachments’, a dyadic developmental psychotherapy informed group

Olivia Hewitt, Ben Gurney-Smith, Kim Golding - Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 22 Jan 2018

This study evaluates the ‘Nurturing Attachment’ program in the UK, a Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy intervention for adoptive families.

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Parents’ Understanding of Adopted Children’s Ways of Being, Belonging, and Becoming

Waganesh A. Zeleke, Lynne S. Koester, Gabriella Lock - Journal of Child and Family Studies, 11 Jan 2018

In this study, the authors examined the process of how relationships are built between Ethiopia adoptees and their adoptive families within the new family setting.

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Pre-adoption adversities and adoptees' outcomes: The protective role of post-adoption variables in an Italian experience of domestic open adoption

Caterina Balenzano, Gabrielle Coppola, Rosalinda Cassibba, Giuseppe Moro - Children and Youth Services Review, 10 Jan 2018

The present study concerning domestic adoption explored the adjustment of 37 adolescents and 22 emerging adults (with age ranging between 11 and 18 and 18 and 24 years, respectively), adopted through an Italian form of open adoption, and analyzed the quality of adoptive family relationships and adoptees' attachment as possible moderating variables in the relation between multiple pre-adoptive risk factors and adoptees' outcomes.

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Substance use in youth adopted from foster care: Developmental mechanisms of risk

Austin J. Blake, Irene Tung, Audra K. Langley, Jill M. Waterman - Children and Youth Services Review, 07 Jan 2018

The present study examined whether the prospective association between cumulative pre-adoptive risk (e.g., maltreatment, age at placement, foster placement instability, ever having lived with birth parent) and adolescent/young-adult substance use was mediated by childhood internalizing and externalizing problems in youth adopted from foster care.

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Realising Rights? The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Court

CRIN, 02 Jan 2018

This report by the Child Rights International Network (CRIN) draws out the ways the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been used around the world to challenge abuses of children’s rights, but also where it has been misunderstood and misapplied by national courts.

Initial evaluation of the ‘Why Not?’ initiative developed by Care Visions

CELCIS: Vicki Welch and Kenny McGhee, 2018

This short document provides a summary of initial learning from data gathered for an evaluation of the Why Not? initiative in Scotland. The Why Not? initiative within Care Visions services was started in 2014 to ‘improve the way young people are supported when ageing out of care, by offering a different experience of relationships beyond care.’

Helping Your Child Transition from Foster Care to Adoption

Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2018

This factsheet for families offers tips for helping a child transition from foster care to adoption.

Fortaleciendo las competencias: Aprender de los fracasos en la adopción internacional

Cécile Jeannin - Servicio Social Internacional, 2018

Esta nueva publicación del SSI sobre los fracasos de la adopción internacional tiene como objetivo acompañar y equipar a los profesionales de las Autoridades centrales y competentes y de los Organismos acreditados para la adopción, las personas adoptadas y los padres adoptivos, para prevenir mejor y manejar las crisis o los fracasos que las familias adoptivas pueden atravesar.