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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Post-adoption contact and adoptive parents’ receptiveness to direct contact in the four nations of the UK

Christine Jones, Mandi MacDonald, Rebecca Brooks - University of Strathclyde, 17 Jul 2020

This briefing paper reports key findings from a recent study of direct contact between adoptive families and birth relatives within the four nations of the UK.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intercountry adoption and international commercial surrogacy

Patricia Fronek & Karen Smith Rotabi - International Social Work, 14 Jul 2020

This short report calls attention to heightened risks, and raises awareness, for practitioners in the fields of intercountry adoption and international surrogacy in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and asserts the need for caution.

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The Adopting Together Service: how innovative collaboration is meeting the needs of children in Wales waiting the longest to find a family

Katherine H Shelton, Coralie Merchant, Jane Lynch - Adoption & Fostering, 11 Jul 2020

This article describes a major development in child care practice in Wales that has occurred over the past two years. The Adopting Together Service (ATS) involves a unique, innovative and multi-layered collaboration between the voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs – non-governmental charities) and regional adoption teams (statutory agencies) to secure permanence for children who wait the longest to find families.

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A Brief History of Contact in Fostering and Adoption: Practice and Power, and The Coming of the Mobile Phone

Jenny Simpson, Gary Clapton - Applied Social Studies & Sociology, 09 Jul 2020

This article charts the UK history of contact in fostering and adoption as it relates to children in care and their birth relatives.

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ICAV Perspective Paper: Illicit Intercountry Adoptions - Lived Experience Views on How Authorities and Bodies Could Respond

Lynelle Long - Inter Country Adoption Voices, 01 Jul 2020

This paper from Inter Country Adoptee Voices (ICAV) attempts to bring together not only the voices and experiences of impacted intercountry adoptees who have lived experience with some form of illicit practice in their adoption, but also the voices of a few adoptive parents and first family representation.

Associations between ethnic identity and motivational beliefs in internationally adopted youth and the mediating role of school belonging

Alison C. Koenka, Eric M. Anderman, Lynley H. Anderman, Sungjun Won - Learning and Individual Differences, 30 Jun 2020

This study explored (1) the role of ethnic identity in predicting internationally adopted adolescents' expectancies for success and task values and (2) the extent to which school belonging mediated these relations.

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Moderating the Risk for Attention Deficits in Children with Pre-Adoptive Adversity: The Protective Role of Shorter Duration of out of Home Placement and Children’s Enhanced Error Monitoring

Tahl I. Frenkel, Bonny Donzella, Kristin A. Frenn, Sofie Rousseau, Nathan A. Fox & Megan R. Gunnar - Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30 Jun 2020

The present study examined the protective effect of the error-related-negativity (ERN) in a sample of children who experienced at least 3-years of stable, relatively enriched caregiving after being internationally-adopted as infants/toddlers from institutional-care.

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Fostering Ethics Virtual Conference

Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities - University of Cambridge, 25 Jun 2020

This conference seeks to explore how such diverse perspectives can inform a new ethics of adoption and the care of orphaned or abandoned children in Muslim communities.

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Children and adolescents taken care by the state of Rio de Janeiro: is adoption the solution?

Sandro Pitthan Espindola, Marcos Besserman Viana, Maria Helena Barros de Oliveira - SAÚDE DEBATE , 19 Jun 2020

The purpose of this article is to discuss whether adoption, in the form in which it is systematized in Brazil, by the National Adoption Register, may be the solution to the serious problem of child and adolescent in risky situations of care, especially those living in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Psychological adjustment, attachment difficulties, and perceptions of family relationships in adopted and institution-reared children: The case of Chile

Pamela Jiménez-Etcheverría & Jesús Palacios - Children and Youth Services Review, 28 May 2020

The first aim of this study was to examine differences in the socio-emotional functioning of adopted and institution-reared children in Chile. The second aim of this study was to examine the influence of adoption related variables on the psychological adjustment of adopted children.

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