FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Chuck Johnson
(703) 299-6633
cjohnson@adoptioncouncil.org
Intercountry Adoptions by Americans Lowest Since 1981
April 1, 2016 – Alexandria, VA – The U.S. Department of State has released its
FY 2015 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption,
revealing that American families adopted 5,648 foreign-born children in
2015. This marks a 12% decline from the 6,441 foreign-born children
adopted the previous year and a 75% decline since intercountry adoptions
reached a peak in 2004, when 22,991 foreign-born children were adopted.
This is the lowest number of intercountry adoptions since 1981.
National
Council For Adoption (NCFA), a non-profit organization committed to
adoption advocacy, awareness, and education efforts, notes that this
continued decline in intercountry adoptions has a tragic impact on the
growing number of orphaned and abandoned children who desperately need a
family.
“We would welcome a world in which all children
everywhere
received loving and permanent care from their biological families or
from extended family or adoptive families in their birth countries,”
says NCFA president and CEO Chuck Johnson. “The reality is that the
world’s orphan population is growing by the millions and that many of
these children will
not be reunited with family members or placed
with relatives or domestic adoptive families. Instead, they are left
homeless or living in orphanages or institutions, which are often
under-funded, under-staffed, and don’t provide the one-on-one care
children need in order to thrive. For thousands of children,
intercountry adoption will be their only opportunity to live, learn,
grow, and thrive within a family, and be protected from trafficking,
forced into the sex trade, homelessness, or premature death.”
There
are several factors that contributed to the decline in intercountry
adoptions. Some of the multi-year decline can be attributed to Russia
and Guatemala closing intercountry adoptions to the United States in
recent years and, specifically, fewer adoptions from Ethiopia, Haiti,
and Ukraine in 2015.
“It’s a vicious and dangerous cycle,” says
Johnson. “Developing nations have large orphan populations and
intercountry adoption is a viable solution for some of them. Yet,
intercountry adoption is not allowed because the developing nation
doesn’t have an advanced child welfare system or an ability to offer
other solutions like family preservation services or domestic adoption
or they can’t provide the level of oversight to the adoption process
deemed necessary by the United States.”
Many child welfare leaders
and scholars from around the world are committed to improving the care
their countries provide for orphaned or abandoned children within their
own borders. NCFA has worked in concert in the last year with leaders
from China, Colombia, Hong Kong, and Ukraine amongst others to share
ideas about in-country options like family preservation, foster care,
and domestic adoption processes and support. There is a great
opportunity and need for all nations to learn from one another and
support one another in our common goal of finding solutions for children
living outside of family-based care.
In the United States, the
federal government can play a key role in reversing the trend of
declining adoptions by working collaboratively with the adoption
community to find solutions; seeking country-specific solutions that
will open doors of opportunity for orphaned or abandoned children to be
adopted; and providing technical assistance to countries who want to
engage in intercountry adoption, but need support to put appropriate
oversight in place. In recent months, NCFA has been grateful to see
meaningful improvements from Department of State’s Office of Children’s
Issues in communication, openness to consider country-specific
solutions, and willingness to provide support to sending countries,
adoption service providers, and adopting families. Still, we think there
is much work to be done to provide the appropriate support to ensure
more children find their way to willing, waiting families. National
Council For Adoption continues to call on Congress to provide more
mission-specific direction to the Department of State and more clearly
define their responsibilities as the United States’ Central Adoption
Authority to ensure that this new approach is long-lasting and continues
to improve. Ultimately, we at NCFA believe that recent changes in
practice paired with additional mission-specific directives will result
in the U.S.’s ability to serve more children through intercountry
adoption, while also ensuring legal, ethical, and transparent
practices.
Lastly, Mr. Johnson expressed, “I am hopeful that this
is the last year that I am asked to comment on the decline, but,
instead, be able to celebrate next year with the Child Welfare community
the increase in the number of children who find loving families through
intercountry adoption.”
Click here to view the
FY2015 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption and the accompanying
narrative.
# # #
ABOUT NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR ADOPTION
Founded
in 1980, National Council For Adoption (NCFA) is a global adoption
advocacy nonprofit that promotes a culture of adoption through
education, research, legislative action, and collaboration. As the
authoritative voice for adoption, NCFA’s areas of focus include domestic
infant adoption, adoption and permanency outcomes for youth in foster
care, and intercountry adoption. Passionately committed to the belief
that every child deserves to thrive in a nurturing, permanent family,
NCFA serves children, birth parents, adopted individuals, adoptive
families, and adoption professionals. In addition, we work tirelessly to
educate U.S. and foreign government officials and policymakers, members
of the media, and all those in the general public with an interest in
adoption.
For more information, visit www.AdoptionCouncil.org.
