Who are the Birthparents Who Place Children for Adoption, Part Two

by Pam Connell | More from this Blogger

15 Feb 2007 07:10 PM

Part One of this blog talked about countries where societal reasons are often the prevalent ones for placing children for adoption. This blog, Part Two, will deal with why children might be available because of economic hardship or being orphaned.

The term "orphan" is misleading in international adoption. The U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS, formerly the INS) defines an "orphan" as either one whose parents are dead, or whose "sole surviving parent" has relinquished custody. "Sole surviving parent" is also something of a misnomer. In some countries, if the couple is unmarried then the father is not considered a legal parent; therefore only the mother must relinquish custody and the father's permission is not needed.

In India, Haiti, Latin American and Eastern European countries, the reasons for relinquishing a child are more likely to be economic hardships making it impossible to care for the children.

In the fairly new area of adoptions from Africa, children may be orphaned by civil war or by AIDS. Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia have adoption programs. I also know a couple who adopted from South Africa, although I'm not aware of any organized programs supporting this. Malawi does have an adoption program, but because of the requirement (mysteriously waived in Madonna's case) that foreigners live in the country for two years before adopting a Malawian child, understandably these adoptions are few.

After the 2004 tsunami in Asia, and before that in the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia in the last decade, adoption agencies received numerous phone calls from people wishing to adopt children orphaned by these events. Usually this is not possible. In a state of emergency, communications are disrupted, sometimes for many months. It would be a tragedy if there were relatives searching for a child who didn't find which orphanage a child was in until he/she had been adopted. A country also will have other priorities than assuming a smooth and legal adoption process and doing health screenings of the children. For this reason, most countries will not allow adoptions of these orphans until 6-12 months have passed. Adoption agencies hope that people moved by the plight of these orphans will be drawn to consider adopting other children around the world who have been waiting for a family for some time.

Please also see these related blogs:

Great Books You Can't Put Down

Interview: Adopting from Ethiopia and Liberia

Learn more about Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism.

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