{"id":185167,"date":"2018-07-29T09:54:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T14:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=185167"},"modified":"2018-07-30T18:00:32","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T23:00:32","slug":"adoptions-80-percent-drop-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/adoptions-80-percent-drop-international\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s time to fix international adoptions before it’s too late"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As America has become increasingly pro-life, many families have invested in giving orphans — especially those from oppressive nations or who would otherwise grow up in institutions — a place to call home. However, some State Department changes in recent years have made international adoption nearly impossible for many.\u00a0Since the Obama administration appointed Trish Maskew to oversee international adoptions in 2014 — who\u00a0previously called adoption<\/a>\u00a0“a profoundly problematic institution” — there has been an almost 80 percent decline<\/em> in international adoptions. And almost 50 percent of international adoptions are from the U.S., according to reports from the United Nations<\/a>. But the number is dropping at an alarming rate, and has been for a decade, says the UN:<\/p>\n

Americans adopted around 5,370 children from other countries in fiscal year 2016 \u2013 77% fewer than the peak in 2004 and 66% fewer than in 1999, the earliest year for which data on all countries are available.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jayme Metzgar, a writer at\u00a0The Federalist,<\/a>\u00a0says Maskew ushered in “a climate of fear and mistrust” at the State Department, and “the relationship between the State Department and the adoption community has deteriorated….”<\/p>\n

Save Adoptions<\/a> has called for Maskew to be replaced for the sake of international orphaned children, and\u00a0recently circulated a White House petition<\/a>\u00a0(which fell short of signatures needed for an official White House response), asking President Trump to investigate the sharp decline in international adoptions, encouraging “pro-adoption leadership” to “increase the number of ethical adoptions.”<\/p>\n

READ: Every baby a wanted baby: Four of the best adoption stories of 2017<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Daily Caller<\/a>\u00a0noted, “Nearly 23,000 international children were adopted by U.S. families in 2004, but in 2016 less than 4,000 children were adopted, a drop of 80 percent. If this trend continues, international adoption will cease to exist by 2022.”<\/p>\n

The Conversation<\/a> has a theory on why this crisis, which began ten years before Maskew took office<\/a>, began and has since escalated — the Hague Convention, which regulates international adoption, isn’t doing what it should:<\/p>\n

This 1993 global agreement, which\u00a0103 countries signed by 2016<\/a>, creates uniform regulations for adoptions worldwide.<\/em><\/p>\n

But rather than encourage foreign adoptions, many experts\u00a0argue<\/a>\u00a0that the convention has contributed to their decline.<\/em><\/p>\n

Poor countries\u00a0often struggle to meet The Hague\u2019s high international standards<\/a>, which include creating a central adoption authority, accrediting local agencies and tightening approval procedures….<\/em><\/p>\n

Rigorous international regulations have also\u00a0made adoptions more expensive by imposing fees<\/a>\u00a0on agencies, adoptive parents, orphanages and countries. We believe that\u00a0rising costs<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which may have increased\u00a0up to 18 percent<\/a>\u00a0in some countries \u2013 will lead to a decrease in the number of international adoptions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the State Department has “implement[ed] policies that will make international adoption rarer and more expensive than ever,” reported The Federalist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Hague Convention<\/a>\u00a0makes the U.S. State Department the authority for all international adoptions here; however, it also “requires another public or nonprofit entity to act as the ‘accrediting entity’ (AE), holding adoption agencies to certain fiscal and ethical standards. Since 2013, COA [Council on Accreditation] has been the only AE [accrediting entity] for international adoption.” The Council pulled out, and its president, Richard Klarberg, said the new State Department regulations essentially placed a stronghold on the Council. Part of Klarberg’s letter said the State Department was requiring “significant changes in the nature and scope” of the Council’s work, “fundamentally chang[ing]” the Council’s responsibilities, making them “inconsistent with COA’s philosophy and mission….”<\/p>\n

READ: As adoptions decline overall, special needs adoptions are rising<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kalrberg told The Federalist<\/a> that despite President Trump’s orders meant to reduce government regulations such as the new State Department rules, “the number of children who will be eligible for immigration via adoption will definitely shrink. The number of agencies involved with intercountry adoption will also shrink.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the Council bowed out, the State Department created its own accrediting entity, and in February,\u00a0its new fee schedule<\/a> shocked<\/a>\u00a0many (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

Under the new organization, International Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME), adoption agencies\u2019 fees will skyrocket<\/strong>. [An adoption agency director] estimates that her agency\u2019s fees, which cost $15,500 for four years under COA, will be a staggering $140,000 under IAAME\u2014an increase of more than 800 percent.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The new regulations outprice many agencies, who then suspend international operations — making it impossible for Americans, who must use a Hague-approved agency to adopt from overseas.<\/p>\n