A CHANGING WORLD: Shaping Best Practices Through Understanding of the New Realities of Intercountry Adoption
The Guide to Good Practice defines subsidiarity as: “recognis[ing[ that a child should be raised by his or her birth family or extended family whenever possible. If that is not possible or practicable, other forms of permanent family care in the country of origin should be considered. Only after due consideration has been given to national solutions should intercountry adoption be considered, and then only if it is in the child’s best interests. Intercountry adoption serves the child’s best interests if it provides a loving permanent family for the child in need of a home. Intercountry adoption is one of a range of care options which may be open to children in need of a family.” Best Practices of Convention Implementation Overall in recent years, there has been increased incorporation of the children’s best interests and subsidiarity principles in both COOs and RCs. Likely at least in part due to this, there also has been more focus on encouraging domestic adoption in COOs. A number of countries observed more domestic adoption in COOs and fewer intercountry adoptions, though international interest in adopting generally outpaces domestic. RCs have also experienced decreases in domestic adoptions, and with the exceptions of the United Kingdom and United States, generally reported to have relatively few. Significantly, ICA of children with special needs has been increasing, though many RCs do not distinguish among types of adoption in their recorded statistics. Perhaps contrary to popular perception, many COO professionals indicated that few child placements in COO temporary care stem from poverty and many COO governments have support systems in place to assist struggling families. Most COOs have policies discouraging institutionalization of children, but cultural norms in many COOs do not favor adoption from the child welfare system. The discussion below generally illustrates the positive aspects of individual countries’ applications of best interests of the child and subsidiarity principles. xxxiii Additionally, due to the interplay between subsidiarity, increasing COO domestic adoptions (and related temporary care conditions) and decreasing RC domestic adoptions, with ICA generally and special needs adoptions specifically, all are discussed below. COOs are presented first in alphabetical order, then RCs. With regard to children with special needs who are available for international adoption and/or are adopted internationally, countries differ in their definitions of special needs and the Convention itself offers no guidance. The Convention references the term just once; Article 16(1)(a) requires the COO Central Authority, after a determination of the child’s adoptability, to Donaldson Adoption Institute
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