Hague Evaluation

 When intercountry adoption is discussed, it is important for us to remember everyone in the adoption triad--birth parents, child, and prospective parents. Advocacy for children and prospective families--some of whom refer to themselves as forever families once the adoption is complete-- is typically well articulated with less emphasis on birth parent experiences and rights. It is our philosophy at Hague Evaluation that adoption is about family, beginning with the birth family and transitioning to an adoption and forever family. Because the voices of birth parents in developing nations are often not heard or even silenced in countries where fraud is a real problem, we are dedicating this page to birth mothers and fathers.  Because you can't talk about birth families in developing nations--where the vast majority of intercountry adoptions originate from--without looking at poverty, oppression, and injustice and we start with these concepts. Before we begin and because this discussion is provocative, we would like to recognize that the dynamics that we describe below are not always present in intercountry adoption sending nations such as China. Also, they are not present in all adoptions in the problematic nations.

POVERTY, OPPRESSION & INJUSTICE

Many birth families, especially those living in developing nations, experience the context of poverty, oppression, and injustice. And, it may seem obvious to most that conditions of poverty and extreme poverty are coercive in and of themselves. When one is struggling to secure food and shelter for themselves and their children, vulnerabilities become pronounced and serious social problems result including child abandonment, child labor, child pornography, child sales, and child trafficking. Because oppression and injustice are tied to poverty, we think it is important to truly define oppression and injustice. We use the following definition as a starting point of consideration of the birth families of children whom are typically adopted by relatively privledged families in industralized nations.

Gil* (1998) defines oppression as:

“...a mode of human relations involving domination and exploitation—economic, social, and psychologic—between individuals; between social groups and classes within and beyond societies; and globally, between entire societies” (p. 10).

Gil further defines injustice as:

"Injustice refers to coercively established and maintained inequalities, discrimination, and dehumanizing, development-inhibiting conditions of living (e.g. slavery, serfdom, and exploitative wage labor; unemployment, poverty, starvation, and homelessness; inadequate health care and education), imposed by dominant social groups, classes, and peoples upon dominated and exploited groups, classes, and peoples" (1998, p. 10).

While intercountry adoption proponents will point to the many positives of adopting children from impoverished nations, especially when a child is truly available and appropriate for adoption, it is important to recognize these underlying dynamics when considering the birth family experience. While the realities of the context of a relinquishment decision are discussed by many, at times the conversation lacks depth and this is ultimately unfair and disingenuous.

BIRTH MOTHERS

While there are birth mothers who have legally and ethically relinquished children and even received appropriate counseling, we are focusing on the underbelly and problems of some--not all--adoptions because the intent of the Convention is the prevention of corruption and adoption fraud.

We also begin this section by recognizing that birth mothers are really expectant mothers or (just plainly) mothers prior to the moment of relinquishment. We use the term "birth mother" for the ease of identifying the relationship of this important individual in the adoption triad.

Birth mothers are often the primary and most critical target of coercion in terms of child sales. Because some mothers are often trying to care for a number of children, they may be vulnerable to child sales in order to generate finances to care for the other children in an act of sacrificing one to care for all. Also, the belief that a child will be a citizen in an industralized country (i.e. the U.S.) is also a motivator because there is a chance that there will be future dividends in the event of a birth parent search. In fact, there have been adoption fraud cases in which birth families have been promised that their child will be a US citizen and later they will return to the birth family and share the wealth and opportunities (see our Cambodia story).  

BIRTH FATHERS

Of all the actors in the adoption triad, birth fathers are the most overlooked individuals. There are cases in which fathers have been excluded from adoption relinquishment decisions, not because they were disinterested but because they were working in another area of the country or some other appropriate reasons for their abscence at the time of relinquishment. In developing nations in particular, it is not uncommon for fathers to travel to other regions to work seasonally in agriculture or other occupations. There have been cases in which a father returns from a work-related abscence to find that his child is missing and that his wife/partner posed as a "single" mother or claimed abandonment and legally relinquished without disclosure to the father.

Another side of birth fathers which can be particularly problematic is the fact that they have sometimes exerted pressure upon birth mothers, becoming a source of coercion themselves. For example, a poor birth father may be approached by an unscrupulous entreprenuer and offered a sum for the relinquishment of his child. He in turn may put a great deal of pressure upon the mother of his child to relinquish one or more children and, if not, punish his partner/spouse/the birth mother with a threat of abandonment or worse if she does not comply. In a poor nation, this is not only a real possibility, but also an unfortunate reality given the daily stress of living in poverty in addition to other dynamics related to gender roles and domestic violence.

Of course, the oldest problem in the world--illigitimacy--often leaves birth mothers in the role of single parents. Paternal abandonment places extraordinary stress upon birth mothers and their children, especially in societies where illigitimacy is stigmatized (i.e. Korea). Birth mothers that experience this particular sadness are particularly vulnerable to abandoning their child/ren given the consequences of poverty and the shame of illigitimacy. 

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*Gil, D. G. (1998). Confronting injustice and oppression.

 One cannot fully appreciate the true intent of the Hague Convention without consideration of family rights and the role of the birth family, both mothers and fathers. The discussion must pay careful attention to the coercive nature of living in poverty.

Some critics of intercountry adoption consider the practice to be a form of neo-colonialism. However, we reject that orientation, because, at the very least, it is divisive and ultimately not useful. Because we believe in intercountry adoption and are committed to encouraging ethical practices, our focus is identification of problems and informing the process of compliance to international standards, especially the Hague Convention. That requires consideration of the multiple dynamics related to child relinquishment.