Hague Evaluation

Critics often point to Latin America as the region of the world that illustrates regressive laws and unyielding or even 'anti-intercountry adoption' child welfare systems. El Salvador has been criticized as inefficient and unresponsive to the needs of children and the nation only sent 16 children in 2005. Colombia, the most active Latin American Convention nation, sent 291 children to the US in 2005. Its state run system requires the prospective family to stay in the nation for at least several weeks to complete the family court process. Belize, also a Convention nation, only sent 14 children which is related to their protracted residency requirements of at least a year in which government social workers carry out post-placement visits. Honduras and Guyana, nations that have not signed the Convention, only sent 10 and 17 children to the US respectively in 2005.  Argentina, another nation that has abstained from the Convention, has developed laws that have effectively prohibited intercountry adotion. Paraguay, a Convention nation, sent no children in 2005 and this is related to the backlash of their own adoption scandals in which children were being sold. Obviously, with the exception of Guatemala (now under reform), the number of children sent from Latin America is noticibly low when one factors in the large populations of nations like Mexico which only sent 98 children in 2005.

This fact leaves us with a number of questions, including the number of actual and truly available children. This is a point of contention and disagreement for child rights advocates--some argue that there are millions of "orphans" around the world. Others, such as UNICEF policy makers, take the position that there are far less children who meet this criteria of "orphan" and that many children, even those institutionalized for the long-term, have biological family linkages and their right to birth family and culture as per the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is the core to their argument. Also, another major point of disagreement is the use of poverty as grounds for intercountry adoption. Each side of the argument has its own merits and compelling arguments include UNICEF's documentation of some alarming cases of adoption fraud in Latin America (i.e. Guatemala) as well as other regions, to include Sudan, Africa. Alternatively, the other side of the argument focuses on "orphanages" and recent research findings (2008) in Romania presents strong evidence for brain development and other problems exhibited by the children who languish in institutions, with the very earliest stages of child development being critical for overall child health, intelligence, and ability to form attachments.  For more information about Guatemala, click on that section to learn more.

A LOOK AT A  NATION CRITICIZED FOR LENGHTY PLACEMENTS:

EL SALVADOR

The history of intercountry adoption is a critical component of this analysis and we begin our discussion there. During the two decade civil war in El Salvador, at least 75,000 people were killed, at least 8,000 were disappeared, about a million were internally displaced and another million left the country in search for refuge. One such abuse was the forcible removal of children from their families as a form of reprisal for their involvement in resistance forces. Additionally, some children whose parents were executed were also "placed" for intercountry adoption--many of these adoptions violated human rights standards for obvious reasons. While the number of children whose adoptions were completed in this manner is not well-documented and is characteristic of conflict and post-conflict countries. However, there are cases of adult adoptees returning to El Salvador for birth parent searches in which they are learning the true history of their cases, some of which has been alarming and traumatic. It is not known if anyone (Salvadorans or others) were financially enriched by these questionable processes during the war years, but the backlash of this unfortunate history has inevitably shaped perceptions of intercountry adoption in the nation.

El Salvador ratified the Hague Convention in May 1993 (in the immediate post-conflict years) and again in November 1998. It entered into effect in March 1999. Regulation rests on three primary regulations: the nation's Family Code, the Family Legal Procedure, and the Convention itself. Combined, these regulations define the prerequisites for adoptive parents nationally (domestic adoption) and intercountry adoption. Included are the criteria for determining as child's status as being actually available (orphan status) and appropriate for adoption. Adoption regulation highlights and the status of human rights of children are provided on the US Dept. of State website.

At this time, El Salvador requires a one year residency for intercountry adoption and prospective parents are considered foster parents during this time. El Salvador is a particularly slow nation in terms of placement time and some families have invested up to a total of three years for their adoption to be finalized. This is related to a number of factors, including a process that is reportedly disjointed due to the fact that multiple government agencies are involved in the paperwork process. Additionally, the US DOS website indicates that these problems are further complicated by the fact that responsible social services offices in various regions of the country (similar to US state & county social services or British Council Authorities) have variable lag times indicating that some regions of the country are more efficient than others. This fact suggests that the nation's Central Authority (CA), a required oversight organization of the Hague Convention, has not effectively standardized processes and leaves one to wonder about the true effectiveness of the CA.

It is important to note that the adoptions that took place in the nation are so low that in all likelihood the vast majority of US families that completed Salvadoran adoptions were missionaries and other Americans* living and working in the nation as residents.

*Our adoption data is based on orphan visas issued by the US Department of State and, as a result, only indicates the number of US citizens who have adopted. This data has inherent limitations, including the fact that in recent years Spain has been a frequent receiving nation of Salvadoran adoptions. At this time, we are researching this data and hope to provide more information on this fact in the future.

This country report was developed with the assistance of Carmen Monico. It was last updated March 28, 2008.

NICARAGUA

This nation is an interesting example of stringent adoption laws that do not really reflect the global nature of our daily living. We understand that foreign citizens who adopt children in the nation must agree not to depart or emigrate from Nicaragua until the child reaches the age of 21. There are stories of adopted children having birth certificates changed to indicate that the child's adopted father is really the biological father. Then the appropriate travel documents can be arranged and this illegal emigraton is facilitated with falsified papers. This is adoption fraud that takes place with nothing more than alteration of a birth certificate. This is an old scam!

LATIN AMERICAN CONVENTION-SIGNATORY NATIONS & SENDING DATA 2005

BELIZE                       14 

BOLIVIA                       8

BRAZIL                       66

CHILE                          5

COLOMBIA                291

COSTA RICA                  4

ECUADOR                    20

EL SALVADOR               16

GUATEMALA            3,783

MEXICO                      98

NICARAGUA                 23

PANAMA                     20

PARAGUAY                   0

PERU                          28

Note: Data are US Dept of State statistics for orphan visas. This data does not indicate adoption of children sent to European and other nations.

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