The Children’s Rights Alliance welcomes today’s official signing today of an Administrative Agreement on inter-country adoption between the Adoption Authority of Ireland and the Philippines Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB).

 

Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, says: “Adoption must always be in a child’s best interests. The Hague Convention aims to protect children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad. Hague-compliant countries are required to build up their domestic child protection, care and adoption infrastructures, with inter-country adoption as a measure of last resort. Consequently the number of children placed for inter-country adoption is very low once Hague comes into force. Non-Hague compliant countries – many of which are developing countries – often have large numbers of children for adoption but very weak child protection systems.

 

The importance of adoption agreements, such as the one signed today between Ireland and the Philippines, cannot be overstated. Given the sums of money involved, inter-country adoption can encourage malpractice and corruption, with children and prospective adoptive parents at risk of being exploited for financial gain. Children have been denied the right to grow up with their parents and families because of child trafficking, abduction and through the deception of birth parents.

 

As both Ireland and the Philippines have ratified the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, today’s agreement provides a clear outline of how the adoption process will operate between the countries – a welcome and positive development in the best interests of children.”