International Adoptions in the United States Decline

By Juliana Beauregard

Stonehill News Blog Staff

International adoptions to the United States are declining, although the number of children in need of homes worldwide remains high. 

According to the 2018 report  “Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption,” submitted by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues, there was a decline of 655 intercountry adoptions to the United States compared to the statistics of the 2017 report.  

The study points out that the majority of this decrease happened in China because their economy has gotten better and they have developed “domestic permanence” options for children. Also, in FY (fiscal year) 2018 there were some countries including Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Indonesia that saw their first intercountry adoptions to the United States.

Further, the second most influential decrease in international adoption came when Ethiopia banned international adoption during FY 2018. 

The report pointed to scandals and related problems in the last decade that have contributed to the decline of international adoption including mismanagement by adoption agencies, families returning children, instances where adoptees were neglected or harmed, and corruption by players in international adoptions.

Although there were some countries that either had improved, like China or are just starting to allow international adoption, there is still a large overall decline in international adoption.

Debbie Mansfield, director of Orphan Care and Family Strengthening at Wide Horizons, says that in 2006 Wide Horizons placed around 600 children internationally, but in 2019 that number went down to only 50 children.

Mansfield has been working at Wide Horizons for 18 years now, although she was not always involved in the adoption aspect of it. She studied a lot about Russia in college and got a position at Wide Horizons as a Russian coordinator. She spent some time in the Soviet Union and started working in orphanages there, though, and she says it was a life-changing experience. “Hearing them say to me ‘Pick me mama’ ‘Choose me’ was something that I will never forget,” Mansfield said.

Mansfield talked about a number of reasons why she thought that international adoption was declining, but none of them was that there was no longer a need. “There are hundreds of thousands of kids sitting in orphanages and to say that only 4,000 of them are being adopted is awful to say the least,” she said. 

Mansfield said some placing countries like Guatemala, Ethiopia, and South Korea have cut back drastically on international adoptions because they are ashamed to be thought of as not being able to care for their own children. They no longer are placing their children for adoption as often as they should, and as Mansfield said, the children are suffering as a result. 

High-profile intercountry adoption scandals have also made countries suspicious and slowed the number of adoptions. She said that some organizations are good about following the exact procedures that they are supposed to, but there are others that cut corners. Those few organizations end up getting caught and something bad ends up happening resulting in a huge scandal. This has happened in a number of countries such as Guatemala when it was a possibility that the mothers were being paid or tricked to give up their children for adoption. 

Mansfield said that these scandals are so harmful to international adoption because one bad organization can ruin it for the rest of them. She went to Guatemala after that whole scandal had happened and she said that her experience there was great. She saw no red flags with the organization that she was working with.

Manfield said that the children’s needs must be put above everything else. Although international adoption has declined greatly, she says that Wide Horizons still consider adoption a big part of their mission.

In April of 2005, Fouad and Eugenie Janat adopted two little boys from Ethiopia through Wide Horizons. They decided to adopt from Ethiopia because they saw that there were children in need of homes, but more specifically because the culture is similar to Syria, Fouad’s home country.  

The Janats were thrilled with their experience adopting from Ethiopia. “It was beautiful. Beautiful country and people. I wish they could allow more people to adopt from Ethiopia,” he said.

Mansfield said the Hague Convention Contract, which was created in April of 2008, spells out guidelines and safety precautions to protect children, birth parents, and adoptive parents involved in international adoptions. 

She said the contract is well-intentioned but is complicated, confusing, and time consuming. Her hope is that the international community will come together to create better international regulations to ease adoptions and get more children into homes more quickly.

“The children need families which is the worst part of this whole thing. We need to put the needs of the children first,” said Mansfield.