Cross-Country Adoption: A Call to Action

Although a free press is an integral part of democratic governance, intercountry adoption is one case in which the media makes it virtually impossible for governments to send children abroad for adoption. A country (State A) which gives up a child for intercountry adoption should receive a "credit" for that child which will entitle any other family within State A that may want to adopt a child to priority on the list at the Vatican. The second major function for the Intercountry Adoption Agency might be called the "annual report" function. All adoptive parents who take a child from the Vatican must sign a pledge to write an annual report on the welfare of the child. Tags: Adoption, Children’s Rights, Intercountry adoption, Intercountry Adoption Agency (Proposed), Convention on the Rights of the Child This article is the full version of a talk I gave at Notre Dame Law School on October 17, 1997. I would like to thank Dean David Link and the Notre Dame audience for their good questions. I would also like to thank Cynthia Price Cohen—tireless advocate of children's rights—and Professor Dolores Donovan for their earlier collaboration with me on the issue of intercountry adoption (which did not result in a publication). And a special thanks to Professor Mary Ann Glendon for allowing me to talk about her private family matters in the opening paragraphs of this article. [pg1239]**We have all met successfully adopted children. Mary Ann Glendon's daughter, Sarah, is a perfect example. She is a graduate of Boston College with an MSW in social work and is devoting her professional life to abused and neglected children. After college she worked for a year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and then was employed by the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. She moved to the private sector, joining Mentor, Inc. where she was recently appointed supervisor. She oversees the activities of a team of social workers who monitor foster home placements under contract with the state. Professor Glendon and her husband, Edward Lev, adopted Sarah in 1972. They had read about the displaced Vietnamese orphans and, like many other Americans, tried to adopt one of them. But the orphans that had been released by Vietnam were all taken, and the publicity led the Vietnam government to curtail the release of any more orphans. The Vietnamese politicians, following a familiar pattern, were criticized by their own citizens for not taking care of the nation's orphans, and so, rather than releasing them to foreigners, opted to place them in "foster factories." Many governments, before and since then, seem to start out with the benevolent motive of placing refugee children in foreign families who want to adopt them, only to be criticized in the local media for "exporting human capital" and failing to take care of their own. The net result, invariably, is psychological [pg1240] trauma for the children as they are placed in underfinanced foster factories. Edward Lev and Mary Ann Glendon were told that Korean children were available, and so "we decided," Professor Glendon says, "in a matter of two minutes that we might as well take a Korean child. We were young, and in those days reached a profound decision in just a couple of minutes." What age child would they like? The Glendons had a daughter of five and an infant girl, so again, without much deliberation, said they would like a girl in between those two ages. A Korean