Does the Hague Adoption Convention Improve or Depress Adoption? An American Perspective Lynn D. Wardle Bruce C. Hafen Professor of Law Brigham Young University Provo, UT, USA Colloquium on Adoption and Children in the Law International Society of Family Law Faculty of Education (Facoltà di Scienze dell'educazione), Viale Antonio Allegri 9, Reggio Emilia, Italy April 27, 3012

UNICEF estimates about 100 million street children exist in the world today. About forty million are in Latin America, twenty-five to thirty million in Asia, and ten million in Africa It is said that in Bogota, Colombia, 200,000 abandoned street children roam the streets A 2002 UNICEF, UNAIDS study reported that in 2001 there were 108 million orphans (including 13 million AIDS orphans) living in 88 less- developed nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, and that by 2010 there would be 107 million orphans (including 25 million AIDS orphans), in those nations The United Nations estimates that approximately 50,000 human beings die every day as a result of poor shelter, water, or sanitation, and parentless children are especially vulnerable to these ravages

International adoption is one important component in protecting the welfare of children. While it operates one-child-at-a-time, it makes a huge difference for each of those children, and through those children an even greater impact in the future the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co- operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, generally known as “the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption As of March 31, 2012, ninety (90) nations had signed, ratified, or acceded to this Hague Convention, and the HCIA had entered into force in all but three of those nations (in eighty-seven- 87 – nations)

Dr. Selman’s most recent report finds that “in 1998 there were just under 32,000 adoptions; by 2004 this number had risen to over 45,000; by 2009 the world total had fallen to under 30,000 – less than in 1998 – and the decline continued in ” Clearly the trend was of international adoptions increasing through the 1990s, the decade in which the Hague Adoption Convention was adopted.

The United States completed the formal ratification procedures of the Hague Adoption Convention in December, 2007, and the Hague Adoption Convention was put into effect on April 1, 2008, in the United States

For six decades, since World War II, “[t]he United States has been the largest receiving country during this period, accounting for more than half of all international adoptions For example, in 1999, the best estimate is that there were just over 32,000 intercountry adoptions in the leading fourteen adopting countries in the world, and over half, 16,363 adoptions, were of children coming to the USA But some other countries have higher per capita intercountry adoptions. In 1998, the US rate of adoption per 100,000 population was 5.7, while it was 22.7 in Sweden, and 14.6 in Norway

The impact of the Hague Adoption Convention has been to substantially reduce the number of intercountry adoptions in the USA and globally

Table 1 Intercountry Adoptions in the USA from All Foreign Countries Combined, Year:Number: , , , , , , ,734(-) ,680(-) ,608(-) ,456(-) *FIRST YEAR US FOLLOWS HAGUE CONVENTION ,744(-) ,058(-) ,319 (-) Total 1999 – ,934 About 2/3 = females About 40% under 1 year old, about 35% 1-2 years old, about 25% = 3-17 years old. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Intercountry Adoption, Year 2011 Annual Report, available at (seen 6 April 2012).

Similar trends in reduction of inter-country adoptions have occurred around the world, not just in the United States “The global number of intercountry adoption peaked in 2004 after a steady rise in annual numbers from the early 1990s. Since then, annual numbers have decreased to the point that by 2008 the total was lower than it had been in 2001 (see Figure 1), and by 2009 it was lower than it was in 1998 (see Table 2).” --Selman (2012) “Global numbers [of intercountry adoptions] fell by 35 percent between 2004 and 2009.” – Selman (2012)

Figure 1: Trends in Intercountry Adoption to 23 Receiving States, Peter Selman, Global Trends in Intercountry Adoption: , National Council for Adoption, Adoption Advocate, No. 44, February (Figure 1 & Tables 2-4 herein)

Table 2: Intercountry Adoptions to 23 Receiving Countries, 1998 to 2010, by Rank in 2004 PEAK YEARS ARE HIGHLIGHTED IN BOLD

Table 3: Top Seven Sending Countries:

Table 4: International Adoptions from Selected Eastern European States to 23 Receiving States, , RANKED BY THE NUMBER SENT IN 2003

IV. Conclusion The Hague Convention was intended to facilitate and promote adoptions for parentless children in need of families. However, “in practice, this does not always occur.” (Selman 2012) The facts show that the well-intentioned Hague Adoption Convention actually depresses intercountry adoption. That needs to be fixed immediately.