BRILLOPEDIA VOLUME 1 ISSUE 2, 2021

INTER COUNTRY ADOPTIONS: MYTH OR REALITY

Author: Kislay Tarun, III year of B.B.A.,LL.B.(Hons.) from Alliance University

Abstract
Numerous parents are willing for a child in their life but are not able to due to some reasons.
Here, “Adoptions” come into the picture. Adoption is nothing but a legal procedure through
which a parent or parents are placed with a child who is not theirs by birth or they are not the
biological mother or father of that child. Adoption acts as a core tool to enhance the strength
of parent’s responsibilities and it transfers these responsibilities from the birth parents to the
adoptive parents. This makes clear a fact that after the completion of this process of adoption
there is no legal difference between the children who are adopted and those born to the
parents. Now, this process takes place within a country, but when it crosses the national
borders and the children are adopted from a different country and the adoptive parents are in
a different country seeking the same, it is termed as an “Inter-Country Adoption.”

In the initial stages, it is attempted to find suitable adoptive parents for the child within the
country, and if it is not possible then it becomes essential to give that child for adoption to
foreign parents. This Research Paper aims to carry out an overall in-depth study of Inter-
Country Adoptions and find out that legally it is a reality or just a myth.

Introduction
When it is not possible to find suitable adoptive parents for a child within the country, the
child is given in adoption to foreign parents, and this is called “Inter-Country Adoption.” It
means to place a child or kid for adoption outside his birth country. The laws are different in
different countries so here both the parties should abide by the laws of their country relating
to allowing Inter-Country Adoptions. The “Child Welfare Agency” is an organization that
handles the procedure involved in Inter-Country Adoption. It can be traced that the rise of
inter-country adoptions saw a huge boost in developments and attributes post World War II.
The core purpose of inter-country adoptions at the very first instance is to find suitable
families for the children who are abandoned or are orphans. The agenda as can be seen in the
mid-1970 of inter-country adoptions was mainly motivated by the need to find children for

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families. Inter-country adoption is a global phenomenon and its evolution has taken place
through numerous international instruments.
Not following any element of a myth, inter-country adoption is a reality and involves the real
legal procedure of adopting children across borders. Its position in the country of India has
been considered through various case laws, national statutes, and Central Adoption Resource
Authority which was established after the ratification of the 1993 Hague Convention. Inter-
country Adoptions in India is being followed by the guidelines issued by the Government of
the country in the year 2006 based on the principles and norms laid down by the Supreme
Court in a series of cases.

Research Problem
Whether inter-country adoptions constitute more oversight than domestic adoptions and does
it compromise with the child rights being legally it’s a myth or reality.

Objectives
1. To carry out an in-depth and analytical study of international adoptions.
2. To bring out the actual role of money in such adoptions and its provisions in India.
3. To find out if inter-country adoptions are more of a myth or reality under Private
International Law.

Research Questions
1. What are the basic requirements for Inter-Country Adoption?
2. What are the special challenges of parenting through Inter-Country Adoption?
3. What are the high-risk situations and abuses relating to Inter-Country Adoption?

Hypothesis
1. Any parent opting for an International Adoption need to fulfil certain legal
requirements to succeed in the procedure of such adoptions. First of all, they must
fulfil the requirements of their state of residence because each country has its laws.
Also, both the parents as well as the children are supposed to fulfil the eligibility
requirements associated with the Immigration process. Apart from this the child must
be a true orphan and is abandoned in his country and difficulty in survival.

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2. After adopting a child internationally, the parents get vested with numerous
responsibilities and challenges. Taking care of the child’s health is one of the major
concerns and also to make interaction with local communities.
3. Some of the high-risk situations involved here are; legislation, child and family
welfare policy, private adoptions, emergency, conflict and post-conflict situations, etc.
Proper legislation is required to prevent abuses in international adoptions as in the
countries where legislative provisions are inconsistent the child is at high risk. In a
country where there is no policy for child and family welfare, the children are in terms
of abuses in inter-country adoptions.

Methodology
This research paper is explanatory and also analytical. It has made the use of secondary data.
The secondary data used in this project are books, online articles and YouTube videos.

Review of Literature
This research paper provides an in-depth study of Inter-Country Adoptions and an analytical
overview of its aspects relating to the controversies of myth and reality. The Hague
Convention is the core source here.

Inter-country Adoption: A Global Phenomenon

When considered relatively, it can be said that inter-country adoption is a new phenomenon
and it can be traced in the purpose of placement of displaced children in some western
countries and the United States. Prof. B.C. Nirmal is one of his articles that makes mention
of some Hollywood and Bollywood stars. It has become a trend globally to adopt
intercountry children. Earlier, inter-country adoptions were guided by the Humanitarian
Law. As far as our nation is concerned, as far as South-African nations are concerned, as far
as Asian-African nations are concerned, the kids which are adopted are being represented by
sometimes the marginalized sections of the society. Be it India, South Africa, Uganda,
Sudan or any other nation, this has become the time-tested trends these
days.

According to Alstein & Simon, inter-country adoption is nothing but a philanthropic

response of North America to Europe’s devastation in World War II which had resulted in

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thousands of orphaned children. Until the year 1970, the main source of children in America
was the states of Europe. In the initial stages, inter-country adoption was a phenomenon
limited to a small number of children and fewer countries but now it has become a
phenomenon that involves more than 30,000 children in one year who move between over a
hundred countries and most of these countries today have been affected by the inter-country
adoption, whether as States of origin, receiving States or as both.

Various commentators convey that post World War II, the practice of inter-country adoption
has occurred in two waves. Wherein, the first wave started just after the war and lasted until
the mid-1970, the second wave occurred in the 1970s. The first wave had a motivation for
inter-country adoptions in regards to the needs to find families for orphaned, abandoned, or
neglected children. The second wave from the 1970s motivated inter-country adoptions with
the need to find children for the families such as childless couples. It can also be said that the
first wave was supply-driven, but the present wave is demand-driven and this is because of
various underlying factors such as; reduction in fertility rates in the West and also the number
of healthy infants available domestically decreased. Though there are huge differences in the
terms of both these waves both of them take shape through broader socio-political-economic
realities. If the first wave was concerned with the suitability of child migrants with the
policies of foreign adoption of the receiving states, the present wave focuses on the needs of
childless couples, and the welfare of the adopted child. It can be understood that the domestic
children not being available for adoption is now assisting to shape the government’s policies
regarding inter-country adoption. For sure, inter-country adoptions bring happiness by filling
the hollow gaps in the life of orphan children and childless couples as after adoption both the
child and the parents get a complete and happy family but it also has a dark side that can
destroy the nation.

It should also be noted that in the initial stages, inter-country was participated by the
immigration policies and laws of the receiving states. This legislation of immigration for the
migration of children for adoption was mainly temporary and reactive. Only after the 1970s,
it moved its path towards permanent provisions in the receiving countries as proper
legislation. But, inter-country adoption has always been targeted by abuse. Various receiving
countries such as Canada and the United States endorsed independent adoptions and they
paid very little attention to how the child is procured and limited their roles to naturalization

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and immigration. This was the point from when the inter-country adoptions began to be seen
as a fulfilment of national needs and the welfare of adopted children was in the consideration
of secondary priority. With the increasing demand for children, in the receiving nations, a
Black Market has emerged. This finally gave rise to the sale and trafficking of children and
this situation, unfortunately, did not change even in the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, the
demand for children increased and the corruption started rising on the part of the
intermediaries who managed to supply. Inter-country adoptions give rise to Anti-Social
elements. Some people might be involved in the process of taking and giving kids across
borders and they are not authorized to carry out this activity according to the law of that land.
This leads to child trafficking {Inter-State Child Trafficking}. Sometimes, illegitimate means
are used to procure children for the needs of needy persons of these nations and a large
amount of money is being paid for children by adopted parents to the intermediaries.
Therefore, the practice of inter-country adoptions is also being abused by individuals and
groups for the sale and trafficking of children. One of the European Seminar on Inter-Country
Adoptions in 1960 defines the concept as “An adoption in which the adopters and the child
do not have the same nationality as well as in which the hierarchical rigidity of the adopters
and the child is in different nations”.

Such adoptions can be classified into two categories; (1) Adoption which has taken place in
one country by an international treaty recognized by the other country. (2) An adoption in
which the child is adopted first in the country of origin then the child is again adopted in the
receiving country. Two international conventions emerged during 1980-90 and they dealt
with inter-country adoptions. These two conventions were the 1986 UN Declaration on
Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of the Children and the
1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. But, same as the previous Conventions, they
drastically failed. After this came the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and
Co-operation in Respect to Inter-country Adoption, and for the first time expressly endorsed
the practice of inter-country adoption.

International Standards For Inter-country Adoption

There are international instruments under which are found numerous international standards
for inter-country adoptions such as the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child,
1924; UN Declaration the Rights of the Child, 1959; The Hague Convention on Private

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International Law, 1965; the UN Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to
the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and
Adoption Nationally and Internationally, 1985; the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child, 1989. The Hague Convention inhere relates to the applicable law, jurisdiction, and
recognition of official orders given by the government relating to adoption.

Talking Article 18 of the 1985 Declaration, urges the government to formulate and establish
legislation, supervision, and policy to protect the children involved in inter-country adoption.
This kind of adoption should only take place when the government has established these
measures in the states concerned. Further, Article 20 states that the placement in these
adoptions should be safeguarded and should be equal to that of national adoptions and there
should not be a single case in which these placements result in any improper financial
benefits for the agencies involved in it. The child’s legal and social interests should be
protected. Then, Article 22 conveys that the child before adoption must be legally free and
the consent of the competent authorities is also mandatory. The legal validity of inter-country
adoptions in each country is assured by Article 25. Article 24 talks about the equal attention
that should be given to the laws of both the state of origin and the receiving state when the
nationality of the child and the parents is different 1.

Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, the Magna Carta of Child Rights also acts as
an international standard for inter-country adoption. A majority of the provisions of this
Convention focuses on the issues relating to the separation of the child from his/her parents
and the illicit non-return or transfer of the child abroad. The Human Rights treaties, both
universal as well as regional consists of the provisions relating to in-country and inter-
country adoptions. A rich corpus is developed by the European Commission and the Court of
Human Rights which is based on Articles 8, 12, and 14 of the European Convention for
Human Rights (ECHR) and Fundamental Freedom wherein the court has stressed upon a
particular weight on the best interests of the child which can even override the interests of the
parents. In Salguiro de Silva Mouta the court had held that ECHR held it discriminatory
under its Article 14 the treatment of a homosexual applicant who claims parental authority

1
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8027545_International_adoptions_Myths_and_realities
https://www.natcom.org/communication-currents/adoption-real-mother-debunking-adoption-myths-age-
contested-immigration
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1602404?seq=1

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over his daughter from his ex-wife based on sexual orientation. After an ultimate analysis, it
is made clear to state that it is up to the political will of the state which is contracting to
regulate, define, and act on the irregularities.

Law Relating to Inter-country Adoption in India

When it comes to India, the preamble of the country’s Constitution takes the pledge to secure
the citizens of India including children from social, economic, and political perspectives. This
constitution along with providing a lot of fundamental rights to the adult citizens and the
children also provides authority to the state to formulate special provisions for the children
such as Article 21A provides the right to children for elementary school education. These and
several other provisions of the Indian Constitution conveys that how anxious were the
constitution-makers regarding the safeguard and protection of the welfare and interests of the
children in the country. It is found out that a child’s priority is to be cared for by his/her
parents. Adoption only enters the scene for the care and overall development of a child when
care by his/her parents is unavailable. This process of adoption permanently terminates the
legal relationship of that child with his/her biological parents. After adoption, a new
relationship between the child and the parents emerges and it grows to depend on both the
parties. The court held inter-country adoptions to be valid under Sec 9(4) of the Hindu
Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 in a well-known case of In Re Rasikal Chhanganlal.

In India, the Hindus carry on the process of adoption like spiritual and temporal facts. Such
kinds of adoptions are guided through spiritual instead of temporal considerations and are
governed by the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956. The guidelines which can
govern inter-country adoptions were framed by the Supreme Court of India in a public
interest litigation petition of Laxmi Kant Pandey V. Union of India. When talking about the
Mohammedan Law, they don’t recognize this concept of adoption rather they follow the
custom of adoption and are carried on by several cases held by the High Court. The social
integration of children is looked upon by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act, 2000. This act provides certain ways through which the social welfare of a
child can be recovered which include adoption, foster care and sponsorship. 2The District
Courts and the chartered High Court have been provided inherent powers by the Guardian

2
http://docs.manupatra.in/newsline/articles/Upload/AAE0786F-285D-424E-B557-16F742371D48.pdf
https://onetrackinternational.org/toolkit-items/international-laws-and-standards/

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and Wards Act, 1890 to appoint guardians to the adopted sons and the minors. The provisions
of this act are also applicable in case of inter-country adoption and Section 7 looks into the
suitability of a guardian who will favour the welfare of the minor and will be directly
appointed by the court. Many times the adoptive parents fail to properly and convey the
motive of making adoption as held in Mr. Craig Allen Coates V. State with the help of the
Indian Council for Child Welfare and Welfare Home for Children.

In India, the procedure of adoption is not simple but complex. This is because the Indian
families keep their choice the priority while selecting babies to adopt. Babies who are
handicapped, have medical issues, are of dark complexion or are not well nourished do not
find a family or home in the country of India. Other issues relate to the reduced number of
infants coming into adoption and this number is much below the desired one, the healthy
babies are also being sent abroad as the foreigners have fewer reservations when talking
about such children. According to ‘Alomo Lobo’, as he says; “One reason, I strongly suspect,
is that we are losing many children to the parallel system of illegal adoptions, through
hospitals and nursing homes.” It can be clearly stated that inter-country adoption is full of
legal, ethical, and moral issues and they are in serious need of exploration. But the adoption
in India consumes a lot of time and is an expensive procedure.

International Instruments
There are various international instruments to govern and regulate inter-country adoptions.
Let’s discuss them in detail.

1. The Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, and Recognition of

Decrees Relating to Adoption

The 1965 Hague Convention and the other laws and rules have the purpose to establish rules
of jurisdiction which are uniform in nature for the regulation of abandonment issues relating
to inter-country adoptions. To enter into force, an international agreement is pending to gain
support which is a necessary element. Switzerland and Austria have already ratified the
Convention, but still and additional ratification is required to make the agreement binding.
One of the major supports provided by the Hague Convention is that it allows any nation to
ignore any such provision which clashes with its public policy. But, on the other hand, the

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Hague Convention faces failure in harmonizing the laws of foreign states due to an exception
vested in it that devours the rule and puts restrictions in the satisfaction of nationalistic
viewpoints and this restriction is stretched to such an extent that its usefulness becomes
extreme doubtful. Thus, this agrees to fall short in its aim of centralizing and unifying the
procedure of inter-country adoption. This Convention still provides guidance relating to the
definitional issues but its primary function remains in the jurisdictional and judicial matters.
The issue which prevents the ratification of the 1965 Hague Convention is the narrow
applicability of its provisions. And, the Convention also provides in the jurisdiction which is
concurrent in the process of adoption to the adopter in his country of habitual residence and
his national country.

2. 1986 U.N. Declaration on Social and Legal Principles Relating to the Protection
and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and
Adoption, Nationally and Internationally

The issues relating to child and family welfare, domestic problems, foster care, and the
concerns of inter-country adoption that were left unaddressed by the international agreements
are addressed by the twenty-four articles of the U.N. Declaration. Same as Hague
Convention, this Declaration is criticized for the way how it treats inter-country adoptions.
Out of various criticisms, there are three major ones to look into. (1) A provision under this
declaration indirectly favours foster care within the child’s country of origin when taken into
cases are considered for inter-country adoptions. What this provision does is that it keeps
inter-country adoption as the very last option for the kids who cannot be put into foster homes
or adoptive homes in their native country. This can lead to psychological damages of the
children due to experiences and the commentators' favour to keep the child in his/her country
of origin. (2) With a major reason for ambiguity of principles, this Declaration has drastically
failed in its purpose to make the process of inter-country adoptions a standard one. As an
example, the declaration provides decision-making powers to the ‘competent’ authorities
regarding the placements of inter-country adoptions but fails to give a proper definition of
‘competent’ in its context. Also, Article 20 prevents ‘improper financial gain’ but again it
fails to provide its true meaning because the placement decisions according to the declaration
will be made by the ‘competent’ authorities. (3)Finally, the same article also provides that the
placement decisions should be governed by ‘safeguards and standards of national adoption’

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and again it foolishly predicts that every country involved in an inter-country adoption have
already formulated various safeguards and standards and even it is true an additional
precaution is always required to fulfil the special needs of the children.

Thus, these are the flaws relating to definitions under this Declaration which makes it an
essential instrument to carry on the facilitation process of the procedure of inter-country
adoption.

3. 1989 U.N Convention on the Rights of the Child

Another instrument keeping links to inter-country adoptions was the one unanimously
approved by the United Nations in November 1989. This UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child (1989 Convention) provides numerous rights to the children relating to cultural, civil,
economic, social, and political issues. Regarding the ratification of this Convention, more
than 150 countries have ratified apart from the United States which has not yet sent its treaty
to Congress for its approval. The capabilities of this Convention to keep control over child
trafficking became a suspect due to the tragedy in Romania. Article 25 of this Convention
holds protection against child trafficking, and their sale & abduction but it has no significant
force as it relies and works upon the national laws to provide the legal measures specifically.
Moving on, Article 21(b) is a vague provision because it keeps inter-country adoption as an
alternative of child care and this hind the government to implement simple adoption and this
is due to its definitional shortcomings. Another big issue that hinders the achievement of a
unified system of inter-country adoption is that the UN Convention’s nature is supplementary
as it is not properly implemented. The core reason behind this problem is that the Convention
does not fixes its enforcement and it is not mandatory to adhere to its provisions and so the
countries feel free to substitute their laws according to which the child’s best interests would
be served.

Procedure for Inter-country Adoption3

When one wishes to make an inter-country adoption from India, a specific procedure as
formulated needs to be followed. In the very first step

3
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/adopt.htm
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/Intercountry-Adoption/Adoption-Process.html

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(1) An application of adoptions needs to be filed to the Child Welfare Agency which is
recognized by the Indian Government in the country of origin of the applicant. In the next
step

(2) The agency will then ask for certain important details of the applicant’s family wherein it
will appoint a social worker who will visit his home and meet his family members. The
purpose of doing this is to find out whether the family adopting the child will be able to give
financial and emotional support to the adopted child. After this, the social worker will prepare
a report and this report is termed as ‘Home Study Report.’ This report consists of certain
details such as family background, the relationship between the family members,
employment status of the couple, health details of the family, economic status, and proper
reasons for the desire to adopt a child, etc. After the complete review of the application, the
home study report needs to be completed which is done by the agency social worker. The
home study is a kind of interview process where the social worker helps and assists the
couple to determine their ability to parent a child and the applicant learns about adoption.
Home Study Report: It is a complex and crucial document which is prepared by a social
worker who is appointed by the agency with a purpose to evaluate a prospective parent and
contains the following details; (a) Social status and family background, (b) Description of
home, (c) Standard of living, (d) Current relationship between husband and wife, (e) Couple
Relationship and their family members.

(3) After the Home Study report is finalized and prepared, the Home Study report along with
the original application is required to be sent to a recognized Indian Placement Agency from
the Social Welfare Agency of their country in a direct manner Another such report is the
Child Study report which is a report containing the details about the child such as; the age,
sex, how the child was brought, name, etc. Once the application of the applicant is received,
the recognized Indian Agency examines the Home Study report and matches it with the Child
Study.

(4) Once, the Child Study Report and Home Study Report gets matched by the agency, the
agency sends the child’s details along with his photograph and medical report to the agency
of their country. Then these details are shown to the adopters and once they approve the
adoption of the child, the Indian Placement Agency processes the case with the competent

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court for their guardianship after getting clearance from the Indian Government. Within a
stipulated time, guardianship is awarded to the adopting parents by the competent court.

(5) Then, the Indian Agency obtains the visa and passport for the child after getting the
court’s order. After this, the child leaves the country with an escort or with the adoptive
parents themselves to his/her new home.

(6) No extra fees are charged from the applicant by the agency apart from the maintenance
fees incurred in keeping the child in the agency and these charges are accordingly directly
fixed by the court based on the recognized agency’s representations.

(7) Finally, when the child reaches the new home and the new family, the adoptive parents
adopt the child under the prevailing laws of that country.

Adoptions from Non-Hague Countries

Though there has always been a massive growth in the number of countries who have ratified
the Hague Convention, still the majority of adoptions internationally take place outside the
legal framework of this Convention.

These Non-Hague countries following the inter-country adoption procedures are more open
to allowing growth in the number of children being adopted abroad. A clear example can be
the ICAs from Ethiopia which has shown substantial growth from the past few decades
wherein in the initial years the number was only up to a few hundred in each year has now
grown to a high number of more than 4000.

This clearly states that the Non-Hague countries are more attractive partners to the inter-
country adoptions. If this scenario continues, the true aim of inter-country adoptions will
again be severely compromised.

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INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN CHILD ADOPTION

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CHILD ADOPTION TRENDS IN AFRICA

DATA SHOWUNG THE ORIGIN AND RECEIVING COUNTRIES OF INTER-

COUNTRY ADOPTIONS:-

IN-COUNTRY AND INTER-COUNTRY ADOPTION TRENDS IN INDIA

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Conclusion & Suggestion

In the final words, based on such in-depth analysis, it can be confidently said that inter-
country adoption is a kind of phenomenon on an international level that can never be
considered as a myth. The evidence of its reality is very conveniently laid upon in the
international instruments and the Indian laws and their legal frameworks. The concept of
inter-country adoption lays down a very sweet and healthy purpose of fulfilling family needs
of the two parties wherein the two parties involving the childless couples (the adoptive
parents) and the child who is abandoned or is orphan and is not able to get the care of his/her
biological parents. Upon the completion of the procedure of inter-country, both the parties get
happiness because the parents get a child and the gap in their life is fulfilled as they get a
complete family. On the other hand, the child gets the love and care of mother and father and
his/her life takes a new turn. In short, the child gets a whole new family and a whole new life
after the adoption is completed.

But as everything, including the legal phenomenon in this world, has a darker side, inter-
country adoptions also brings with it its negative and devil side. This negativity of inter-
country adoption directly and in the majority impacts the rights and interests of the child
being adopted or in general. In nutshell, it can be said that the welfare of the children is
drastically hampered and their mental health consisting of psychological elements faces
severe damage. This happens due to an emerging Black Market which has taken place due to
the increasing demands of the children on an international level. This black market simply
ruins the life of the kids by giving birth to criminal acts such as; child abduction, child
trafficking, international child trafficking, etc. These actions are made possible due to the
involvement of intermediaries or middlemen which consists of the people not legally allowed
or authorized by the laws of that country to carry such activities. This is because for the will
of having a child, the childless couples agree to pay huge amounts of money to these
intermediaries and these people make so much money out of it. Another major reason for the
drastic growth of this black market is the weak and incapable laws, especially in India.

The sole purpose of inter-country adoption is to find a family and suitable parents for the
orphan and abandoned children to safeguard their interests. Numerous international
instruments such as the UN Convention on Child Rights and Hague Convention work under
the perspective of inter-country adoption and is ratified by the government of India. The core

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principle is that “the best interest of the child should be protected.” This is because the
nation’s children are the supreme important case. The laws working internationally in every
nation work to ensure four major things; (1) to make sure that the adaptability of children in
every way and always determined in the right manner, (2) there should be right and proper
reasons for carrying out an inter-country adoption, (3) the right and the suitable person should
only be provided with the guardianship of every child, (4) the adoption should always be
carried out in a prescribed way.

Every international instrument, laws, and legal frameworks discussed herewith should be
critically examined and necessary amendments should be made to eradicate the negative side
of this phenomenon and the child’s rights and interests are secured and protected and his
welfare is not at risk. Inter-country adoption is a very useful and pure concept for forming
families with love and affection and will become more perfect if its negatives are removed
permanently.

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Bibliography

BOOKS

 GURJINDER KAUR, INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK ON INTER-COUNTRY

ADOPTION (2 ed. Notion Press 2017).
 JUDITH L. GIBBONS & KAREN SMITH ROTABI, INTERCOUNTRY
ADOPTION POLICIES, PRACTICES, AND OUTCOMES (1st ed. Routledge 2012)
 KAREN SMITH ROTABI & NICOLE F. BROMFIELD, FROM INTERCOUNTRY
ADOPTION TO GLOBAL SURROGACY: A HUMAN RIGHTS HISTORY AND
NEW FERTILITY FRONTIERS (1st ed. Routledge 2016)
 JANIE VANCE, A SEARCH FOR MOTHER MISSING: A PEEK INSIDE
INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION (1st ed. Createspace Independent Publishers 2017)

CASES
a) Indian Cases
 In Re: Rasiklal Chhaganlal Metha V. Unknown, 19th August, 1981
 Laxmi Kant Pandey V. Union of India, 6th February, 1984, AIR 469, 1984 SCR (2)
 Karnataka State Council for Child Welfare and Another V. Society of Sisters of
Charity St. Gerosa Convent, 10th February, 1992, AIR 1994 SC 658, 1995 Supp (4)
SCC 529
 Re Jay Kevin Salerno AIR 1988 BOM 139

STATUTE/CONSTITUTIONS
 The 1965 Hague Convention
 The UN Declaration, 1986
 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989
 Sec 9(4) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956
 Article 18 of the 1985 Declaration
 Article 20 of the 1985 Declaration
 Article 22 of the 1985 Declaration
 Article 25 of the 1985 Declaration
 Article 24 of the 1985 Declaration
 Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child, 1924
 Article 14 of ECHR
 Article 21A of the Indian Constitution

INTERNET SOURCES
 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) International Child Development
Centre Florence - Italy, Intercountry Adoption, INNOCENTI DIGEST, (April.
12, 2021, 11:10 AM), https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/digest4e.pdf

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 BRILLOPEDIA VOLUME 1 ISSUE 2, 2021
 Dr. Mary Mather, Intercountry Adoption, US National Library of Medicine,
(April. 14, 2021, 02:15 PM),
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2066146/

JOURNAL ARTICLES
 Riitta Hogbacka, Intercountry Adoption and the Social Production of
Abandonment

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/stringent-rules-bring-
down-inter-country-adoption-rate/articleshow/72930229.cms
 https://theconversation.com/global/topics/intercountry-adoption-17256

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