Trends in International Adoption - 2002
Three-fourths of U.S. Adoptions Impacted by Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptionby William L. Pierce, Ph.D.
Executive Director, USA Committee for IAVAANWith the release of the first estimate of intercountry adoptions during Fiscal Year 2002 (the year ending Sept. 30, 2002) by U.S. citizens, it is clear that the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption is playing a major positive role.
The Convention on Intercountry Adoption has been ratified by seven of the top 20 countries allowing U.S. citizens to adopt their children in need of families - Bulgaria, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Poland, and Romania - accounting for 1,210 of the 20,099 FY 2002 adoptions. Even more significantly, three of the countries that have signed but not yet ratified the Convention, Belarus, the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, account for more than half of all intercountry adoptions by U.S. citizens, 10,231 placements. Two other countries that have said they intend to ratify and implement the Convention, Guatemala and India, account for another 2,631 placements, more than 25 percent of the total. Only one country, Vietnam, with 766 placements in the most recent year, has not indicated an interest in the Convention and is, instead, requiring bilateral treaties with countries that want to adopt Vietnamese orphans. The remaining seven countries on the top 20 list [see below] - Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Ukraine - have not indicated what their plans are in respect to the Convention although several of those countries, which accounted for 4,332 adoptions to U.S. citizens last year, have attended sessions at the Hague where the Convention was the subject of discussion.
With more than three-fourths of intercountry adoptions by U.S. citizens involved, it becomes even more critical that the U.S. fully implement and ratify the Convention as soon as possible. The earliest practical date that such ratification is expected is early in 2004.
| FY 2002 |
| |
| 1 | 5,053....CHINA (Mainland) |
| 2 | 4,939....RUSSIAN FEDERATION |
| 3 | 2,219....GUATEMALA |
| 4 | 1,779....REPUBLIC OF KOREA |
| 5 | 1,106....UKRAINE |
| 6 | 819......KAZAKHSTAN |
| 7 | 766......VIETNAM |
| 8 | 466......INDIA |
| 9 | 334......COLOMBIA |
| 10 | 260......BULGARIA |
| 11 | 254......CAMBODIA |
| 12 | 221......PHILIPPINES |
| 13 | 187......HAITI |
| 14 | 169......BELARUS |
| 15 | 168......ROMANIA |
| 16 | 105......ETHIOPIA |
| 17 | 101......POLAND |
| 18 | 67.......THAILAND |
| 19 | 65.......PERU |
| 20 | 61.......MEXICO |
TOTAL for Top 20 Countries.......... 19,170
TOTAL World Wide.................... 20,099 |
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