The unfolding drama surrounding intercountry adoption in Russia is the biggest international family law story of the year, with events now posing a crisis for many US families whose adoptions had already been approved.
New CIS Adoption Policy Guidance
A new Policy Memorandum from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) offers “Guidance for Determining if an Adoption is Valid for Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Purposes” (PM-602-0070.1) (Nov. 6, 2012).
Hague Developments
Among other news from the Hague Conference this month:
Two more countries join the Child Protection Convention
Fiji Makes 88 for Adoption Convention
Fiji is now the 88th Contracting State for the Hague Adoption Convention, which will come into force there on August 1, 2012.
Infant Abductions Investigated in Spain
An inquiry has begun in Spain into allegations of infant snatching beginning during the Franco regime in the 1950s and continuing into the 1990s. Children were alleged to have been given or sold for adoption; at least 1500 claims have been made with some cases confirmed by DNA testing after children were grown. See Raphael Minder, “Spain Opens Court Inquiry on Newborn Abductions” (
Adoption Convention Updates
With the accessions in March of Montenegro and Rwanda, the number of Contracting States to the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention has reached a total of 87. For details, see the Hague Conference web site at www.hcch.net.
Adoptions from Vietnam Still on Hold
Although the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention came into force in Vietnam on February 1, 2012, US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US State Department have announced that they will not resume processing of intercountry adoptions there until Vietnam has a fully Hague-compliant adoption system in place.
Intercountry Adoption Numbers Drop Again
The U.S. State Department’s Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption (for Fiscal Year 2011) shows a total of 9,320 incoming intercountry adoptions and 73 outgoing intercountry adoptions. The countries of origin from which the largest numbers of children came to the United States were China (2589), Ethiopia (1727), Russia (970), South Korea (736) and Ukraine (632). These numbers have dropped steadily since 2004, when the number of incoming intercountry adoption visas peaked at 22, 991.
International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family
The December 2011 issue of the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family is available online; articles include a very thought-provoking article by Peter Hayes on The Legality and Ethics of Independent Intercountry Adoption Under the Hague Convention,which argues against the movement to eliminate independent intercountry adoption under the 1993 Hague Adoption Convention.