Historical Overview of Adoption
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Adoption has existed since ancient times. The practice of adoption, which is described as an ancestral, universal institution, has reportedly been traced to various cultures, such as African tribes and the Inuit.
In Ancient Rome, childless men adopted in order to have an heir and thus prevent the extinction of their family lines. Nero and Tiberius allegedly adopted for that reason.
In the Middle Ages, children who were abandoned or could no longer be cared for were shown in public places in the hope that someone would take them in, whatever that person’s motive. Newborn children were abandoned at the hospital and midwives would leave them at a hospice. Then the church cared for orphans and abandoned children. That was when hospices, crèches and orphanages appeared. A tower of desertion could be used to preserve the anonymity of the act of abandonment. The baby was placed in a device on the façade of the hospice, which worked like a rotary gate. The people in charge of the hospice received the child “on the other side”, and provided care and nourishment. As of the
mid-19th century, the authorities took measures to support mothers and children in order to curb the increasing number of child abandonments. The view that children were beings without interest or cheap labour for domestic, farm or factory work changed. Child welfare services were developed, and children took on non-commercial value. The living conditions of orphans and abandoned children were increasingly criticized, and there was an effort to develop more adequate health and child welfare services.
Over the course of the 20th century, further to the structuring of child welfare and social services, the drop in the fertility rate in developed countries, the exponential development of global communications, and the increase in social awareness of abandoned children and children without families, adoption, initially local, expanded to international proportions.
The Second World War
International adoption developed in the middle of the 20th century. The Second World War left thousands of children orphaned and homeless. They came from Germany, Italy, Greece, Japan and China, which were cauldrons and theatres of interstate and internecine conflicts. Most of these children were entrusted to American families, and many were sent to Canada, Australia and Europe. Adopting these children was a humanitarian response to the situation of war orphans.
The Korean and Vietnam wars
In the 1950s, the Korean War spawned a new generation of abandoned and orphaned children. Many found homes abroad. A few years later, a repeat of the situation occurred with the Vietnam War. Specialized private international adoption agencies were created in the wake of a new wave of international adoptions.
The 1960s: Creation of the North-South axis of international adoption
In the late 1960s, international adoption was mainly an intra-European phenomenon. It subsequently spread to worldwide proportions, as a result of the industrial world's solidarity with the Third World. The North wanted to alleviate its feelings of guilt for the abundance in which it lived by "rescuing" thousands of abandoned children. The North-South axis of international adoption was thus created (children from Latin America and Asia were placed in the United States and Europe), transferring children from poor countries to wealthy countries.
Break-up of the USSR: Creation of the East-West axis of international adoption
In the early 1990s, further to the break-up of the USSR, the creation of new States in eastern Europe and the transition to a market economy, international adoptions began to flow along the new East-West axis, as well as the traditional North-South axis.
The early 21st century
The search for a child is no longer limited by geographic boundaries. This is explained by the shortage of children in wealthy countries, the fact that people in industrialized countries who are old enough to adopt are increasingly open to foreign countries and the fact that the development of means of communication has facilitated the globalization of exchanges and created an even greater interest in international adoption.
The international community is concerned with the problems of international adoption
The international community became concerned with international adoption in the mid-1950s. The initial principles governing international adoption were established in 1960, at a symposium in Switzerland staged by the European Office of the United Nations. In 1971, during a world conference on adoption and child placement held in Milan, Italy, international stakeholders became aware of the necessity of establishing controls to safeguard children's rights and best interests.
In the late 1970s, awareness of these principles was heightened further to the seemingly massive export of abandoned and orphaned children from underdeveloped countries to developed countries. Many emerging agencies and intermediaries used questionable means to satisfy the demand for children. Baby boomers had become adults, the social pressure to start a family was strong and adoption gained social acceptance. In 1982, the international community took an important step by recognizing standards of practice for the protection of children. Professionals from various countries endorsed the Brighton Guidelines for Intercountry Adoption, which International Social Services, among other non-governmental organizations, had been advocating. The guidelines for domestic and international adoption and child placement practices were subsequently revised and ratified in 1996, during the International Council on Social Welfare conference held in Hong Kong.
Prior to 1989, human rights standards were set out in pacts, conventions and declarations, and they applied to all family members. In 1989, the international community approved specific standards for children. As individuals, children gained a status equivalent to that of adults.
The thoughts and concerns of the international community since the middle of the 20th century were crystallized in two international conventions on the rights of children: the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Convention of May 29, 1993.
Contracting States are currently trying to develop the means to prevent the spread of commercial adoption. They want to keep international adoption from becoming a lucrative business far removed from the best interests of the child. Countries previously open to adoption have been known to close their doors or limit the number of adoptions in response to abuse or suspected abuse.
Sources :
Cogliati, Isabelle. Adoption internationale et respect de l’enfant. Centre d’étude rémois des relations internationales.
Van Loon, J.H.A. Rapport sur l’adoption d’enfants originaires de l’étranger. Conférence de La Haye de droit international privé, April 1990, pp. 29-35.
Unicef. Intercountry Adoption. Innocenti Digest. December 1998.
2008/03/26
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