Press releases

BAAF statement regarding Madonna

Issued: 17 October 2006

David Holmes, Chief Executive of the British Association for Adoption & Fostering:

The attention given to Madonna in Malawi has pushed adoption to the top of the agenda. It may also cause misconceptions.

People may think intercountry adoption is easy. In fact, people who want to adopt a child from abroad must go through exactly the same assessment and approval process as someone who wants to adopt a child under UK law from within the UK. This takes months and is very rigorous. Prospective adopters will then have to go through the necessary procedures in the country of the child's origin. Adopting a child from another country can take years, and adopters are likely to have to comply with follow up requirements, for example reports on how the child is doing, so this is not the soft option. 

In addition, intercountry adoptions involve taking a child from their home country and moving them to a new environment possibly thousands of miles away. This presents huge challenges to every intercountry adopter as they will need to consider how best to reinforce the child’s ethnic and cultural heritage and their sense of identity. Every adoption will have challenges but this is the additional dimension. And crucially, they will be challenged through their assessment about how they will do this in practice.

People may also think it is common, but it is rare. Thousands of children across the UK are adopted from our care system every year. In contrast, there are only several hundred children adopted from other countries, usually as babies. This demonstrates how developed our domestic adoption system is.

In a perfect world, we believe intercountry adoption wouldn’t be necessary. We would like to see all countries in a position to bring up their own children by building up the widest possible range of services for children separated from their birth families. But this isn’t a perfect world and children grow up fast – they can’t afford to wait. And we mustn’t be dogmatic. For some, overseas adoption may be the best chance they have of a happy and stable childhood. All decisions about adoption must be made on a case by case basis and must reflect the best interests of each and every child.

Right now there are as many as 4,000 children across this country waiting for permanent and loving homes. Some of them wait far too long to find an adoptive family, and around 40% never do.

There are no easy answers and we must surely encourage more people to think about what they can do for vulnerable children, whether they are at home or abroad.

Ends

Notes to Editor

For more information, please call BAAF press office on 020 7421 2632 or email daisy.oclee@baaf.org.uk. For out of hours enquiries, call the press office mobile on 07767 444 589.