21 July 2007
Wereldomroep 2007
It’s estimated that at least 40,000 children are adopted internationally every year. The aim of the system is to give abandoned children in developing countries a home, and childless couples in the West a family. It would seem an ideal solution.
“…Every child has the right to grow up in a loving family or a family replacing situation.” The UN Treaty of the rights of the child
But recent reports in the Dutch press show that there is a decidedly darker side to the system.
One example is the story of Rahul, a young boy adopted from India by a Dutch couple. It turned out that Rahul had actually been stolen from his biological parents and sold to an orphanage before being adopted abroad.
Critics say the scandal is just the tip of the iceberg and that it illustrates the serious flaws in the system.
Some go as far as to say it’s no more than ‘legalised child trafficking’ and call for inter-country adoption to be banned altogether.
Are they right? And what of those who are the centre of the debate: the children – what’s best for them?
The Panellists:
Dutch EU official Roelie Post. She was employed to work on the ‘Romanian children dossier’ of the EU Commission. Author of the recently published Romania: for export only. The untold story of the Romanian ‘orphans.’
David Smolin, a law professor of the Cumberland School of Law in Alabama. An expert on International children’s issues, including inter-country adoption. He’s also the creator of a website on international adoption called Adoptinginternationally.
Ina Hut, the director of Wereldkinderen, the largest childcare and adoption agency in the Netherlands. (more…)
