​​​​​​​​1.1 ​​Historical Overview

Intercountry adoption began to be widely practiced in the aftermath of the Second World War and was an ad hoc humanitarian response to children orphaned by the War.  Families in the United States mainly but also in Canada, Australia and Europe, adopted orphans from Germany, Italy and Greece, all countries where emergency situa­tions prevailed. To a lesser extent, children were also adopted from China and Japan. The Korean War in the 1950s created a new generation of abandoned or orphaned children welcomed into adoptive homes in the West. Many of these children were "Amerasians", fathered and left behind by U.S. servicemen. Together with their mothers, they faced severe discrimination in their homelands, as did their Vietnamese counterparts a decade or so later. Initially, concerns about intercountry adop­tion were linked mainly to problems arising from the different legal systems in receiving countries and countries of origin. Of concern also, were the perceived problems of adjust­ment of the children in their new environment and the ability of the adoptive parents to meet their special needs in this regard. Increasingly, the ethical issue was raised as to whether it is desirable to remove a child from his or her country rather than to provide necessary assistance and protection on the spot.

Consultations on such questions were beginning to take place at an international level in the mid 1950's. In 1960 a seminar on intercountry adoption was organised under the auspices of the United Nations to formulate a set of principles.  A World Conference on Adoption in 1971 drew international attention to the inadequacy of international regulations to safeguard the adopted child's interests.

Later in the 1970's serious concerns began to be expressed over the 'mass exportation' of children from economically developing nations. A clear 'demand' for adoptive children had become apparent in the West and was accompanied by an increasing amount of agencies and intermediaries to help meet the demand. Adoption as a practice had also become more socially acceptable than in the past.

While demand for children in adoption has continued to rise in the industrialised world, fertility has fallen (Christchurch fertility specialist Peter Benny stated in a newspaper article that there is a decline in fertility from age 25 onwards and that the major risk of infertility is age 35 and over), and consequently the number of children who can be considered for domestic adoption has declined.  Some of the demographic and social changes contributing to the declining numbers are the greater availability of contraceptive aids, the legalisation of abortion, the higher workforce participation of women, the postponement of childbirth to later ages and an increasing de-stigmatisation of single-motherhood, as well as state support for single mothers in many cases, leading to greatly reduced abandonment rates.

This 'structural' demand for children in adoption in high-income countries has been met with the 'structural supply' of children 'available' for adoption abroad in low-income ones.

Over the last several decades, increasing numbers of children have been abandoned and orphaned in the developing world in the wake of socio-economic change, especially the rapid urbanisation of Latin America, Africa and Central Asian countries; the upheavals in Central and Eastern Europe; the wars and ethnic conflicts and natural disasters that affect populations in different parts of the world.

The number of international adoptions worldwide doubled between 1995 and 2004 and between 1998 and 2004 the overall increase was 42 per cent but there was wide variation between receiving countries, with Spain experiencing a rise of 273 per cent and Ireland a rise of 171 per cent. Sweden and Norway experienced a below average increase and the number of children going to Denmark fell.

The decline in numbers 2004-2011:

The steady increase in the global number of intercountry adoptions was reversed in 2005 and the decline accelerated in 2006 by which time almost all the major receiving countries had experienced a fall in numbers.

 

Evolution of the number of intercountry adoptions since 2003 ​​​​
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	​2012	2013​	2014​	2015​
U.S.A	21,616	22,884	22,728	20,679	19,613	17,433	12,753	11,058	9,319	​8,668	​7,094	6,441​	​5,648
Italy	2,772	3,402	2,874	3,188	3,420	3,977	3,964	4,130	4,022	​3,106	​2,825	​n/a	n/a​
France	3,995	4,079	4,136	3,977	3,162	3,271	3,017	3,504	1,995	​1,569	​1,343	​1,069	​815
Spain	3,951	5,541	5,423	4,472	3,648	3,156	3,006	2,891	2,560	​1,669	​1,188	824​	799​
Canada	2,180	1,955	1,871	1,535	1,712	1,208	1,411	2,006	1785	​1,367	​1,242	​905	895​
Germany	1,720	1,632	1,453	1,388	1,432	1,251	1,025	1,412	934	​801	​661	​209	​308
Sweden	1,046	1,109	1,083	879	800	793	912	655	538	​466	​341	​345	​333
The Netherlands	1,154	1,307	1,185	816	782	767	682	705	528	​488	​401	​354	​304
Denmark	522	527	586	448	429	395	498	419	338	​219	​176	124​	97​
Switzerland	722	658	452	455	394	497	444	301	367	​314	​280	​226	​197
Australia	472	502	585	576	568	440	441	222	215	​149	​129	​114	​83
Norway	714	706	582	448	426	304	344	353	297	​231	​154	​142	​132
​Belgium	​n/a	​n/a	​n/a	​n/a	​n/a	​n/a	​n/a	​n/a	​360	​265	​219	​144	​136
Total	39,670	43,142	41,921	38,285	35,818	32,834	27,691	27,552	23,258	​19,312	​16,053	​10,897	​9,747

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Country of origin	2010	2011​	​​2012	​2013	2014​	2015​
China	4,672	4,098	​3,998	​3,316	​2,734	​2,817
Ethiopia	3,977	3,144	​2,648	​1,933	975​	​543
Russia	3,158	3,017	​2,442	​1,703	​381	​210
Ukraine	1,091	1,054	​713	​674	​560	​339
South Korea	991	920	​797	​206	494​	​406
Colombia	1,549	1,522	​901	​562	​355	​356
Vietnam	1,243	620	​216	​293	​285	​287
Haiti	1,361	142	​262	​460	​551	​236
Guatemala	55	32	​No data	​No data	​No data	​No data
India	473	688	​362	​298	242​	​233
Philippines	413	472	​374	​525	​405	​354
Brazil	373	359	​337	​246	​31	​32
Poland	307	304	​236	​332	​106	​107
Taiwan	310	311	​291	​188	​147	​172
Kazakhstan	434	179	​No data	​No data	​No data	​No data
Thailand	124	258	​251	​272	​207	​172
South Africa	71	120	​81	​147	​176	​172
Nigeria	236	218	​238	​225	​175	​163
Bulgaria	230	259	​350	​421	​323	​262
Mali	123	154	​127	​4	​36	​25
Dem. Rep. Congo	166	339	​499	​580	​240	​229
Ghana	128	107	​172	​188	​128	​93
U.S.A	147	97	​178	​167	​155	​160
Latvia	120	116	​59	​131	​96	​189
Hungary	117	154	​145	​104	​77	84​
​Uganda	​No data	​219	246​	289​	​203	​208

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