Using nice round numbers, international adoption is in a free fall and about to hit rock bottom.  From its peak in 2004 of 23,000 incoming international adoptions, it has precipitously declined to a new low of 1,000 international adoptions in 2023.  The reasons are many, and the history of how this happened is important to understand if we are to learn from our mistakes for the future of vulnerable children and international adoption.

Modern day international adoption began a humanitarian response to war.  It can be traced to Harry and Bertha Holt, who learned about children in Korean orphanages following the end of the Korean War and felt called to adopt.  Following their adoption of 8 orphaned children from Korea, the Holts created a national desire in the American public to adopt.  They opened Holt International Adoption Services in 1956 and continue to serve families and children today. 

Similarly, American families have opened their homes to orphans following the Vietnam War ending in 1975 and the Cold War ending in 1991.  In 1992, China opened to international adoption, as a response to its failed “one child policy” and the thousands of abandoned girls that resulted.  Many families stepped forward to adopt orphaned children around the world.

And like the Holts, many other lay people stepped into the international adoption space to provide adoption services to families and children in need.  At its peak in 2004, there were approximately 600 international adoption agencies in business.  International adoption began as a grassroots movement with very little regulation or oversight.  It also became a big business.  This allowed a wide range of practices, some of which resulted in manufactured orphans and the exploitation of biological families for profit. 

It wasn’t until the US acceded to and fully implemented The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption that regulating international adoptions became a focus of federal policy and legislation. 

The Hague was proposed in 1993 and signed by the US in 1994.  Despite an enthusiastic start, the US was unable to fully implement the treaty’s mandate until 2008, a full fourteen years later. It also signaled the end of modern-day international adoptions, as sending countries began closing their doors to American families, wait times increased dramatically, costs increased dramatically, and public support shifted. 

The Hague was enacted to ensure that intercountry adoptions are completed in the most ethical manner, to eliminate child trafficking, and to promote a child’s best interests.  The Hage requires all countries who are signatories to prove that a child is indeed an orphan and international adoption is the best/only option available for the child. Additionally, every country must operate with a central adoption authority.  In the US, our central authority is the Department of State.  Our legislation further requires that every adoption agency must be Hague-accredited and supervised by the Department of State’s chosen third-party supervisor.  It is a complicated quagmire of regulations and a costly undertaking.  Today, there are only approximately 50 Hague-accredited agencies in existence, though the number of orphaned children continues to rise.

As large sending countries have closed – think Russia, Guatemala, China, Korea, Ethiopia – the US has failed to find a workable solution to its existing international adoption system, seemingly content with the collapse of international adoption.  The US is certainly capable of solving complicated problems and Americans have a demonstrated desire to open their doors to vulnerable children in need. We need policy solutions that center the needs and interests of unparented children and provide a path to families that they can navigate with their adoption service providers in a timely and predictable manner.