Playing by the Rules

What the Hague Convention says about transnational adoption.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Intercountry adoptions are accompanied by a host of complicated legal issues. When an American adopts a child from Guatemala, whose laws apply? And how can everyone be sure that a baby hasn’t been stolen from her mother? These matters were addressed in 1993 by the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which established a set of ground rules that all member countries must follow. The rules are designed to ensure that adoptions are ethical, and also that they are recognized by the nations that have joined the Convention.

The U.S. signed on in 1994, but is only now about to “join,” which entails implementing the Convention’s requirements. The thirteen-year delay can be blamed on legislative inertia and a long stripe of bureaucratic red tape. In 2000, Congress passed and President Clinton signed a bill called the Intercountry Adoption Act (or IAA), which designated the State Department as the Hague-mandated “central authority,” responsible for compliance, record keeping, and statistical reporting. The State Department has averred that the United States will be up to speed by the end of the year.

Controversy surrounding the Convention and the attendant IAA has been fierce. One point of contention is a requirement that anyone overseeing an intercountry adoption hold a master’s degree in social work, a rule that necessarily disqualifies a good number of experienced caseworkers. Another objection comes from small American adoption agencies, which argue that stringent new regulations oblige them to purchase additional insurance, thereby forcing them to raise their fees and potentially driving them out of business.

Adoption agencies are not alone in finding fault with the Convention. Critics claim that requirements for increased bureaucracy unfairly burden the so-called “giving” countries and some, such as Russia and South Korea, have declined to join. Given that there often exists a cultural hostility toward adoption by non-relatives or foreigners, “taking” countries are concerned that nations like China, Russia, and South Korea will turn their efforts toward raising orphans and opt out of the adoption apparatus altogether.

Overall, however, it seems that the Convention will be a net gain for potential adoptive parents in the United States. Countries like Mexico and Brazil, which are Hague members, generally only allow adoptions to other member countries. Once the United States is up to speed, children from those nations will become more readily available to Americans. Children from non-member countries will continue to be available also; a curious loophole in the Convention allows member states to adopt from non-members. Guatemala, however, a popular adoption spot for Americans, may become off-limits. Because Guatemala is a Hague member that currently does not meet the Convention’s standards, the U.S. likely will face serious pressure to cancel all Guatemalan adoptions.

WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate