Unicef Concerned about development Intercountry Adoption

The Inter-Parliamentary Union and UNICEF publication on Child Protection in 2004 also expresses concern over the lack of legislation governing intercountry adoption in some countries and identifies it as a problem in Chapter 9 on Trafficking and the Sale of Children (Inter Parliamentary Union and UNICEF, 2004). Page 81 states:

International Adoption

In the last two decades, intercountry adoption has progressively changed. From its initial purpose of providing a family environment for children, it has become more demand-driven. Increasingly in industrialised countries, intercountry adoption is viewed as an option for childless couples . . . To meet the demand for children, abuses and trafficking flourish: psychological pressure on vulnerable mothers to give up their children; negotiations with birth families; adoptions organised before birth; false maternity or paternity certificates; abduction of children; children conceived for adoption; political and economic pressure on governments . . . Indeed, a booming trade has grown in the purchase and sale of children in connection with intercountry adoptions.