The Orphan Market · Episode 9 of 10 · 42 min
The Cure and Its Side Effects: The Hague Convention and Rehoming
The 1993 Hague Adoption Convention was meant to end the Wild West of intercountry adoption with central authorities, accredited agencies, and anti-trafficking safeguards. It cleaned up the front end, but cost and delay helped push volume down more than 90%. It said nothing about failed placements, and a 2013 Reuters investigation exposed an online market where parents handed adopted children to strangers.
Who's who
- Megan TwoheyReuters reporter who led the Child Exchange investigation
Where it happens
- The Hague, Netherlands+1 more episodeWhere the 1993 Convention was concluded
- United States+16 more episodesRatified in 2007; the Convention took effect there in 2008
- Arkansas, United StatesPassed an anti-rehoming law in 2015
- Wisconsin, United StatesOne of five states that passed adoption-specific rehoming bans
Timeline
- May 29, 1993The Hague Adoption Convention is concluded.
- April 1, 2008The Convention takes effect for the United States, beginning a full accreditation regime.
- September 9, 2013Reuters publishes Part 1 of The Child Exchange.
- July 14, 2014The Universal Accreditation Act extends Hague standards to all intercountry adoptions.
- September 16, 2015A GAO report documents the federal oversight gap on rehoming.
- 2018The Council on Accreditation is replaced by a single new accrediting entity.
Still debated
Sources split on whether the Hague Convention caused the decline in adoptions or coincided with sending-country closures and falling demand. No one knows how common rehoming is, and some critics argue the Convention legitimized a market rather than dismantling it.