Intercountry Adoption Research Paper

Intercountry adoption involves two different countries, allowing a child to be transferred from one country to another. This chapter discusses on the overview of intercountry adoption as a child protection measure which is one of the alternative care options for children without families. The discussion includes the brief history and the concept of intercountry adoption. The examination further extends to other alternative care options care such as domestic adoption, foster care, kafalah of Islamic law and residential care. 2.2 BRIEF HISTORY

Prior to the World War II, there was no adoption of a child in poor countries by prospective adoptive parents who come from the wealthy countries. The poor countries are often described as incapable

This may also form a multicultural family. Notably, multicultural families have become more common with the increasing number of families participate in intercountry adoption. It seems that the increasing number of family formation through intercountry adoption would help providing more families for many homeless children around the world. Besides, it can be perceived as a good experience for adoptive parents and children involved as well as for the larger community when families are built across borders differing in terms of race and culture. This is because members of these families must learn how to appreciate each other differences and at the same time experiencing their common humanity. It needs to be noted that, adoptive parents can ensure the development of positive cultural identity and strong self-esteem of their adopted child by embracing the racial diversity. It follows that, members of multicultural families should be able to discuss on the subject of race and ethnicity with each other comfortably and recognize any potential concerns before they arise. Intercountry adoption displays the ability of a human to love one another despite the differences which becomes a positive energy for good in a world where hatreds are spreading on the ground of national, racial and cultural variations. It appears that, intercountry adoption encourages the

First, the legal parent-child relationship between the child and his or her birth parents may be terminated permanently as part of the adoption process. In this regard, an adoptive child could no longer inherit the birth parents’ property. The adopted child is, however, entitled to inherit the property of the adoptive parents. It is to be noted that Islamic law does not recognize this kind of formal adoption. Second is adoption that does not completely terminate the legal relationship between the child and the birth parents. The adopted child in this case retains certain rights and duties to the birth parents and at the same time acquires other rights to the adoptive