The Pros And Cons Of International Adoption

814 Words4 Pages

Would you break the law if it protected a child from a grim fate? International adoption should be made much easier for parents that have the best interest at heart for the child to increase the number of children receiving loving families and decrease child smuggling. With the ban on adoption for prospective parents, so many children would be left homeless, falling victim to the endless cycle of poverty in slums. Next, when banned, there would be a promotion of smuggling and “babies are not goods to be trafficked” (1). Limitations in countries such as Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Cambodia, and more make the adoption process strenuous to near impossible. The issue was first brought into question in 1989 when …show more content…

This situation is common for little ones and something needs to be done. It needs to be much simpler for potential parents to adopt foreign children. The smuggling causes fraud, with bribes being paid to release kids across borders. For instance, In Democratic Republic of Congo, “’If the children travel through an official border the adult who accompanies them needs to have paperwork, but in its absence a bit of money in an envelope does the trick,’ he said” (4). Not only is it dishonest, smuggling causes corruption within militaries. If governments wish for the end of smuggling, leaders need to allow for an easy and safe adoption system. The conflict also affects the parents. They are desperate to get their adopted children out, but smuggling for them is just wrong and may lead to implications. Many are uncertain how to reveal to their adopted children that they were smuggled our of their birth country illegally. This dilemma is especially prominent in DRC, who have not banned foreign adoption, but President Joseph Kabila eliminated the distribution of exit permits to Congolese kids assigned foreign families. This caused stress for couples that took extreme measures by smuggling. Some even refused. “Two waiting parents told the Thomson Reuters Foundation they would never resort to smuggling their child and fear publicity about it could jeopardize their chances of seeing their children leave the country legally”