Inter Country Adoption

3104 Words13 Pages
Abstract This paper will analyze the practice of intercountry adoption and its legal and human rights implications. Much debate exists in the international community as to the justification for intercountry adoption and how to best ensure the well being of children around the world. This analysis will illustrate a brief historical account of intercountry adoption and how this practice has come to be, explore the various arguments in support and opposition of intercountry adoption, then turn to existing international law relevant to the issue. This analytical process will demonstrate how intercountry adoption poses various challenges to international law, and will argue that the international legal system is currently ill-equipped to govern this system in a safe and secure manner. I. Introduction Intercountry adoption is the practice in which children in a position of need, and in the absence of their biological parents, are sent from their country of origin to an awaiting adopting family usually in the developed world. This form of adoption can engage children of all ages; infants to teenagers have been sent abroad to live with a new family through this system. This issue is interconnected with broader notions of the human right to live, global inequity, developmental aid, displaced persons in times of armed conflict, among others; thus, it is an issue of vast complexity and contentiousness. Much debate exists in the international community as to the justification for intercountry adoption and how to best ensure the well being of children around the world. This analysis will illustrate a brief historical account of intercountry adoption and how this practice has come to be, explore the various arguments in support and opposition of intercountry adoption, then turn to existing international law relevant to the issue. This analytical process
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