Lately I have come across several opinion articles about the state of adoptions in Ethiopia. In these articles, the authors raise concerns about the boom of adoptions coming from Ethiopia. Statistics from the last several years would suggest that this boom has largely been the result of a shift in availability, as adoption programs in other countries, namely Guatemala and China, have closed or dramatically changed.
But the central claim in these articles alleges that some children were wrongfully placed with adoptive parents when they were not actually orphans, as evidenced by the fact that these children’s parents were still living.
For domestic adoptions and adoptions through the foster care system in the US, what makes a child eligible for adoption? American children are legally placed for adoption, most often, when their birth parents are still living. So why must a child in another country be considered an orphan only when his or her parents are dead?
I turned to USCIS for clarification. “The Immigration and Nationality Act provides a definition of an orphan for the purposes of immigration to the United States. A child may be considered an orphan because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents. The child of an unwed mother or surviving parent may be considered an orphan if that parent is unable to care for the child properly [in accordance with the foreign country's standard of living] and has, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption. The child of an unwed mother may be considered an orphan, as long as the mother does not marry (which would result in the child’s having a stepfather) and as long as the child’s biological father has not legitimated the child. If the father legitimates the child or the mother marries, the mother is no longer considered a sole parent. The child of a surviving parent may also be an orphan if the surviving parent has not married since the death of the other parent (which would result in the child’s having a stepfather or stepmother).”
In the last year, both the Ethiopian and US governments have implemented several new oversight measures to make the adoption process slower and more ethical. I do understand that, as much as anyone tries to prevent it, wrongful placements do unfortunately occur in adoption (both domestically and internationally). But I cannot imagine advocating a shutdown of the program, particularly in a country where so many children are homeless, parentless, or abandoned…where orphanages are at or above capacity…where children sleep three to a bed or on the floors…as orphans.
