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Cambodia and the Hague Convention
Source: cia.gov.
Cambodia is party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). Therefore all adoptions between Cambodia and the United States must meet the requirements of the Convention and U.S. law implementing the Convention.
Intercountry adoption is not possible from Cambodia at this time.
On December 21, 2001 the processing of adoption petitions for Cambodia was suspended. This decision was based on numerous concerns related to fraud in Cambodia, as well as the lack of sufficient local legal frameworks and other safeguards to protect the children's best interests. Due to continued concerns, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) remains unable to approve any form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, filed on behalf of a child to be adopted from Cambodia. The USCIS suspension remains in effect for all I-600 forms that have been filed.
Based on the existing issues of fraud and irregularity in Cambodia, the Department of State (DOS) has reconfirmed the suspension of adoptions under the Hague process in Cambodia. It has been determined that at this time Cambodia is not meeting its obligations under The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. For these reasons the DOS remains unable to issue the required Hague Certificate or Hague Custody Declaration for any form I-800, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention country. The Department of State will continue to monitor the situation in Cambodia and will provide updates as soon as they are available.
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