Intercountry Adoption: Where Do I Start?: The Hague Convention

This information was taken directly from Child Welfare Information Gateway

Intercountry adoption continues to be an option for parents who choose to adopt. This factsheet provides an overview of the intercountry adoption process. Depending on your State, your adoption services provider, and the country from which you adopt, the steps in this adoption process may vary and may change over time. For example, some families will first select an adoption services provider; their choice of country will then be limited to the countries with which that provider works or from which the parents are eligible to adopt. In every case you must meet the basic requirements of U.S. immigration law.

The number of U.S. citizens adopting children from other countries increased dramatically beginning in 1990, when 7,000 children received visas to come to the United States for adoption. This continued until 2004, when 22,991 children received such visas (U.S. Department of State, n.d.-b). After peaking in 2004, these numbers began to decline, and in 2013, 7,094 children were adopted from other countries (U.S. Department of State, 2014).

The Hague Convention

The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) is a multilateral treaty between the United States and, as of August 2013, 89 other countries (U.S. Department of State, 2013). The Convention provides necessary and important safeguards to protect adopted children, biological families, and adoptive families in adoption between participating countries, including the prevention of the abduction, sale, or trafficking of children.

There are two processes for adopting from Convention and non-Convention countries. For more information, see the Information Gateway factsheet Intercountry Adoption From Hague Convention and Non-Hague Convention Countries at https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/hague.pdf.

Continue to Deciding Whether Intercountry Adoption is Right For Your Family

Return to International Adoption (Glossary) or International Adoption (Encyclopedia)

Resource

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2014). Intercountry adoption: Where do I start? Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.