Sweden and the Hague Convention

The Royal Palace in Stockholm City.
Source: Wikipedia.org.

Sweden is party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). Intercountry adoption processing in Hague countries is done in accordance with the requirements of the Convention; the U.S. implementing legislation, the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (IAA); and the IAA’s implementing regulations, as well as the implementing legislation and regulations of the child’s country of origin.

Sweden is not generally considered a country of origin in intercountry adoption. There are few children eligible for adoption in Sweden. There is no national adoption waiting list system in Sweden; each municipality is individually responsible for finding homes for any child residing in its respective area. Most intercountry adoptions in Sweden are by legal residents of Sweden who adopt in third countries.

While legally possible, intercountry adoption of a Swedish orphan by foreigners is unlikely. A child residing in Sweden could be adopted to another country ONLY in the case that the foreign prospective adoptive parents were either relatives or other persons with pre-existing ties to the child. In either case, the relevant municipality would identify the child eligible for adoption before the prospective adoptive parents would initiate adoption proceedings in the receiving country.

No Swedish orphans have received U.S. immigrant visas in the past five fiscal years. The information provided is intended primarily to assist in rare adoption cases from Sweden in which a Swedish child is adopted by relatives in the United States or by person(s) in the United States with other strong ties to the child, as well as adoptions from third countries by Americans living in Sweden.

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