Countries with children available for U.S. parents can change dramatically

When Chicago lawyer Catherine Nelson adopted her daughter, Grace, from an orphanage in Vietnam, she considered herself very lucky. Nelson was single, and many countries refuse to allow single parents to adopt.

Six years later, Nelson realizes that she was lucky in another way. In the 2001 fiscal year, Vietnam granted 737 adoption visas for children heading to new homes in the United States, and Nelson's waiting time was a modest nine months. By 2006, that number had dropped to 163.

Six years later, Nelson realizes that she was lucky in another way. In the 2001 fiscal year, Vietnam granted 737 adoption visas for children heading to new homes in the United States, and Nelson's waiting time was a modest nine months. By 2006, that number had dropped to 163.

"Vietnam is still open but bumpy," says Judy Stigger, director of international adoption at the Evanston-based agency the Cradle. "It's become much more locally regulated in the various regions of the country, and it's much more unpredictable."

"Vietnam is still open but bumpy," says Judy Stigger, director of international adoption at the Evanston-based agency the Cradle. "It's become much more locally regulated in the various regions of the country, and it's much more unpredictable."

The situation in Vietnam is typical of the shifting international adoption landscape, in which local conditions in various countries -- including their economies, bureaucracies, rates of domestic adoptions and ever-rising standards for prospective parents in the United States -- are in constant flux.

China still is the favorite adoption destination for American families (including those from Chicago, which Stigger says closely mirrors national trends), but it's getting more restrictive and the waiting lists are longer.

Russia has been the perennial runner-up, but the number of children it sends to the United States for adoption is dropping. Guatemala passed Russia for the second spot on the foreign adoptions list, but it may abruptly fall off the list if it fails to comply with the terms of an international treaty by next spring.

Filling out the top 10 foreign adoption destinations -- for now -- are South Korea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Liberia, Colombia and India. But the composition and order of that list are likely to change, perhaps drastically, over the next few years.

"It's just not a stable field -- in fact it's pretty rocky -- because of political situations overseas," says Deborah McFadden, president of the International Children's Alliance, a Maryland-based adoption agency with offices in several states, including Illinois. "China has been the top sending country for years, but it has now established so many new rules for prospective parents that the numbers of adoptions are inevitably going to drop."

China now requires adoptive parents from other countries to be married, for example, and to have a body mass index within a certain range. Too many divorces make you ineligible to adopt; so do being too old, having a disability or being on anti-depressants.

According to Stigger, South Korea has signaled its intention to decrease foreign adoptions, in part because of rising prosperity and domestic adoptions there. In addition, several former Communist nations in Eastern Europe that sent thousands of orphaned children to the United States in the early 1990s, such as Romania and Bulgaria, have all but dried up as adoption destinations as political and economic conditions there have stabilized.

Because of similar factors across the globe, in fact, McFadden expects foreign adoptions by Americans to drop 30 percent next year.

But while American adoptions from several countries are decreasing, adoptions from Africa are on the rise. Ethiopia, for example, sent 158 adoptees to the United States in 2001; by 2006, that number was 732.

"The interest in Africa is a relatively new thing, and I think it's been partly a response to the movie-star buzz that adoption there has been getting," Stigger says, a reference to the much-publicized adoptions of African children by Madonna and Angelina Jolie.

In addition, she says, there are signs that more American families are willing to adopt children of races and ethnicities other than their own. "As the white mom of African-American kids," Stigger adds, "I think that's fabulous."

That was certainly the case with Nelson, who tells friends that she adopted in Vietnam "because that's where my daughter was."

It was also the case with Molly and Todd Krause of Northbrook, who adopted two young children from South Korea early this decade.

"At the time, Korea was moving the process along pretty quickly," recalls Todd Krause, an accountant. "It was a nine-month process both times, almost like a natural pregnancy."

Since then, the number of children adopted from South Korea by Americans has fallen from almost 1,800 to 1,376 and is likely to go lower with every passing year. Like Nelson, the Krauses were luckier than they knew.

THE FIRST YEARS

For a month, the Sun-Times is featuring everything Chicagoans want to know about babies, from delivering and naming them to paying for them on a budget or in high style.

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When celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Madonna adopt children from desperately poor countries, they send a powerful message about the plight of these children and the need for inter-country adoption.

But they don't necessarily set a proper example. Although the number of foreign adoptions by American citizens has doubled over the last decade, from 11,340 to upwards of 22,000, most Americans do not have the means or the access of a celebrity. For them, inter-country adoptions can be a harrowing process.

Horror stories of babies being stolen from their birth mothers, parents buying -- or selling -- children, couples being swindled out of massive sums of money to adopt and a slew of other ethical issues and rumors associated with foreign adoptions have dashed countless hopes of prospective adoptive parents.

Any disincentive to international adoption is a tragedy. There are millions of children worldwide awaiting adoption, most living amid extreme poverty or social upheaval.

A recent UNICEF report finds that in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States alone, 1.5 million children are in out-of-home care -- an increase of 150,000 in the last decade. These children are primarily in institutions, with the rate of infant institutionalization increasing in many countries.

In Russia, the number of children left without parental care each year increased from 49,000 in 1989 to 114,000 in 1999, with the number of these children placed in institutional care increasing 3.5 times. UNICEF also found increases in the number of countries placing children up for adoption internationally.

Understanding the legalities of international adoptions is essential for parents considering adopting a child from a foreign country.

There are two main ways Americans can ensure they are adopting through legitimate channels.

First, they should adopt through an accredited adoption agency. Accredited agencies must go through an extensive evaluation process to prove that they can be trusted to implement the highest standards in adoption assistance. This includes disclosing full medical records of children ready for adoption and costs associated with adoption.

Second, Americans should try to adopt in countries that have ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, which commits signatories to ethical and transparent adoption procedures. The Hague Convention seeks to prevent abduction, exploitation, sale and trafficking of children, and to see that adoptive parents and birth mothers are treated ethically in the process. So far, 68 countries have signed on to the treaty.

Guatemala made headlines this month when it ratified an international adoption treaty to comply with the Hague Convention, committing the country's adoption practices to government regulation. Aside from China, more Americans adopt from Guatemala than from any other country.

The glare of public attention on high-profile adoptions in poor countries is raising awareness and demand for these children in America. This in turn has driven international adoption policy towards greater standardization and better practices though accreditation. That means for ordinary people, inter-country adoptions -- though not as easy as they are for celebrities -- don't have to be a nightmare.

Richard Klarberg is president & CEO of Council on Accreditation, an international not-for-profit child- and family-service and behavioral health-care accrediting organization.