Ethical Considerations After International Adoption Trafficking Discovered or Suspected UPDATED

By on 10-07-2011 in Ethics, International Adoption, Trafficking

Ethical Considerations After International Adoption Trafficking Discovered or Suspected UPDATED

One of the first commentators on one of our first posts requested “I would love to see a post detailing the ‘right’ steps a family should take if they find themselves in this predicament.” Well, we haven’t forgotten about that request. In light of Anyeli’s case from Guatemala, media articles that continue to flow out of China, and continuing issues in Ethiopia, we thought that this would be a good time to start the discussion. We expect additions and changes to this flowchart/list of considerations. We invite our readers to give their insights and suggestions.

It is easy to say “return the child” when you hear that a child or region or country may be linked to human trafficking for adoption, but there are many complexities. What is possible or could happen depends on when this knowledge comes to light, as well as other factors.

We put together a flowchart for some of these considerations surrounding a child trafficked via adoption.

It is easiest to look at the full scale view of this chart (we suggest printing it) while reading the explanation below. Click trafficking flowchart oct 3

                                               
On the left side are the considerations if the adoptive parent or adoptee has specific knowledge about trafficking or false paperwork from the adoption. The right side is where we think most adoptive parents would be at for countries like China and Ethiopia—that is that it is suspected that trafficking and/or false paperwork are involved in your adoptive process but you don’t have any specifics or hard proof.  

At this shocking point of discovering that your child may have been or definitely was trafficked for adoption, not only has damage been done, but damage will continue. There is no way to stop the fallout or pain from any of the triad parties. It is your responsibility to learn the truth. The human right of your child knowing his/her history has been taken away. It may never be able to be fully restored or it may take decades to get there, but you have to try. Finding out the truth needs to be separated from the notion of trying to determine if the child is better off here or there. That may come into play if and when specifics are discovered. Even though it may seem like a hopeless endeavor to search, there are many stories in which adoptees discover their original families five, ten, twenty and even fifty years later. Even social networking groups, like Facebook, have facilitated matches. One should never give up hope.  
No Specifics Known 

Information from the Internet  

Looking at the right side of the chart, we talk about finding information from the internet. There are some places to search about people, country, agency:
  • The Schuster Institute at Brandeis University has media articles and FOIA documents. See here .
  • PEAR has information here.
  • Department of State has notices and information here.
  • PoundPup Legacy has an extensive database here. Plug in names at the search section on the top left part of the page.
  • REFORM Talk has files. Look at bottom of our homepage for tags or plug in a name at the search on the right side of the page.
  • Join country-specific Yahoo groups and ask.

DNA

A database of DNA will likely be needed for most of these cases. We believe that the adoption industry should have to pay for it but their unethical participants shouldn’t be involved in the set-up or administration as they are not to be trusted. DNA is a simple and painless thing to collect but some countries have issues with privacy and DNA collection. Additionally, HOW the process is run is important. Competent, disinterested (nonindustry) parties must participate in the collection process.

Matching Database 

An international database already exists for the triad. International Soundex Reunion Registry  . This would be good to register now. Adoptive Parents can register for their minor child.

Finding siblings is also important. Karen’s adoption links has sibling registries and other information  here . 

Politicians 

Politicians are often called on to fix visa issues and help speed up troublesome adoptions. Why not get your congressman or senator involved with a full-scale investigation of adoption trafficking?

The Basic Six 

1. US Embassy (USE) of the country that you adopted from needs to be informed. Find contact information here .

2. Information from Your Agency. There now has to be communication among the triad, if possible. It is best to keep the adoption industry OUT of the communication lines. But first you need to understand and believe that your agency may have been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved is this horrendous event. They (and the traffickers) may very well have the most specifics about your case, unfortunately. We recommend getting that info out of them first. 

3.   File complaints with DOS (AskCI@state.gov), state licensing agency at the (State Licensing Office List ),COA (at Hague Complaint link) and BBB (BBB won’t do much for you but it is a paper trail and a red flag for OTHER possible clients or PAPs/APs).

4. Inform other APs/PAPs via internet or face-to-face groups. You are likely not the only victim. This is useful not just to “pay it forward” but to possibly band together for lawsuits, support etc.

5. Lawsuit against the agency. Consider it.

6. Media. At some point this may be the best option. We do recommend doing everything else first. You never know what the media’s agenda might be, but it should be considered.

 
Specifics of Trafficking Known 

Looking at the left side of the chart, there will be additional considerations if the trafficking was found before legal finalization or not.

If it is before legal finalization, the question of whether the child has immigrated or not is important. Children can still enter the country via an IR-4 visa/guardianship with the requirement to finalize in the US. If the child is still in the original country, you should not finalize the adoption. You will need to find out what will happen to the child. It is not always possible to reunite the child with family, but you should not assume that is impossible. 

If the child has immigrated on the IR-4, then the child is not a US citizen yet and a searcher needs to be found to see if family can be located. Look at Karen’s Adoption Links and join yahoo groups for resources.

If legal finalization has occurred AND the adoptee has immigrated, then the first question is about whether the adoptee is an adult. Unfortunately, many years may go by before you know of specifics and in fact many adoptees do not find out about trafficking until they are of legal age. If the adoptee is an adult, we suggest taking a supportive role. You still should consider the Basic Six and file complaints no matter what, because your process was corrupted and this documentation will help others, but the searching needs to be directed by the adoptee. We do suggest financially and emotionally supporting any or all searching efforts of your adult child. 

Search

Searches do not always yield results. In the event that it yields no results, you still can register in a database, report your desire to be matched to the foreign government, continue to look for new search opportunities, and seek counseling for yourself and your child. 

In the event that you do find your child’s original family, then there is the difficult issue of whether or not the family wants the child back, or regular communication in the future. It may seem hard to believe, but we know from cases that already have occurred that sometimes the original family does want the child to stay with the adoptive family and have regular communications in an open fashion. Each case needs to be treated individually. Assumptions should not replace real communication with the original family.

Translators and counselors or bilingual counselors will be needed for communications. Citizenship issues will need to be figured out. Contacting DOS or USCIS will hopefully give you some clues on how to deal with this. Understand that your child’s feelings are likely to change over time as they process things. Boldly consider help from your local and/or church community for reunification. 

Brainstorming Possibilities for Future Databases

Add to the mission of existing organizations

For some countries, there are already large groups of adoptive parents that have banded together to instill culture in their children. Maybe adoptees or adoptive parents from these groups could lobby or support a new database.   

Hague 

The Hague Convention on Abduction has a lot of interesting documents. They even have a database called INCASTAT. While this is meant for custody kidnappings and not abduction for adoption, this could be considered as a model.

What if this Hague guide was implemented for adoption trafficking-the wording almost makes perfect sense. (Suggested reading page 28-35 ;36-43; 46-49; 50-52) 

Page 53 regarding the abducted child says,”Where appropriate, having regard to the abducted child’s age and maturity, the wishes and feelings of the child should be explored at an early stage of the return proceedings and, where a return is ordered, should duly be taken into account when considering how best to implement the return.

6.2 In accordance with his / her age and maturity, the child should, as far as possible, be kept fully informed about enforcement proceedings and what will happen once he / she returns to the State of habitual residence.”
  
Putting it in Perspective 

We have collected some phrases over the past few months from insightful people about what being a victim of child trafficking via adoption/wrongful foster care placement may be like. It is like:

*having a permanent restraining order against your biological family

*being in an involuntary witness protection program  

*being a P.O.W.

*having your liberty and pursuit of happiness renounced or impossible to pursue. 

Other posts that we suggest reading are Reformatina’s Hope: Adoptions From China What Do We Do Now and To search or not .  

Update: The Smolins comment about trafficking at their blog Fleas Biting

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