30 May 2012
Alarming news comes from the conference currently being held in Addis Abeba. The African Child Policy Forum organised this event. The agenda seems clear: in order to stop Africa from being the new adoption hub, all African countries should ratify the Hague Covention.
Truth is, as Hans van Loon publicly said in Brussels in 2010:
The Hague Convention is often blamed that the number of countries that allows ICA is going down.
But NO: without the Hague Convention the whole South America would have closed. And then it would have been over!
So, the Hague Convention keeps intercountry adoptions alive. It creates a regulated market in children.
See here: The Perverse Effects of the Hague Convention
The only way to stop the exploitation of African families, is to stop the current system of intercountry adoption. No foreign adoption agencies scamming the continent. No foreign adoption agencies setting up social services, thereby getting direct access to children and families, while creating a social system that depends on foreign funding and adoptions.
Food for thought:
The African Child Policy Forum is a Dutch NGO, a lobby organisation, set up and funded by the Dutch NGO International Child Support (ICS). In 2010 ICS gave almost 800.000 euro to ACPF.
International Child Support, The African Child Policy Forum, SOS Children’s Villages and Wereldkinderen (Dutch adoption agency) together make up the consortium Together4change.
Together4change received last year 52 million euro from the Dutch government’s development aid fund. In order to bring about civic change in Africa.
