Colombia’s Inspector General’s Office said it will monitor the country’s Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) amid accusations that the ICBF is “kidnapping” children for adoption abroad
In a press release the Inspector General’s Office said it would monitor five adoption offices in Bogota, “in order to verify compliance with the legal and technical guidelines.”
Colombian television station Caracol aired a program Sunday which accused the institute of sending Colombian children abroad for adoption, without the consent of their biological parents.
Since then social networks and news media have been filled with criticism and calls for an investigation of the ICBF.
This is not the first time the ICBF has been accused of unjustifiably taking children from parents and sending them abroad. Colombian channel RCN TV and Colombian newspaper El Tiempo have made similar accusations in the past.
While most Latin American countries allow between 1 and 11 children to be adopted by U.S. parents, the State department registered 212 adoptions from Colombia.