Colombia’s national family welfare institute on Thursday suspended accepting requests for adoption of children under six by foreigners, a move that seeks to safeguard children.
The suspension of new applications for foreigners who want to adopt Colombian children is a temporary move that will not include children older than six years old, siblings or children with special health conditions.
“This decision is a part of the obligation to safeguard the interest of children,” said Adriana Gonzalez Maxcyclak, the director of the Family Welfare Institute in a press release.
“We are guaranteeing and prioritizing adoptions by domestic households and, in the context of subsidiarity, successfully carrying out the processes that are already ahead for foreign families who want to provide all the love and warmth of their homes to Colombian children who yearn to have it,” said Gonzalez.
The decision came as a respond to successfully manage 377 Colombian and 3506 foreign applications. All the applicants are on a waiting list to adopt healthy children under the age of six and that have no siblings.
Because healthy, white children between 0-6 years are most wanted by adoption hopefuls, the entity has excluded children over six, sibling groups or children with special health conditions from the temporary ban.
The representative of the Hague Conference, Laura Martinez-Mora, supported the desiccation and said that one needs to take into account the large number of Colombian families that want to adopt children in that specific age group.
Martinez-Mora further stated that the measurement of prioritizing national adoptions will enable the entity to work better with biological parents and also respect the international principle of subsidiarity.
Colombia’s national family welfare further urged the central authorities of the participating countries to strengthen the mechanisms for evaluation and selection of families in order to ensure better integration for the children in their new families.
The decision to temporarily suspend new applications by foreigners was taken in a meeting on international adoption in Medellin on Thursday. Central authorities of 14 states were present, along with two observer countries and the Hague Conference representation.
Sources
- Press release
- Suspenden solicitudes extranjeras para adopción de niños colombianos (El Tiempo)
- ICBF suspende solicitudes de adopción para extranjeros (RCN Radio)
- ICBF suspende solicitudes de extranjeros para adopción de niños (El Espectador)