Denmark’s international adoption agency DIA has announced that it will no longer facilitate adoptions from abroad for Danes. The Norwegian government also called for a two-year suspension of the practice to investigate allegations of fraud and human trafficking.
“Adoption must be safe, sound and in the best interests of the child,” Hege Nilsen, director of the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, said in a statement. “Our assessment is that the risk of misconduct is real and to the level that we recommend a temporary suspension until the committee submits its report and makes recommendations on what the future adoption system should be.” It means that it is in.”
The decision in Denmark was made by the country’s adoption agency. This means that international adoptions in Denmark have been completely stopped, as Denmark International Adoption is the only agency in the country accredited to perform this service. There are no plans to resume adoptions at this time.
The move comes on the heels of revelations of possible fraud and human trafficking in adoptions facilitated by the agency. Several cases have recently been filed with the Danish National Board of Appeal, but the agency has failed to satisfy the supervisory board that it can ensure the safety of children in adoption.
Last June, Denmark suspended adoptions from Madagascar after the National Appeals Board cited cases in which it was unclear whether the minor’s mother had given proper consent for the child’s adoption. In other cases, people in that country appear to have benefited from adoption. International law does not allow anyone to profit from adoption. Another case in South Africa followed, in which the Board found that the DIA knew that the South African partner was in violation of the adoption rules.
Anti-child trafficking organizations say they are closely monitoring developments in the case and warn that human trafficking remains a problem in international adoptions.
“We see the same pattern over and over again. It’s not just happening in Denmark, it’s happening in many parts of the world,” said Arun Doll, director of the Anti-Child Trafficking Group.
“We urge Denmark to carry out a thorough and impartial investigation of all countries, as Norway has decided to do,” Dore added.
The new report also finds Danish institutions complicit in crimes and historic and systematic fraud in international adoptions. The National Review Board recently released a report showing that in the 1970s and 1980s, the identities of Korean children were changed before they were adopted by Danes. The case involved a woman who was abducted from her mother shortly after birth.Danish news site Dance club radio (DR) He also published a documentary on adoption from India, revealing that many children were given up for adoption without their parents’ consent, and their siblings were adopted by other families.
Mette Thiessen of the Danish People’s Party responded to the revelations:
As a mother, the fact that some parents removed their children and the children did not know that they were wrongly taken away from them is deeply ingrained in my heart.