The Netherlands have announced that they are suspending all adoptions from abroad with immediate effect, after an official inquiry found many abuses.
The Netherlands is suspending international adoptions after a government commission found that some children had been stolen or purchased from their birth parents, Legal Protection Minister Sander Dekker announced on Monday.
An investigative commission has found that some children from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka were taken from their parents. The commission reports that officials knew of the abuse since the 1960s.
The commission was set up under pressure from increasing numbers of grown-up adopted children who began to research their roots and often found that their birth documents had been forged or lost, or that their adoption had been illegal.
It said that in some cases, children adopted via intermediaries were found to have been stolen or bought from their birth parents under economic pressure amidst poverty.
Increasing numbers of grown-up adopted children discovered that their birth documents had disappeared or had been forged, or that their adoptions had been illegal.
The commission announced that it would freeze adoptions "immediately" because the national foreign adoption system remains susceptible to fraud and abuse "to this day."
Around 40,000 children from 80 countries had been adopted in the previous half century by Dutch parents.
In a letter announcing the adoption freeze, Dekker said he "understood that this will be painful for some people, but let us not forget ... we are protecting children and their biological parents."
The minister apologized to the adopted children, adoptive parents and birth parents who were harmed in the practice.
The Dutch government failed "by turning a blind eye on abuse for years," he said.
"The government has not done what should be expected of it and should have taken a more active role in preventing abuse, and that is a painful observation. There are apologies for this. And I therefore offer these apologies to the adoptees today, on behalf of the cabinet."
Dekker said it would be up to the next administration to decide whether to renew overseas adoption practices that would not entail abuses.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government resigned last month over a child welfare fraud scandal but is staying on in a caretaker role to tackle the pandemic until parliamentary elections in March.
The Netherlands is suspending international adoptions after a government commission found that some children had been stolen or purchased from their birth parents, Legal Protection Minister Sander Dekker announced on Monday.
An investigative commission has found that some children from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka were taken from their parents. The commission reports that officials knew of the abuse since the 1960s.
The commission was set up under pressure from increasing numbers of grown-up adopted children who began to research their roots and often found that their birth documents had been forged or lost, or that their adoption had been illegal.
It said that in some cases, children adopted via intermediaries were found to have been stolen or bought from their birth parents under economic pressure amidst poverty.
Increasing numbers of grown-up adopted children discovered that their birth documents had disappeared or had been forged, or that their adoptions had been illegal.
The commission announced that it would freeze adoptions "immediately" because the national foreign adoption system remains susceptible to fraud and abuse "to this day."
Around 40,000 children from 80 countries had been adopted in the previous half century by Dutch parents.
In a letter announcing the adoption freeze, Dekker said he "understood that this will be painful for some people, but let us not forget ... we are protecting children and their biological parents."
The minister apologized to the adopted children, adoptive parents and birth parents who were harmed in the practice.
The Dutch government failed "by turning a blind eye on abuse for years," he said.
"The government has not done what should be expected of it and should have taken a more active role in preventing abuse, and that is a painful observation. There are apologies for this. And I therefore offer these apologies to the adoptees today, on behalf of the cabinet."
Dekker said it would be up to the next administration to decide whether to renew overseas adoption practices that would not entail abuses.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government resigned last month over a child welfare fraud scandal but is staying on in a caretaker role to tackle the pandemic until parliamentary elections in March.
