Unfortunately, international adoption over the years was corrupted by those who wanted to exploit children for varying reasons. In an attempt to eradicate this corruption several countries came together to establish laws and procedures that needed to take place and help ensure the safety of the children being adopted.

This gathering is referred to as the Hague Conference and the resulting laws and procedures are referred to as the Hague Conference on Private International Law.  The Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption started being enforced on May 1, 1993.

What are the Objectives of the Convention?

The Hague Convention’s primary objective is to ensure the safety of the children. Within the context of that objective, the following represents more specific convention objectives:

  • Safeguards to ensuring that international adoptions proceed with the interest of the child first and that his or her fundamental rights are recognized.
  • A system of co-operation between countries to ensure that these safeguards are structured and utilized completely preventing the abduction, sale of, or trafficking of children.
  • Securing recognition in participating countries of adoptions made in accordance with the convention.