International Adoption in the Czech Republic

 The following article is interesting because we generally think of former eastern bloc nations as sending countries, yet people there are adopting domestically and internationally, the reason they seek international adoption, and the solution!

LN: Number of illegal child adoptions growing in ČR

30 June 2010

Prague, June 29 (CTK) - The number of adoptions of children from other countries is growing in the Czech Republic, Lidove noviny (LN) writes Tuesday and says there is no legal state-assisted way of gaining a child abroad.

The paper writes, for instance, that Czechs brought eight children from Congo last year, this year the figure was registered in the first six months already.

The Czech Office for International Legal Protection of Children (UPMOD) says people have goodwill and want to help the children, but thy do not realise the risks involved, LN writes.

UPDMOD says the respective legislation should be changed, or else the African children will soon end up in child homes, LN quotes office head Zdenek Kapitan as saying.

At present Czechs can adopt a child from Czech child homes only if they meet a number of conditions, such as a reasonable age of the future parents and other, LN writes.

Some of those who do not want to undergo the complicated procedure of preparation, including psychological interviews, give priority to adoption from abroad via various intermediaries for payment, LN writes.

Kapitan said there is demand for adoptions from abroad and therefore his office has been conducting negotiations with four states of The Hague Adoption Convention, namely Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, India and the Philippines in this respect.

He said, however, the adoptions will not be possible earlier than at the end of 2011.
LN writes that Kapitan has doubts about whether adoptions from exotic countries are the best solution for the children.

He said it is a costly matter. Translations, travel expenses and other necessary spendings involved cost about one million crowns.

If five such people, for whom the total of one million crowns is tolerable joined forces, they could pay good-quality care of the child in its homeland and "the assistance would be much more effective," Kapitan is quoted as saying.

LN writes that Czech parents adopted 500 children from Czech child homes last year. About 100 of them were returned in the same year.

International adoptions of Czech children from child homes were more successful. A mere three cases out of a total of 323 such adoptions in ten years had a bad end, LN writes.

Czech children go abroad if offices do not find suitable families for them in the country. Girls are adopted abroad more often than boys. They accounted for two thirds of all children adopted abroad in the past ten years.

Denmark with more than 40 percent of children led the receiving countries standings, LN writes.

Copyright 2009 by the Czech News Agency (ČTK). All rights reserved.
Copying, dissemination or other publication of this article or parts thereof without the prior written consent of ČTK is expressly forbidden. The Prague Daily Monitor and Monitor CE are not responsible for its content.