Ruth Ann Box Reacts to Unexpected Consequences of the Hague Adoption Convention

Online, May 28, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Fewer orphans are being adopted by foreign parents, dropping from 45,000 in 2004 to 25,000 last year, according to a study published in Fox News Latino. There are many reasons for the sharp decline, but adoption advocates, including Ruth Ann Box, believe most of it is due to the Hague Adoption Convention, tough international adoption guidelines.

The Hague rules require countries to establish a central adoption authority and a checks and balances system to protect orphans and keep the adoption system from being corrupted. The Hague rules were established after a string of cases involving children being kidnapped or sold into the black market.

U.S. Office of Children's Issues Adoptions Division Chief Alison Dilworth supports the Hague guidelines, noting they protect parents from one of the worst nightmares: "God forbid, that knock on the door...saying your child that you have raised and loved and is fully integrated into your family was stolen from a birth parent who is desperately trying to look for them."

Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor and international adoption supporter, said the Hague rules were supposed to be a "step forward; it's been used in a way that's made it a force for shutting down." Ruth Ann Box, a single mother who adopted a Guatemalan child, sees eye-to-eye with Bartholet on the issue that has affected thousands of children.

Ruth Ann Box said some people defend governmental delays in releasing young children for adoption by citing the necessity of ensuring that the children are willingly relinquished by their birth parents and are not stolen. She said scientific measures could easily be used to determine if a child has been relinquished by its birth mother.

"It is a simple matter of taking a DNA sample from both mother and child with a swab from inside the cheeks of each of them," Ruth Ann Box said. "A lab test can determine with certainty whether the woman is the child's biological mother. When the test is carried out at a government agency and conducted by a government employee - and if the test shows that the woman is the child's biological mother - all concern about whether the true mother is making a voluntary relinquishment are assuaged."

Years ago, international adoptions were a fairly quick process. But now, people are waiting longer and requirements have become more complex or discriminatory. Ruth Ann Box said it is imperative children are placed with an adoptive family at a young age, meaning governments need to move quicker when it comes to legalizing adoptions.

"Delays of weeks and months - never mind years - can have a tragically harmful impact on the child," Ruth Ann Box said. "If the child's early life, which could be spent with his new family, is lost to governmental delays, this precious time of inestimable value can never be recovered."

ABOUT:

Ruth Ann Box, an active member of her community, adopted a 10-month-old son from Guatemala. As a single mother, she has showered her children, including another son, with all the resources they need to be successful in life. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, she resides in Colorado with her family.