Jason Allardyce
The Sunday Times - Scotland
SCOTTISH couples are to be banned from adopting children from poverty-stricken countries so as to curb the illegal purchase of infants and prevent babies being taken without their parents’ consent.
Third World countries including Cambodia will be put on a “restricted list” by ministers amid concerns that there are not enough safeguards to protect vulnerable children.
Couples attempting to take a child from banned countries will face up to a year in jail and a £5,000 fine under the proposals contained in the adoption bill, which is being considered by the Scottish parliament.
The issue of inter-country adoption came under the spotlight earlier this month when it emerged that Madonna had adopted David Banda, a 13-month-old boy from Malawi.
A case brought by human rights groups challenging the interim adoption order granted to the American pop singer and her British husband Guy Ritchie was adjourned last week at a court in the capital Lilongwe.
Campaigners fear that other foreigners will seek to emulate Madonna by travelling to Malawi to adopt. The decision by the actress Angelina Jolie to adopt her son Maddox from Cambodia in 2002 prompted a huge rise in the number of British parents seeking to adopt children from the southeast Asian nation, which is one of the poorest in the world.
Last week a Scottish executive spokeswoman confirmed that Cambodia would be put on the list because of concerns about child trafficking, the systematic falsification of adoption documents, improper financial gain and children being adopted without proper consent. Similar doubts have been raised about adoption procedures in Guatemala.
Some MSPs are also uncomfortable with the idea of wealthy couples taking babies from poor backgrounds and want countries such as Malawi, which normally bans adoption by non- residents, to be put on the list of restricted countries.
Last week Madonna said that there were “no adoption laws in Malawi” and that her social worker had warned her that “they were more or less going to have to make them up as we went along”.
Child protection agencies claimed that Madonna had used her wealth and prestige to sidestep a law requiring foreign adoptive parents to live in the country for 18 months, an allegation that she denies.
Initially Yohane Banda, David’s father, claimed to have misunderstood the agreement, believing that his son’s stay with Madonna would be temporary. He later said he did not want to challenge the adoption and urged campaigners not to jeopardise it.
However, Adam Ingram, the SNP’s deputy spokesman on education and a member of the parliament’s education committee which is studying the legislation, was critical of Madonna’s behaviour.
“There is a lack of appropriate mechanisms in some countries,” he said. “I am concerned about the notion of people almost being able to buy babies for adoption — where a celebrity can come in and say, ‘I’ll take a child off your hands’.
“It must not be allowed to happen in Scotland. Normally, you would have to go through a lot of checks and hoops to adopt a child rather than be able to just jump on a plane and get the first baby that takes your fancy.”
Unicef, the United Nations children’s charity, said it supported tougher restrictions on wealthy couples adopting foreign children.
Third World countries including Cambodia will be put on a “restricted list” by ministers amid concerns that there are not enough safeguards to protect vulnerable children.
Couples attempting to take a child from banned countries will face up to a year in jail and a £5,000 fine under the proposals contained in the adoption bill, which is being considered by the Scottish parliament.
The issue of inter-country adoption came under the spotlight earlier this month when it emerged that Madonna had adopted David Banda, a 13-month-old boy from Malawi.
A case brought by human rights groups challenging the interim adoption order granted to the American pop singer and her British husband Guy Ritchie was adjourned last week at a court in the capital Lilongwe.
Campaigners fear that other foreigners will seek to emulate Madonna by travelling to Malawi to adopt. The decision by the actress Angelina Jolie to adopt her son Maddox from Cambodia in 2002 prompted a huge rise in the number of British parents seeking to adopt children from the southeast Asian nation, which is one of the poorest in the world.
Last week a Scottish executive spokeswoman confirmed that Cambodia would be put on the list because of concerns about child trafficking, the systematic falsification of adoption documents, improper financial gain and children being adopted without proper consent. Similar doubts have been raised about adoption procedures in Guatemala.
Some MSPs are also uncomfortable with the idea of wealthy couples taking babies from poor backgrounds and want countries such as Malawi, which normally bans adoption by non- residents, to be put on the list of restricted countries.
Last week Madonna said that there were “no adoption laws in Malawi” and that her social worker had warned her that “they were more or less going to have to make them up as we went along”.
Child protection agencies claimed that Madonna had used her wealth and prestige to sidestep a law requiring foreign adoptive parents to live in the country for 18 months, an allegation that she denies.
Initially Yohane Banda, David’s father, claimed to have misunderstood the agreement, believing that his son’s stay with Madonna would be temporary. He later said he did not want to challenge the adoption and urged campaigners not to jeopardise it.
However, Adam Ingram, the SNP’s deputy spokesman on education and a member of the parliament’s education committee which is studying the legislation, was critical of Madonna’s behaviour.
“There is a lack of appropriate mechanisms in some countries,” he said. “I am concerned about the notion of people almost being able to buy babies for adoption — where a celebrity can come in and say, ‘I’ll take a child off your hands’.
“It must not be allowed to happen in Scotland. Normally, you would have to go through a lot of checks and hoops to adopt a child rather than be able to just jump on a plane and get the first baby that takes your fancy.”
Unicef, the United Nations children’s charity, said it supported tougher restrictions on wealthy couples adopting foreign children.
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