Why does the Government allow intercountry adoption when there are children in England who need new families?
• Although there are many children in the UK looking for an adoptive family, there are still many children in other countries who need homes. Intercountry adoption may be their only opportunity to belong to a permanent family. For humanitarian reasons, the Government allows intercountry adoption to proceed where: • the child cannot be cared for in any suitable manner in his/her country; • the adoption would be in the best interests of the child and with respect to the child’s fundamental rights as recognised in international law; and • the propsective adopter has been approved as suitable to adopt a child habitually resident outside the British Islands by an adoption agency (a local authority or an adoption society registered by Ofsted and whose condition of registration includes intercountry adoption).
