Description: The General Assembly,
BELIEVING that intercountry adoption can be beneficial to nations experiencing difficulty with their internal rate of adoption and to children in need of a loving home,
FRUSTRATED with the reality that member nations each have differing rules and regulations regarding intercountry adoption,
CONCERNED that such a myriad of bureaucratic minutiae poses a danger to the welfare of children involved in intercountry adoptions, and unnecessarily increases the risk of child abuse and trafficking,
HOPEFUL that the consolidation of these varied rules and regulations will aid in the safekeeping of vulnerable children, as well as break down barriers to intercountry adoption,
Hereby
DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution, the following:
child: an individual under the threshold of majority in both the country of origin and the recipient country,
prospective adopter: a party who is seeking to adopt a child;
STRONGLY ENCOURAGES member nations to permit intercountry adoption;
DEMANDS that, should one not already exist, each member nation that permits intercountry adoption establish a state or semi-state agency, to be known as National Adoption Boards, which shall have the following duties:
to maintain a register of children available within that nation for adoption,
to work with and vet prospective adopters in that nation, and
to liaise with National Adoption Boards in other member nations during intercountry adoption processes;
DECREES that any intercountry adoption between member nations must be conducted between National Adoption Boards, and that no transfer of children shall take place until the intercountry adoption is finalised and confirmed;
REQUIRES National Adoption Boards to consider the welfare and wishes of all children available for adoption, in particular with determining if intercountry adoption is appropriate for each individual child;
CREATES the World Assembly Adoption Authority (WAAA) to establish and implement a stringent and rigorous uniform code of rules and regulations regarding intercountry adoption;
MANDATES that all National Adoption Boards be member organisations of WAAA and that they adhere to all these regulations, procedures, and standards established;
DECLARES that no National Adoption Board may establish regulations, procedures, protocols, or standards regarding intercountry adoption that are contradictory or additional to those established by WAAA;
FORBIDS WAAA from establishing standards, protocols, and procedures that could reasonably be construed to be discriminatory (e.g. disallowing an intercountry adoption based on the prospective adopter's, or child's, nationality, race, gender, sexuality, or marital status), unless there are compelling practical reasons to do so;
PROSCRIBES the transfer of children by member nations to non-member nations in an effort to circumvent any facet of this resolution;
OUTLAWS the practice of buying children, in which financial or in-kind payments are exchanged to ensure an individual receives a child, however;
ACKNOWLEDGES that, in the case of adoption processes, some reasonable fees may be charged by National Adoption Boards, and/or their domestic affiliates, for expenses incurred during the adoption process.
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