General Secretariat

Examples of projects carried out by ISS in the country of origin of the children

1) Assessment of the Adoption and Child Protection framework

In May 2013, ISS has conducted a review of the adoption and child protection framework in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). This study, done in collaboration with the local UNICEF office, was aimed at establishing a first assessment of the adoption procedures and practices, in a country which is increasingly targetted by adopters and foreign agencies, despite the lack of adequate structures and legislative framework. The mission report should enable local authorities to both identify the various measures to ake in order to reform the current system, and to alert the authorities of the host countries to the risks of a too rapid development of international adoptions in a context that is not prepared to it. 

Similar missions have been conducted in over 10 countries of origin to date (Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Laos, Ivory Coast, Guatemala, Colombia, Haiti, etc.).

2) Support for legislative reforms

Thanks to its team of specialized lawyers, ISS has supported several countries of origin in the process of legislative reform of the framework for the adoption and protection of children deprived of family. Through close collaboration with local stakeholders (ministries, parliamentarians, etc.), new legal standards are written to match the international standards in this area, and to put in place appropriate measures in the country so as to protect children against the abuses adoption can too often entail.
This type of support has been provided in Vietnam, Haiti, Cyprus, etc.