Hague Convention

The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention) is an international agreement to safeguard intercountry adoptions. Concluded on May 29, 1993 in The Hague, the Netherlands, the Convention establishes international standards of practices for intercountry adoptions. The United States signed the Convention in 1994, and the Convention entered into force for the United States in April 2008.

The Hague Adoption Convention applies to all adoptions between the United States and the other counties that have joined it (Convention countries). Adopting a child from a Convention country is similar in many ways to adopting a child from a country not party to the Convention. However, there are some key differences. In particular, those seeking to adopt receive greater protections if they adopt from a Convention country.

Convention Facts

Red stars indicate the 10 countries from which Americans adopted the largest number of children in 2008.

The Hague requires that countries who support the Convention establish a Central Authority to be the authoritative source of information and point of contact in that country. The Department of State is the U.S. Central Authority for the Convention.

 

The Hague Convention

  • Aims to prevent the abduction, sale of, or traffic in children, and it works to ensure that inter-country adoptions are in the best interests of children.
  • Recognizes inter-country adoption as a means of offering the advantage of a permanent home to a child when a suitable family has not been found in the child’s country of origin.
  • Enables inter-country adoption to take place when:
    • The child has been deemed eligible for adoption by the child’s country of birth; and
    • Proper effort has been given to the child’s adoption in its country of origin.
  • Provides a formal international and intergovernmental recognition of inter-country adoption, working to ensure that adoptions under the Convention will generally be recognized and given effect in other party countries.