Norway and Denmark to investigate foreign adoptions amid media reports of illegal conduct

Norway's top body for international adoptions on Tuesday recommended a halt to all adoptions from abroad for a two-year period pending an investigation into several allegedly illegal cases, while Denmark's sole overseas adoption agency announced it was stopping for the same concerns.

Norway's government has the final say, and Kjersti Toppe, minister for children and families, said she believes there is a need for further investigation and has asked the Norwegian directorate for children, youth and family affairs for that.

In Denmark, the privately-run DIA said it was stopping all adoptions from abroad after the Danish social affairs ministry, the top authority in the matter, announced a halt. The DIA handles adoptions from the Philippines, India, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. On Jan. 2, Denmark suspended adoptions from South Africa.

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"Adoptions must be safe, sound and in the best interest of the child," said Hege Nilssen, head of Norwegian directorate for education and training, said in a statement. "Our assessment is that the risk of illegalities is real, and that it is at a level which means that we recommend a temporary halt until the committee delivers its report and makes recommendations on what a possible future adoption system should look like."

The Norwegian directorate for children, youth and family affairs said that families already assigned a child from the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, South Africa, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Colombia and Peru will be allowed to complete the adoption process, but only after an assessment by the agency. Couples who received approval to adopt from South Korea also will be permitted to proceed when matched with a child.

A majority of the children adopted in Norway come from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Colombia, according to national statistics.

Earlier this month, the directorate said an examination of the adoption system was needed following media reports of allegedly illegal adoptions. Norway's VG newspaper reported that some children in the Philippines were sold and given false birth certificates.

"The risk of document forgery is so great that we cannot be sure that the children’s legal security is safeguarded,″ VG quoted the directorate as saying.

In November, the directorate also stopped adoptions from Madagascar, citing a lack of security to ensure they would "be carried out in accordance with international principles for adoption."

Norway has three private adoption agencies. Verdens Barn handles adoptions from Thailand, South Korea and South Africa; InorAdopt arranges adoptions of children from Hungary, Taiwan, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic; and Adoptionsforum facilitates adoptions of children from the Philippines, Colombia and Peru.

Sweden's only adoption agency said in November that was halting adoptions from South Korea following claims of falsified papers on the origins of children adopted from the Asian country.