International adoption report published – important to follow information obtained from studies
On 14 November 2022, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health published a report on international adoption: “Study on international adoption conducted by four European countries – Summary and observations from Finland’s perspective” (stm.fi, in Finnish).
The report discusses studies of international adoption conducted in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. It comprehensively analyses the reasons for conducting the studies in each of the four countries, the target countries and the measures taken in each country as a result of the studies.
Reetta Peltonen, the author of the report, points out that “the history of international adoptions of the countries examined differs in many ways from that of Finland, and the numbers of adoptions are considerably higher than in Finland. There has never been a time in the Finnish adoption history when large-scale adoption activities would have been very loosely regulated. The special features of the Finnish adoption system also include the experience gained from long-term national adoption activities.” The report states that investigations will continue in these countries and may bring forth relevant information for Finland as they progress.
The Finnish Adoption Board sees that it is very important to follow information obtained from such studies given what we can learn from them, and how we can address the information in adoption supervision in Finland. The Finnish Adoption Board emphasises that international adoption activities based on international cooperation cannot start from the assumption that there are no risks, as risk awareness has been and will continue to be an integral part of adoption administration, supervision and permission procedures, as well as supervision by service providers.
For more information, please contact:
Irene Pärssinen-Hentula, Manager, Chair of the Finnish Adoption Board, +358 295 209 247, [email protected]