Child Adoptions Resuming After Controversial Past, Pending With Two Countries: Social Affairs

More than a decade after they were put on halt, international adoptions are in the process of resuming, with adoptions pending to the U.S. and Italy, a Social Affairs Ministry official said on Tuesday.

Intercountry adoptions from Cambodia were suspended in 2009 amid reports of fraud and corruption. In some cases, biological parents in Cambodia have spoken of sending children to live at orphanages for better educational opportunities but then losing contact with the children following international adoptions.

In a statement issued Tuesday, rights group Licadho said it was “deeply alarmed” that Cambodia was reopening intercountry adoptions due to a history of poor practices. “We fear these decisions will lead to more families being irreparably torn apart by a poorly regulated system that has failed to protect children’s best interests in the past,” Licadho said. Some 3,696 Cambodian children were sent abroad for adoption between 1998 and 2011, it said.

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