The Flemish government has decided that it will not stop the adoption of children from third countries, but will suspend it in given cases.
“We are examining the situation with regard to high-risk countries, and for those countries we shall press the pause button,” Flemish Health Minister Wouter Beke said on announcing Friday’s decision.
Would-be foster parents whose adoption applications are still being prepared can thus continue to pursue them.
The Flemish government wants additional testing to be done soon in countries of origin and has tasked the Flemish Centre for Adoptions, VCA, with working out assessment criteria.
In practice, this means that, through additional testing, it will be possible to find out which adoption channels have problems and, in such cases, to stop the adoption process.
After screening by the VCA, there will be two groups of adoptive parents: those for whom the procedure will continue normally in the country of origin, and those for whom no further cooperation is possible with the country of origin.
Prospective adopters in the latter group will be able to apply to adopt children from countries with which Flanders still cooperates.
As soon as the legal and organisational amendments are made, they will apply to all persons who apply to adopt children.
