The Ban On Intercountry Adoption In Ethiopia Implications On The Right To Alternative Care

The objective of the study is to assess the implications of the law banning intercountry adoption on the right to alternative care of orphans and vulnerable children. It examines those implications in relation to the best interest of the child. The nature of the study is both doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research. The research design is qualitative legal research and exploratory and predictive research design approach is employed to conduct the study. The sources of data are literatures and a key informant interviews. Further, comparative study of the experiences of Russia, Romania, and Uganda was conducted to understand the practice of the world regarding the issue under study. On selection of the key informants, snowball sampling was adopted.rnThe study reached at a conclusion that banning ICA in Ethiopian context goes against the best interest of the orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) which has to be determined on case-by-case basis. The country lacks a conducive environment to support its OVCs by exclusive focus on domestic alternative care options which highly rely on the capacities of nationals of the country, i.e. awareness, willingness and economic capacities of the nationals. It takes a considerable time to attain the three elements of capacities of the nationals of the state simultaneously. Further, the alleged problems on intercountry adoption are found to be abuses on the process which could have been rectified through administrative measures and by filling the gaps on the legal and institutional framework for intercountry adoption. In addition, the country lacks adequate domestic alternatives to support OVC in general and those with cross-sectional problems and with special needs in particular.rnThe study finally recommends administrative measures for effective control and evaluation of adoption agencies and other institutions which facilitate the process be taken by the government. Further, it recommends the government to fill the gaps on the legal and institutional framework on intercountry adoption, to ratify the Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) 1993,to improve compliance with quality-standard guideline for intercountry adoption by making it widely accessible, improving awareness and understanding through training and regular supervision and support of the adoption agencies and other institutions on the process and to adopt policies and procedures which favor information-sharing and networking between adoption agencies and all other institutions which are involved in the intercountry adoption process.

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