HCIA Implementation and the Best Interests of the Child

This report presents the topics and prevalent discussion points of the partici-
pants in Thematic Area 1 (HCIA implementation and the best interests of the
child) of the International Forum on Intercountry Adoption and Global Surro-
gacy held at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, the
Netherlands, 11-13 August 2014. The overall aim of this Thematic Area was to
identify examples of good practice and highlight issues and concerns about the
ways in which the dictum of best interests of the child is currently implement-
ed. The scope of topics that relate to the ‘best interests of the child’ is inevita-
bly broad and sometimes controversial. The ethos of the sessions held in this
Thematic Area was to provide a platform for a range of views to be explored
in how intercountry adoption as a global practice might be improved to meet
the interests of the children and adopted people involved. The participants
represented practitioners, researchers, academics, adopted people and adoptive
parents. Topics included the implementation of the subsidiarity principle, prac-
tices aimed at supporting adoptees, practices aimed at supporting adoptive
families, current practices concerning special needs adoptions, and the ways in
which children and childhood is currently framed within the Convention.