Foreign child ‘adopted’ abroad
Some foreign adoptions are recognised under English law as being valid adoptions, with the result that the adoption will be seen as valid under English law and there will be no need to issue adoption proceedings here.  These are either from a country or state listed in the Adoption (Designation of Overseas Adoptions) Order 1973 or ‘Convention adoptions’ made under the 1993 Hague Convention.

Where a foreign adoption is neither of these it will be necessary for the adopters to make a fresh application for an adoption order in England and Wales but the foreign process may be useful evidence in support of their application.

Foreign child brought into England and Wales for adoption
It is a criminal offence, punishable with up to 12 months imprisonment, to bring a child into the UK for adoption unless all relevant regulations have been complied with.

In short these regulations require detailed assessments of the suitability of the adoptive home, and of the chi1d’s circumstances, before official approval will be given to any proposed arrangement.  Once approved a certificate is issued by the Secretary of State at the Department for Education and Skills.  Once the child has arrived in England and Wales, the adopters must notify their local authority of the fact (they will be regarded in the interim period as private foster parents) and must immediately indicate their intention to apply to adopt the child.  The local authority is under a duty to monitor the child’s welfare.  If an adoption order is made, it will be an ordinary domestic adoption order as if there were no foreign element and all the usual rules for how domestic adoptions are processed will apply.

Facilitating the adoption abroad of a child from UK
A child who is a Commonwealth citizen or who is habitually resident in the UK must not be removed from the UK for the purpose of adoption unless the prospective adopters have obtained an order under from the court here giving them parental responsibility for the child in order to facilitate a foreign adoption.  A breach of this restriction, or being involved in making arrangements to breach it, is a criminal offence and may incur up to 12 months imprisonment.

Convention adoptions
The 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation with respect to International Adoption has full effect in England and Wales.  The Convention sets out minimum standards for the control and regulation of adoption.  It establishes a detailed system for cooperation and seeks to ensure that adoptions in one member state are recognised as valid in every other Convention state.  In the UK the Convention operates to regulate the process in both countries and will affect a child coming into the UK from a Convention country, or vice versa.  Depending on the process used, a child may be brought to the UK having already been adopted in another Convention country or brought into the UK for the purpose of achieving a UK adoption in which case the preliminary vetting process will need to have been carried out in accordance with the Convention.