The Quebec government has suspended most new international adoption applications over human rights and trafficking concerns.The National Assembly is seen in Quebec City, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

MONTREAL - The Quebec government has suspended most new international adoption applications, echoing moves by other jurisdictions that are rethinking the once-common practice because of human rights and trafficking concerns.

Quebec's decision is part of a global "culture change" in recent years as countries have become aware of serious shortcomings in the way many adoptions are carried out, Anne-Marie Piché, a professor in the social work department at Université du Québec à Montréal who studies adoption, said in an interview Monday.

Despite international agreements that theoretically impose strict rules, "there are countries that have gaps in their adoption procedures," she said. In some cases, she added, "the children don't have their truthful information collected, for example on their parents, on the real reasons for placement, on their circumstances of birth."

As well, she said, mothers are sometimes coerced into signing a document to give up their child, children are falsely reported as abandoned, or adoptions are quickly approved for financial gain.

Quebec's system, the province said in a Nov. 27 news release, needs to be reinforced to ensure that adoptions are free of illegal practices, including abductions, sales and trafficking of children. "Child protection is at the heart of this decision, taken by applying the principle of precaution and in respect of the Quebec government's international agreements."

The province said it does not believe the current international system guarantees the rights set out under The Hague Convention, which protects children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad. The moratorium, it added, will be in place while it develops a stronger framework to prevent those practices and also limit adoption failures that result in children entering the child welfare system.

Quebec says it's following jurisdictions around the world that have decided to limit or review international adoptions, including France, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Countries that once sent children overseas for adoption, such as China, have also decided to restrict the practice.

In South Korea, a recent investigation by The Associated Press found that many of the 200,000 children sent to Western nations later discovered that their adoption paperwork was inaccurate or fabricated. In some cases, children were kidnapped off the streets, and children were systemically listed as abandoned even though researchers have found that the vast majority had known relatives.

Piché says she's not sure how Quebec plans to further tighten its rules — which she says are already strict. The number of international adoptions in Quebec has dropped to less than 30 last year from about 1,000 a year in the late 90s or early 2000s, she said.

She said the government's decision will have some negative consequences, including that some children in other countries will remain in orphanages, and heartbreak for families who had longed to adopt a child. But overall, she believes international adoption should be a last resort for a child — after their birth parents are offered support, and after other options are explored, including placement with extended family, or within the child's community and home country.

International adoption, Piché added, even with the best of intentions, can violate a child's fundamental right to their own identity, including knowing their origins and family history. "Even one who is doing well in their new family, and happy, can feel something missing in terms of knowing who they are," she said.

Quebec says adoptions that are already underway can continue, as can the limited number of adoptions that are allowed without certified agencies.

The Canadian government says on its website that all provinces and territories have suspended adoptions from certain countries, including Georgia, Guatemala, Liberia, Nepal and Ukraine.

Piché said such moratoriums are often put in place during conflicts or natural disasters, when families can become separated for long periods of time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2024.

— With files from The Associated Press.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2024