Response to interpellation 2022/23:279 on adoptions from Serbia
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns suspected irregularities in adoptions from Serbia to Sweden. M emphasizes that the state must guarantee legal and ethical adoptions where the child's best interests are the focus 1 2 3. M argues that MFoF exercises supervision and that the government takes questions regarding irregularities most seriously 1 4. M wants to await the Adoptions Commission's investigation to receive guidance on future processes 2 3. V argues that the government should take measures following Uppdrag granskning since supervision reports have not mentioned the suspected irregularities 5 6. V requests concrete directives to the authority to ensure legal certainty 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! Nadja Awad has asked me if I have taken any measures in light of the information that emerged in Uppdrag granskning and, if so, which ones. Nadja Awad has also asked me if I intend to take any measures to potentially tighten the supervision of the Swedish adoption organizations. Finally, Nadja Awad has asked me if I intend to take any measures to be able to pause adoptions to Sweden in order to ensure a legally secure adoption process in light of what has been revealed about adoptions from Serbia.
Initially, I want to emphasize that the state must, as far as possible, guarantee that every adoption takes place in a legal and ethical manner. The states concerned have a responsibility to ensure legal certainty and the best interests of the child in every part of the adoption process.
The Authority for Family Law and Parental Support, MFoF, is a Swedish central authority according to the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (1993 Hague Convention), and shall ensure that every international adoption is carried out with consideration of the child's best interests and respect for the child's fundamental rights.
MFoF exercises supervision over the authorized adoption organizations to ensure that their work is conducted in accordance with the law and in an otherwise ethically acceptable manner. The supervision includes an audit of the adoption organizations' activities in Sweden and their work in the countries from which they facilitate adoptions. MFoF has recently published supervision reports regarding the authorized adoption agencies.
It is not an option to pause or shut down the international adoption mediation in Sweden. But the government takes the issue of irregularities most seriously.
The Adoption Commission (S 2021:08) has been tasked, among other things, with clarifying the occurrence of any irregularities within Sweden's international adoption activities back in time and up to the present day. The lessons from the Adoption Commission's mandate shall also guide the development of Sweden's international adoption activities. The Adoption Commission shall, among other things, propose how the current regulatory framework, organization, and processes can be changed and strengthened in order to further strengthen the child rights perspective and legal certainty.
Nadja Awad (V)
Mr. Speaker! First, I would like to thank the Minister for the answer to the interpellation today. It pleases me and the Left Party that the Minister says she takes seriously that the state shall, as far as possible, guarantee that every adoption takes place in a legal and ethical manner. The Government, together with the Agency for Family Rights and Parenting Support, is responsible for ensuring this.
Mr. Speaker! SVT's Uppdrag granskning recently highlighted that adoptions from Serbia were mediated through the Swedish Adoption Centre. Children in Serbia are suspected to have been taken away from their families and attachment environments and adopted to Sweden. Children placed in foster care are adopted to Sweden, and the biological parents' right to visitation and contact is extinguished.
In one of the cases that received significant media attention, the biological mother was not even informed when the foster-placed daughter was to be adopted to Sweden. A four-year-old boy was separated from his biological sister when he was adopted to Sweden from Serbia, against the foster mother's will. She herself had wanted to adopt the child. According to the Serbian authorities, she did not act in the boy's best interests if she opposed an adoption. They stripped her of custody. Custody was transferred to a social worker, who approved the adoption to Sweden.
In a report, some Swedish adoptive parents also tell that the social services in Serbia pressured a nine-year-old girl in foster care in an unpleasant way with threats that she would become homeless. She did not even know that she was going to be adopted. The Swedish adoptive parents did not feel that they received sufficient support from the Adoption Center when they wanted to raise the alarm. Instead, the organization urged the adoptive parents to bribe the child with presents.
MFoF exercises the supervision, which the Minister of Justice touched upon, over the authorized adoption organizations to ensure that their work is conducted in accordance with the law and in an otherwise ethically acceptable manner. The supervision includes a review of the adoption organizations' activities in Sweden and their work in the countries from which they facilitate adoptions.
As the Minister also pointed out, MFoF has recently published supervision reports regarding the authorized adoption agencies. But in the supervision reports of recent years, strangely enough, nothing is mentioned about the suspected irregularities concerning the children from Serbia and what measures have been taken to uphold legal certainty and keep the child's best interests in mind.
The Minister mentions that the government is awaiting the results of the Adoption Commission's work. It has been tasked with clarifying the occurrence of any irregularities. For the Left Party, the investigation is important. It was we who pushed for it to be appointed.
In 2022, Serbia was the country from which the Adoption Center facilitated the most adoptions. The Left Party therefore believes that the government should take Uppdrag granskning's findings very seriously and take measures based on the information regarding suspected irregularities that has emerged.
Does the Minister consider that MFoF's supervision of the Adoption Center should be tightened based on the information that has emerged in Uppdrag granskning's reportage and that these unfortunately were not captured in the supervision reports?
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! I want to repeat that the government and I take the reports of irregularities or suspected irregularities most seriously. It is, of course, appalling for all children and families affected by irregularities in the adoption process.
Irregularities in international adoptions must not occur. That is what I truly want to emphasize. Therefore, it is important that it is clarified whether any irregularities have occurred.
When it comes to the information regarding children who have been adopted from Serbia, it is impossible for me as a minister to comment on individual cases. But it is our supervisory authority, MFoF, that is responsible for ensuring that international adoption mediation fulfills the requirements of Swedish law and takes place in accordance with Sweden's international commitments. The supervision includes auditing the activities of adoption organizations in Sweden but also their work in the countries from which the adoptions are mediated.
MFoF is responsible for the authorization and supervision of Swedish adoption organizations to ensure that international adoptions to Sweden are carried out exactly according to the law. The published supervision reports for the authorized adoption agencies are available on MFoF's website.
In Sweden, the state authorities are independent in relation to the government. The government can direct how the authorities shall work. But the government may never direct how an authority applies the laws.
Nadja Awad (V)
Mr. Speaker! I do not ask the Minister to go into individual cases. I ask the Minister to ensure that international adoption mediation takes place in a legally secure and ethically justifiable manner in Sweden. This means that we must comply with international laws and conventions.
According to the Hague Convention, which has been ratified by both Serbia and Sweden, the primary goal is that a child should be able to stay with their original family and, if that is not possible, with a suitable family in the country of origin. Only after that can it be a question of international adoption. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child may only be taken from their attachment environment if the child is suffering at home.
According to the information in Uppdrag g ranskning, these international laws and conventions are suspected of not having been complied with.
It is absolutely the Serbian authorities who are responsible for assessing whether a child can be eligible for international adoption. But it is the Adoption Center that has the mediation obligation. And their role is, in addition to mediating adoptions, to assess whether the country is legally secure and follows the ethical guidelines, laws, and conventions that regulate international adoptions.
To this, they also perform continuous risk assessments of each individual country. These risk assessments are communicated to our Swedish supervisory authority, whose task is to review their work and decide on authorization for each respective country. That is something we completely agree on.
Obviously, however, there is information suggesting that it would not be unreasonable to suspect that the adoption process from Serbia is legally insecure and that the ethical guidelines, laws, and conventions regulating international adoptions are not being followed. This has emerged quite clearly when children who are to enter an adoption process have not even been informed about it. And children in an adoption process have been separated from their biological siblings. They have also been threatened with becoming homeless if they are not adopted or have been bribed with gifts so that it feels more natural and welcoming to be adopted away.
Here, the Adoption Centre's responsibility comes in. This shall be taken into account in the continuous risk assessments of each individual country. But above all, the risk assessments shall be communicated to MFoF.
Even though the government is not supposed to step in and interfere with how the authorities apply the legislation, the government is still responsible for what the authorities do, and the government directs the authorities by making various decisions. That the supervision reports do not mention a single word about what risks exist in the Adoption Center's partner countries, despite information having emerged long before the Uppdrag granskning report, worries me therefore. But it worries me even more that our government has not taken proper measures after the report to ensure that the supervision is legally secure.
On the Adoption Centre's website, they have commented on the case of the nine-year-old girl, which I mentioned. In the response, they stated that they agree that this specific matter was not handled in a good way by the responsible social services or by the centre for foster homes and adoption in Serbia. After the case was terminated, meetings were held with the responsible authorities to ensure that something similar does not happen again.
Then my question to the Minister is: How shall this be insured? What will be the role of the Swedish supervisory authority in this? And above all, what directives will the Swedish government, with the Minister, give to the authority going forward to ensure that the adoption process between Sweden and Serbia or other countries takes place in a legally secure and ethically justifiable manner?
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! I want to repeat once again that it is extremely important for me and the government that these processes proceed in a proper, legal, and ethically justifiable manner. There are many aspects to this issue.
There are no registers of persons who have been adopted from Serbia. MFoF has information on its website about how those who suspect irregularities in their own adoption process and want this to be investigated can proceed. It is important that one receives support, but it is also important that the state provides information to the public on how to seek this support, just as MFoF also does on its website.
We will, of course, continue to follow this issue very closely, but it is also important to await the Adoption Commission, which will provide important answers; this is our hope, which we share with many. The mandate will also include providing guidance on what the continued processes should look like. The Government will now await this investigation.
Nadja Awad (V)
Mr. Speaker! As I said initially, I am nevertheless pleased that the government says that this is being taken seriously and that the state shall, as far as possible, ensure that every adoption takes place in a legal and ethical manner. But I hear no proposals for further measures. One wants to wait for the inquiry, and that I can respect – it was indeed the Vänsterpartiet that ensured it came to fruition.
But the fact that there are no indications that MFoF's oversight reports on adoptions mediated via Adoptionscentrum even mention any information regarding the suspected irregularities during the adoption processes for adoptions from Serbia to Sweden worries me very strongly. The only thing Vänsterpartiet wants is that the government and the state ensure that every adoption takes place in a legal and ethical manner - that the responsibility to ensure legal certainty and the child's best interests in every part of the adoption process is upheld.
But if this – that one wants to wait – is the answer that the government and the Minister want to give, I want to make it clear that this passivity will in no way ensure that the oversight reports being prepared fulfill the important function of raising an alarm if any type of information emerges that the adoption investigations being conducted are not legally secure. It makes me very concerned that the Minister for Social Affairs and the government will not take any measures in this matter.
Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you very much, Nadja Awad, for an important interpellation! I welcome every occasion when the Left Party and freedom are mentioned in the same context.
The starting point in an international adoption is always and shall always be the best interests of the child and to uphold the child's rights. As I have said before, it is the states concerned that have the responsibility to ensure legal certainty and that the child's best interests are met in every part of the adoption process. The state, also the Swedish state, must do everything it can to guarantee that every adoption takes place in a legal and ethical manner. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Convention are important parts of this.
I and the government take issues concerning irregularities or suspected irregularities in connection with international adoptions very seriously. I can assure the interpellator that the government and I will continue to follow this issue very closely.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.