Only 18 international adoptions were registered last year, the lowest number in the past decade, the latest figures show.

In 2014, adoptions by Maltese people from overseas totalled 27.

In contrast, an average 50 a year were registered between 2005 and 2013.

Carmen Buttigieg, head of the national agency that regulates adoption. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

The continuously dwindling numbers are due to the fact that children up for inter-country adoption are on the decline, according to Carmen Buttigieg, director of the Maltese central authority that regulates adoption. This, she points out, was compounded by the fact that Malta is competing with many other countries, making adoptions more difficult.

“Countries are increasingly opting for a solution sourced from within their territory. These countries are freeing fewer children for adoption as they seek local solutions. Countries signatories to the 1993 Hague convention abide by the subsidiarity principle,” she notes.

In line with this principle, priority should be given to solutions enabling the child to remain in the care of a family within his/her own country of origin.

Most children who are up for adoption are either aged 7-10 (not babies), sibling groups consisting of two or more or those with health issues, she adds. “Many prospective adoptive parents would prefer younger children. In fact, we would like accredited adoption agencies to explain to prospective adoptive parents the prevailing situation in inter-country adoption.”

We don’t want to close doors but we want to be correct and do things according to local laws and the spirit of the 1993 Hague convention

Ms Buttigieg notes that the number of children available for adoption has been decreasing for the past 10 years.

When asked why the drops in 2014 and last year were so steep, she replies that the big majority of children adopted by Maltese parents in the past years were from Cambodia and Russia. Some years ago, Cambodia stopped adoptions by foreign parents, in view of child legislation reforms and Russia restricted access as the authorities in Moscow evaluated an agreement with Malta. Russia had the biggest share in terms of adoptions from overseas.

Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia was asked about the issue when adoptions stalled soon after the civil unions law was passed, allowing same-sex couples to adopt.

The Russian authorities, which select a child’s adoptive parents (as is the pre­rogative of every sending country), have expressed fears that, in the case of re-adoption – when something happens to the original adoptive parents – the child could be given to same-sex parents.

Dr Farrugia had insisted with this newspaper last year that Russia’s reluctance had nothing to do with the civil unions law, adding that an agreement on adoptions was awaiting the Russian authorities’ approval. He had said that some agencies from certain regions in Russia were refusing to allow children to be adopted by the Maltese since the agreement had not yet been signed.

Last year, children were adopted from Albania, Slovakia and Russia.

Ms Buttigieg was asked whether Malta needed to work harder at opening adoption channels with other countries and whether the central authority was well equipped to handle the situation.

“It’s not a question of more staff members. We are constantly establishing contacts and sending reminders. If they ask us for documents, we send them immediately. We translate any correspondence immediately. But the actual number of children who come to Malta following this process does not depend on us. We establish contacts but the number and matching does not depend on us,” she replies.

There were no adoptions from Bulgaria last year, due to the Maltese authorities’ refusal to acknowledge Bulgarian medical certificates because they failed to test children for Hepatitis C. The test is not a requisite under the Hague convention.

All problems have been ironed out, Ms Buttigieg says, adding that an agreement has been reached for the Hepatitis C test to be done by prospective adoptive parents.

One of Malta’s five accredited adoption agencies was attempting to forge a relationship with an agency in the US but the process was halted by the Maltese authorities. Instead of matching prospective adoptive parents with children, the American agency offered a programme where prospective parents were being matched with pregnant women. They would need to pay for the woman’s medical fees, apartment rent and other expenses.

“We had reservations over such a programme. We’ve asked for legal advice from our lawyer, the Attorney General and even sought the opinion of our foreign counterparts and other organisations in this field.

“We don’t want to close doors but we want to be correct and do things according to local laws and the spirit of the 1993 Hague convention,” Ms Buttigieg says.

Adoptions from Ethiopia have also stalled because the authorities there requested that Malta should have an embassy in the country.

As a policy, Ms Buttigieg, continues, the Maltese central authority prefers to work with countries who are signatories to the 1993 Hague convention because such countries are obliged to have their own central authority, thereby ensuring that the system is regularised from both ends.

Malta is attempting to kick-start adoption processes with Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Vietnam. Ten adoption applications of Maltese prospective adoptive parents have been sent to India.

Overseas adoptions

2005 -  39
2006 -  59
2007 -  63
2008 -  52
2009 -  35
2010 -  47
2011 -  49
2012 -  58
2013 -  43
2014 -  27
2015 -  18