Couples seeking to adopt from abroad are hitting a brick wall, and the number of adoption registrations last year was practically halved.

Only 27 international adoptions were registered in 2014, half the average of about 50 between 2005 and 2013, according to the Malta Public Registry.

This year, the number has dwindled further: just seven adoptions had been registered by April.

A number of countries have closed their adoption borders, and no date has been set for the signing of an agreement between Malta and Russia to facilitate adoptions from that country.

Couples who have been trying to adopt over the past year and adoption agencies told Times of Malta that, until 2013, adoptions from Russia were relatively easy and the process did not last more than a year.

“However, soon after the civil unions law was passed [allowing same-sex couples to adopt] international adoptions became increasingly difficult,” one couple said.

Although the Russian authorities decide on the prospective parents of a child to be adopted, they fear that, in the case of re-adoption – when something happens to the original adoptive parents – the child could be given to same-sex parents.

“With Ethiopia and Cambodia also closing their doors, we are practically stuck,” the couples and agencies said.

Russian authorities fear child could go to same-sex parents

Russia had the biggest share of the adoption market, with about 40 children being allocated to Malta on a yearly basis.

“Russia has thousands of children seeking adoption and, in general, Russian children are healthy and well kept in their orphanages, so matching is relatively easy,” another couple said.

Countries such as France, Spain and Sweden, which also have same-sex adoption, signed an agreement with Russia which resolved the issue by ironing out problems airising from re-adoption. However, Malta has still not managed to do so.

Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said: “The draft agreement has been at the Russians’ for several months and we’re talking with the Russian authorities so it will be concluded as soon as possible.”

When they decide to open the market again, we will be one of the first in

Family and Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said the problem was not related to the Civil Unions Act; and his viewpoint on the situation differed from that of prospective parents and adoption agencies.

He said Malta had always assured the Russian authorities that, in the case of re-adoption, their authorisation and approval would be sought again. “We have no problem in doing this. We have reached such an agreement with other countries,” Dr Farrugia said.

“That is solved. There is a clear political agreement on how we will be functioning. [The fact that the agreement with Russia is not signed] is tied to the other things.”

Asked whether the “other things” he was referring to included the fact that Malta was supporting EU sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, Dr Farrugia replied: “We are upping pressure so that the Russians sign the bilateral agreement.”

He insisted that the Russian market was “not closed” and that it was still possible to adopt if the Maltese adoption agencies regularised themselves so they would be recognised by Russian territory laws, which varied from one area to the other.

“There are agencies in Malta which are regularised but there are those which are not,” he said.

Dr Farrugia said he would soon be leading a delegation to Cambodia to sign a memorandum of understanding, even though the country had closed its doors to the adoptions market.

“Yes, so far, the market is closed but we will be one of the very first countries to be signing this MOU so that, when they decide to open the market again, we will be one of the first in.”

He will also be heading to Vietnam to sign an agreement he said would “hopefully” offer as many children as Cambodia used to.

Visits to Albania and Bulgaria are also planned to iron out administrative issues at a political level. He said he successfully managed to sort similar issues with Slovakia “at a political level, within five minutes”.

Another MOU was signed with the Czech Republic.

He did not specify how many children would be up for adoption, saying this depended on the “matching” requirements of prospective parents.

He felt that contact at a political level was speeding up the process. “I have authorisation from the Prime Minister that, when it comes to adoptions, I go to the political level and we don’t leave it just at a departmental level.”

Dr Farrugia said “many” Maltese were going abroad, following the adoption preparation course and making direct contact with orphanages without the agencies.

This was in stark contrast with the experience of the prospective adoptive parents, who spoke to Times of Malta noting that the chances of adopting successfully when going it alone were virtually nil.

Notwithstanding this, Dr Farrugia insisted it was possible, saying friends of his had managed to adopt from countries like Moldova and Jamaica. He also mentioned “a friend who works at the World Health Organisation” who had several contacts with governments and was helping him to make contact for adoptions in the Caribbean and South America.

Overseas adoptions

2005: 39
2006: 59
2007: 63
2008: 52
2009: 35
2010: 47
2011: 49
2012: 58
2013: 43
2014: 27
2015: 7
(January to April)

Figures are from the Malta Public Registry.