The government has denied claims that adoptions from India will stop, insisting these are “up and running just like before”.
Prospective parents who spoke to Times of Malta on condition of anonymity said that as they were about to start the process to adopt from overseas, they were told that adoptions from India would soon be stopped.
The sources said they were urged to look at other countries instead to avoid disappointment.
However, a spokeswoman for the Family Ministry insisted that adoptions from India were continuing.
“In fact, just last week the Social Care Standards Authority approved eight new applications under Articles 5 of The Hague Convention, meaning that eight new couples will commence the matching process in India,” she noted.
The spokeswoman said that, as from “a few weeks ago”, Aġenzija Appoġġ was recognised by the Indian central authority to operate in India. The recognition comes as the agency concluded the first adoption process in India and another is close to being completed.
The SCSA, together with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion, was also facilitating the process for other adoption agencies that had shown interest in commencing their operations in India, she continued.
The spokeswoman said that, until July this year, 25 children had already been adopted from India, compared to 28 last year.
“With regards to other countries, Malta has agreements with Slovakia, Albania and Vietnam. Moreover, prospective adoptive parents may choose to adopt from other countries including India, Portugal, Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Chile, Colombia and Moldova, which have not requested additional agreement,” she added.
Family Minister Michael Falzon confirmed in an event on Wednesday morning that in 2017 there were about 46 inter-country adoptions.
The figure contrasts sharply with that of the previous year, where only six children were adopted in 12 months, the lowest number in 11 years.
Dr Falzon was addressing employees of the Agenzija Appoġġ during an event organised to mark the agency’s tenth anniversary.
“The subject is an emotional one and that while it may be your job, we need to be sensitive to the people’s plight. This is about people’s lives,” Dr Falzon said.
Dr Falzon said that in recent years, the government has worked closely with a number of countries in order to increase the number of options for prospective parents.
“We have officially opened access from Bulgaria," he said.
While problems with access in countries such as Russia persisted, the government was working on ironing out these issues.
On the grant offered to parents who adopt from overseas, Dr Falzon said that there were 27 couples who had approached the government for the grant. These will each get €10,000 each as part of a scheme to help address some of the struggles that parents face when trying to adopt.