STOCKHOLM — A Swedish commission has advised on Monday that the country should halt international adoptions following an inquiry that exposed numerous instances of malpractice spanning several decades. This move aligns Sweden with other nations reconsidering their international adoption frameworks, especially in light of past unethical behavior reported in countries like South Korea.
Initiated in 2021 in response to an exposé by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the commission’s investigation revealed troubling aspects of Sweden’s international adoption procedures. The commission’s recommendations were formally presented to Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, the Minister of Social Services, for consideration. Grönvall indicated that her department would carefully assess the findings.
Lead investigator Anna Singer, a legal expert, emphasized during a news conference that the task was to determine both awareness and actions of Swedish entities regarding adoption irregularities. These entities include government bodies, supervisory authorities, organizations, municipalities, and legal institutions. “The conclusion is that there have been irregularities in the international adoptions to Sweden,” stated Singer.
The commission also recommended that the Swedish government issue a formal apology to those affected by these adoption practices. Confirmed incidents of child trafficking were identified from the 1970s through to the 2000s, involving countries like Sri Lanka, Colombia, Poland, and China. Singer noted the importance of a public apology not only for those directly harmed but also for raising broader awareness of the systemic abuses.
A broader investigation, conducted last year, uncovered questionable practices and fraudulent documentation linking South Korea’s international adoption process with child misplacement and fabricated identities. Over 80 adoptees from the U.S., Australia, and Europe were interviewed, supported by detailed document reviews that disclosed cases of children being wrongfully taken or misplaced, falsified personal histories, and parents misled about their children’s health or whereabouts.
These revelations have questioned the ethics and sustainability of the current international adoption frameworks, largely modeled after South Korea’s system from the previous century. The South Korean truth commission, in its March report, held its government accountable for a foreign adoption system plagued by fraud and deceit, which was perpetuated to cut welfare expenditure and perpetuated by practices like altering children’s backgrounds.
As a response to the growing awareness of these issues, countries like the Netherlands have banned their citizens from engaging in international adoptions. In a similar stance, Denmark’s sole international adoption agency has ceased operations, and Switzerland has issued an apology for past lapses in preventing unlawful adoptions. France, too, presented a harsh evaluation of its involvement in global adoptions.
Notably, South Korea has historically sent roughly 200,000 children overseas for adoption over the last 60 years, with a majority placed in the U.S. Apart from France and Denmark, Sweden has been a primary European destination for South Korean adoptees, having welcomed nearly 10,000 children since the 1960s.