International adoptions continue to plummet, with only 171 minors adopted in 2021 (latest available data provided by the Ministry of Social Rights), while national adoptions have increased by 25% from 2020 to 2021 to reach 675, which sum 846 adoptions in total. Two paths for maternity and paternity that have something in common, the long and cumbersome process, which can take between two and eight years, depending on the circumstances of the process (in international and national adoptions of minors three years, the process takes longer; in nationals for older children it takes much less).
In the case of the former, it is explained because "the laws of two different countries must be applied and coordinated, the one of origin of the boy or girl and the one of residence of the possible adopters, which can regulate and, in fact, many times regulate in a different way some of the issues related to adoption ”, they point out from the Community of Madrid.
In national adoption, the delay has to do with the fact that in the public child protection system "there are not many cases of adoption, since support measures for vulnerable families or temporary or permanent foster care measures that they do not extinguish the relationship between the boys and girls and their families of origin”, indicate the same sources.
In both cases, the objective is to offer a family to a helpless minor, always looking for their interest, a completely different objective from other techniques to be fathers or mothers such as the now much-referred to maternity by surrogacy as a result of the case of Ana Obregón, linked to regulations on assisted reproduction in which the aim is to have a future baby. And for this reason, adopters are required to be over 25 years of age. If it is a couple, it will be enough that one of them has reached that age. The age difference between the adopter and the adoptee will be at least 16 years and at most 45.
Adoption, as well as foster care (preliminary phase in many cases to adopt), follows a more complex path with numerous ups and downs. This is the case of international adoption, which boomed in the early years of the 20th century, reaching almost 5,500 children adopted in a single year. But now they barely reach 171 (year 2021).
The cause must be found in the decision of most countries (especially China) to avoid international adoptions in favor of national adoptions as much as possible. They want the children to stay in their environment, in their country, they explain from Social Rights.
Currently, the country where more children are adopted is India, followed by Vietnam and Bulgaria, with a great difference over the rest. The case of China stands out, with a progressive decrease that was reflected in 2020, with six adoptions, and none in 2021, "due to the country's refusal to allow families with assigned boys and girls to travel to finish their adoption processes." adoption”, points out the latest report of the Children's Observatory, from the Ministry of Social Services. "The efforts made by the Spanish institutions involved in these processes aimed at opening up the country have not borne the expected results," explains the aforementioned report. Faced with this situation, the General Directorate for the Rights of Children and Adolescents issued a resolution on January 27, 2022, in which the processing of new offers of international adoption in China is suspended.
Regarding the profile of adopted children, the majority are male and under three years old (76 children), followed by those between four and six years old (47) and between seven and ten (43).
The communities in which the most applications are registered are Madrid and Catalonia, followed by Galicia and Andalusia. And the ones that received the most boys and girls continue to be Madrid and Catalonia, with 50 and 33 minors respectively.
National adoption remains more or less stable, although in 2021 there was an increase of 25% compared to the previous period, reaching 675 minors. Of course, offers to adopt have also increased, reaching 1,659.
But what has grown by far the most in percentage terms is the increase in adoptions of children with disabilities, going from 13 in 2020 to 62 a year later.
Regarding the ages of the children adopted in Spain, 349 were between zero and three years old, 136 were between four and six, and 123, between seven and ten years old. Those over eleven years old were 67.
Once the selection of an adoptive family has been made by the children's department of each community, in general, a pre-adoptive foster care will be formalized. This measure implies that the minor begins living with his new family as soon as possible, avoiding periods of institutionalization. And in a period that does not usually exceed a year, the adoption is formalized.
In Spain, in 2021, there were 16,177 children and adolescents in a situation of helplessness living in an existing center for minors, of which 503 are between zero and three years old, and 536, from four to six (the law establishes maximum priority for these children ). 60% are Spanish, and a thousand have a disability.
Another 18,455 are in foster care, either from their own family or from other families. A good part of them, in permanent foster care by judicial decision (11,637), and 1,843, in what is called “guardian delegation for adoption”. 90% are Spanish.
