Below is a portion of a conversation with Hilary Neiman regarding the Hague Convention:

The United States recently became signatories to the Hague Adoption Convention, which protects children and families against unregulated adoption risks and issues involving intercountry adoption. The move closes off adoption from some countries where families previously could adopt children, and will make international adoption even harder for LGBT families. Windy City Times spoke with Hilary Neiman, attorney for The National Adoption and Surrogacy Center, LLC, in Rockville, Md., about the adoption climate for LGBT parents. Windy City Times: Could you explain some of the implications of the U.S.’s decision to sign the Hague Adoption Convention?

Hilary Neiman: Countries where the U.S. was formally able to adopt from that were LGBT friendly, such as Guatemala, are no longer adoption options for the U.S. because these countries are not signatories of the Hague Convention. To further complicate matters, many countries around the world are also in a period of transition and are changing their own adoption regulations. For example, China, which used to allow adoption by unmarried persons, is now prohibiting adoptions by parents who are unmarried. China’s reasoning is that they wanted to increase their own domestic adoption program. Consequently very few countries are currently open to the LGBT community.

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