INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION


AFGHANISTAN
 

August 2007

The Department of State has occasionally received inquiries from American citizens concerned about the plight of the children of Afghanistan and wondering about the possibility of adopting them.

In general, intercountry adoptions are private civil legal matters governed by the laws of the children's home country, which has the primary responsibility and jurisdiction for deciding what would be in the children's best interests.  The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has confirmed that Afghan law, which is based on Islamic Shari'a law, does not currently permit full adoptions as they are generally understood in the United States. 

Afghanistan does grant a more limited arrangement akin to guardianship; however, even if an Afghan court or other Afghan authority were to grant a U.S. citizen guardianship rights for an Afghan child, the child would likely be unable to immigrate to the United States, unless the citizen could establish both that the child qualifies as an "orphan" as defined in section 101(b)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and, under Afghan law, the "guardianship" order gave the citizen authority not only to care for the child but to bring the United States for the specific purpose of the child's adoption in the United States.  Since Afghan law does not permit adoption, it is not clear that an Afghan guardianship order could give this authority.  

The U.S. and international media have occasionally reported on the difficult situation faced by Afghanistan's children, and it is completely understandable that some American citizens want to respond to such stories by offering to open their homes and adopt these children in need.  However, it is a generally agreed international principle that uprooting children during a war, natural disaster or other crisis may in fact exacerbate the children's situation.  It can be extremely difficult in such circumstances to determine whether children who appear to be orphans truly are.  It is also not uncommon in a hostile situation for parents to send their children out of the area, or for families to become separated during an evacuation.  Even when it can be demonstrated that children are indeed orphaned or abandoned, they are often taken in by other relatives.  Staying with relatives in extended family units is generally a better solution than uprooting a child completely.

There are still ways in which U.S. citizens can help the children of Afghanistan.  Many American non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Afghanistan say that what is needed most at this time are financial contributions.  Individuals who wish to assist can do the most good by making a financial contribution to an established NGO that will be well placed to respond to Afghanistan's most urgent needs, including those related to the country's children.

The Department of State continues to strongly warn U.S. citizens against travel to Afghanistan, which remains very dangerous.  (See the full text of the Afghanistan Travel Warning at the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs web site).