The Corrupting Influence of the United States on a Vulnerable Intercountry Adoption System: A Guide for Stakeholders, Hague and Non-Hague Nations, NGOs, and Concerned Parties

If the proportion of adoptions to the United States continues to fall, it is possible that the real result of the failures of the United States in regard to intercountry adoption will be the decreasing significance of the United States to the intercountry adoption system. The assumption that the United States is the central actor in the intercountry adoption system may in the future prove false, as the pathways of intercountry adoption change over time. Thus, the failure of the United States to sufficiently reform may also lead to an intercountry adoption system which increasingly bypasses the United States. From this perspective, the primary significance of the United States to the intercountry adoption system for the future may be as a negative example to other nations of what can go wrong if intercountry adoption and child welfare systems are not properly implemented and regulated.