STOCKHOLM: Adoption hotlines around the world have been jammed with callers since the Asian tsunami on Dec 26 orphaned thousands of children, but experts and aid agencies are telling would-be parents they may be disappointed.
"We've had maybe a hundred calls just in the past two days," said Margret Josefsson at the advice centre Adoption scentrum in Sweden, which adopts proportionally more foreign children than any other country in the world, most of them from Asia.
The depth of Swedish compassion after the tsunami - feared to have taken hundreds of Swedish lives, as Thailand is a favourite holiday destination - has been reflected in an increase in offers to take older children as well.
"Usually people prefer infants," said Josefsson. The US State Department issued special advice in response to all the calls and in Britain, which adopts a tiny number of foreign children compared to European neighbours like France, the Overseas Adoption Help line said enquiries were up fourfold.
"Virtually everybody who is calling is mentioning the tsunami," said help line director Gill Haworth. Despite the scale of the tragedy - in Indonesia alone 35,000 children may have lost one or both parents - callers are advised that screening is as strict as ever and the priority is to keep orphaned children in their community wherever possible.
Southeast Asian governments, aid agencies and charities say it is unwise to give children up for adoption before it has been proved beyond doubt that their parents are dead and that their extended family or local community cannot take care of them.
"Adoptions, especially inter-country ones, are inappropriate during the emergency phase as children are better placed being cared for by their wider families and the communities they know," said Save the Children.
OUT OF HARM'S WAY: With warnings being issued that illegal adoption syndicates may take advantage of the tsunami chaos to traffic in children - as well as child prostitution rings and paedophiles - UNICEF has urged quick action to put orphans out of harm's way.
"Those who would prey upon children in this chaotic environment are already at work," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. UNICEF's view on adoption is that "staying with relatives in extended family units is generally a better solution than uprooting the child completely".
Two of the worst-affected countries, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, have gone as far as banning the adoption of tsunami orphans altogether for the time being. The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) said that with "some unscrupulous people" trafficking in children for adoption, would-be parents should hold off.
"I know that if people are really concerned about the welfare of these children, the last thing they would want to do is to fuel a potential market in child adoption or to deprive children of the opportunity to be reunited with grieving members of their own family," said BAAF head Felicity Collier.
The US State Department said it "applauds" the compassion of Americans who had called it to ask about adopting tsunami orphans, but said it was impossible until "legitimate orphans" were properly identified - which would take "many months".
It advised people to channel their compassion by sending money to help relief efforts. The website Thailand Adoption said it expected Thailand's government to introduce fast-track adoption for tsunami orphans - but only for Thai nationals. Adoptions overseas were likely to slow down as Thai social workers dealt with the chaos, it said.
"It does not mean that a Thai adoption is not possible or right for your family; it only means that you should not let the current disaster reports lead you to expect a speedy or simple process," is Thailand Adoption's advice.
Painful media images of Indian, Sri Lankan, Indonesian and Thai children bereft of their families and prey to prostitution rings have served to raise wider awareness of orphans' needs world wide, for example in African countries ravaged by AIDS.
"People have been sensitised to needs of children around the world and that may be one positive development of this terrible tragedy," said Haworth in Britain, where adoption traditionally focuses on children in local care institutions. "We hope that the idea of adopting a child, any child, has taken root," said Josefsson in Sweden. -Reuters
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