The decision follows a succession of problematic cases that have cast serious doubt on the integrity of international adoption procedures and on the ability of authorities to verify children’s backgrounds with certainty.
On April 27, Flemish Welfare Minister Caroline Gennez announced: “It is time to close this chapter.” The move reflects broad political consensus in Flanders after years in which disputed adoption cases repeatedly made headlines.
International adoption by Flemish families has already fallen sharply, from 244 cases in 2009 to just 29 in 2022.
In 2021, Flemish authorities began reassessing co-operation with countries of origin to determine whether all legal and ethical safeguards were being properly respected.
By the end of 2023, most international adoption procedures had been suspended, including those involving countries such as Gambia, Haiti, Morocco and Vietnam.
Several high-profile cases contributed to the decision, particularly those involving Ethiopian children whose adoption files contained serious irregularities.
A 2019 investigation found that the Flemish government could not confirm whether 935 adoptions had been carried out correctly.
In parallel, an NGO working against child trafficking conducted a screening in the Netherlands and found that approximately 75 per cent of Ethiopian adoption files were either fraudulent or contained significant errors.
Authorities concluded that the system could no longer guarantee the safety and well-being of children.
As Gennez put it: “The safety and well-being of children must always come first. However, even with the best intentions and thorough screening procedures, this cannot be guaranteed in the context of international adoptions.”
The new adoption decree will establish a legal framework focused exclusively on domestic adoption. The legislation is expected to come into force in 2027, while the current moratorium on international adoptions will remain in place until then.
Only applicants who have already been approved and matched with a child abroad will be allowed to complete their adoption process.
The decision marks a major shift in Flemish family policy and places the region among a growing number of European jurisdictions questioning whether international adoption, once widely presented as a humanitarian solution, can still be justified when documentation, consent and child protection standards cannot be independently guaranteed.
