Beyond Blame: Intercountry Adoption, Exploitation, and the Urgent Need for Aotearoa to Step Up

Too often this week in conversations about intercountry adoption and child protection, the focus has drifted towards where children “come from,” with an implied blame on their birth countries. For many, especially Pacific Island nations, this can feed harmful stereotypes and feel deeply unfair—especially when those narratives overlook Aoteaoa’s own gaps and responsibilities. The reality is clear: abuse and exploitation happen here in Aotearoa, and we must focus on what we can and must change.

The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption offers a strong international framework to safeguard children, birth families, and adoptive families and prevent trafficking and exploitation. It insists that:

• adoption must be in the best interests of the child
• domestic alternatives be explored first
• organisations meet strict ethical standards.

Many Pacific countries have not signed or ratified this convention, which means the safeguards they operate under differ—and often don’t fully protect children in ways the Convention intends. However, it’s important to understand that the Convention’s framework does not always fit Pacific cultural realities.

Customary adoption arrangements in Pacific Island communities reflect deep family connections and collective responsibility. For many children, being part of an extended family or community is vital to their identity and well-being. We can’t simply apply a one-size-fits-all international model without respecting these cultural practices. The challenge is how to create child protection systems that respect and incorporate these customary ways while ensuring strong safeguards against exploitation.

Meanwhile, Aotearoa’s own adoption and child protection laws are outdated and leave loopholes for exploitation. Our Adoption Act, for example, lacks both clarity and nuance, desperately needing to be updated. Key legislation such as Section 17 of the Adoption Act prohibits payments related to adoption but is archaic, leaving room for abuse. Aotearoa’s modern slavery and trafficking laws also struggle to address child exploitation effectively because of the high burden of proof of coercion required.

This isn’t about blaming other countries or communities. It’s about acknowledging that child abuse and exploitation happen here—within our borders, under our laws, and in our systems. It’s about owning our responsibility to protect all children in Aotearoa, whether they were born here or have arrived recently through adoption or other means.

The real problem is not cultural differences or the countries children come from. The real enemy is traffickers and exploiters who look for legal and systemic loopholes to profit from vulnerable children. Instead of pointing fingers and deepening divides, we need a collective commitment:

• For Aotearoa to strengthen our legal frameworks and close loopholes.
• For respectful coordination with Pacific Island governments to build child protection systems that work for their cultural contexts and protect children.
• For all of us to reject simplistic blame and stereotyping, and instead focus on solutions that keep children safe and connected to their identities and families.

We don’t have all the answers—this is complex, and no system is perfect. But we do have the power and responsibility to focus on what we can change here and now. Protecting children means seeing them as part of our shared community and standing together against those who seek to exploit them.

Let’s stop the finger-pointing and start the real work of safeguarding children—wherever they come from, and however they come to be part of our Aotearoa whānau.