In July, we were honoured to be invited to lead a parallel session at the World Congress on Family Law and Children’s Rights, hosted at the University of Cambridge. CFAB joined delegates, academics, and legal experts from across the Americas, Africa, Oceania, Asia and Europe. The World Congress welcomed notable speakers including but not limited to:

• Sir Andrew McFarlane PC, President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice
• Emilio Puccio, Secretary-General, European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights
• Diana Bryant AO KC, Chair of the World Congress
• Mr Philippe Lortie, First Secretary of the Hague Conference on Private International Law
• Baroness Joanna Shields OBE, Global Advocate for Ethical AI and Online Safety, UK Parliament House of Lords
• Fahima Sirat Qazi, Former Judge at the Afghan Anti-Corruption Justice Center and academic visitor in the Oxford Law Faculty

CFAB hosted a parallel session How International Kinship Care Creates Equity in Permanency. This session drew upon the principles and aims of the International Social Service (ISS) campaign, Equity in Permanency, which CFAB co-produced. 

Mr Philippe Lortie, First Secretary of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, moderated the session and delivered an introductory presentation on the origins of the HCCH 1980 and the added value of the HCCH 1996. Both conventions continue to grow in relevance as border crossing accelerates. Mr Lortie emphasised the critical role ISS played in the formation of the conventions, thanks to our global comprehensive casework and (now) 100 years of expertise in cross-border child protection. 

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International Social Service (ISS) Equity in Permanency Principles

Damon Martin, International Social Service Australia

Carolyn Housman, Children And Families Across Borders, UK

CFAB CEO Carolyn Housman was joined by Damon Martin, Deputy CEO of ISS Australia, to discuss the inequities in the exploration, planning, and arrangement of alternative care for children because overseas relatives are rarely considered as potential kinship carers. Carolyn and Damon shared insights from ISS research on the lack of infrastructure globally to support international family finding and kinship arrangements. They described how international kinship care practices create equity in permanency and explained why this is a viable option for children in care. Find out more about our campaign to prevent discrimination in children’s care planning here. 

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International Kinship Care: Findings from an Empirical Study of Care Proceedings in England

Dr Maria Wright, Hunters, UK

Former CFAB colleague Dr Maria Wright followed with a study drawing on her doctoral research: an analysis of 100 care cases heard in England between 2015-2018, and interviews with professionals with experience in international kinship care. 

The study documents the rise in the number of children placed with kinship carers at the end of proceedings, and a corresponding fall in the number of children placed for adoption. Maria also addressed concerns about children being placed with kinship carers with whom they have little or no pre-existing relationship.

Maria identified significant challenges for professionals and courts associated with trying to ‘fit’ cross-border situations into a domestic legal framework. It suggests that these difficulties stem from an approach in care proceedings which fails to treat international kinship care as a distinct form of care, with its potential strengths and challenges. In care proceedings with an international element, a micro-focus on law and procedure has the potential to hinder an individualised approach to supporting children with international connections.

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How International Kinship Care Creates Equity in Permanency

Hana Davis, Expert by Experience, Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB)

Hana Davis is an Expert by Experience at Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB). Adopted across international borders as a child, she is motivated to share her experience to encourage policymakers to consider the perspectives of those who have been through similar situations and to place the best interests of the child at the heart of permanency planning. 

Hana drew on her experiences to discuss some of the complexities around identity and belonging for children who are placed with families across international borders and grow up in a country different to their country of origin. Hana advocated for strengthening international cooperation to ensure children without parental care benefit from improved permanency planning, aligned with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to preserve cultural and family connections and build a strong sense of identity and belonging. 

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International Adoptions - Protection of Children in the Context of Intercountry Adoption

Chair: Mr Christopher Hames KC, Barrister & Recorder, 4PB, UK (CFAB Trustee)

Panellists: Ms Hilka Hollmann, Dawson Cornwell LLP, UK (CFAB Trustee); Judge Fiona Mwale, Malawi Judiciary; Ms Lavanya Regunathan Fischer, RFKN Advocates & Consultants, India

Our Trustees also ran a session International Adoptions - Protection of Children in the Context of Intercountry Adoption chaired by CFAB Trustee Christopher Hames KC. The 1993 Hague Convention on intercountry adoptions was created to provide a universally consistent and effective safeguarding system to protect against child trafficking, and illegal and irregular international adoptions, specifically in the context of economic disparity between countries, poverty, displacement, war and natural disasters, and what happens when displaced or abandoned children are adopted internationally.

The panel of experts assessed the operation of Hague principles and effective safeguarding in different parts of the world, including: 

• Countries which have not ratified the Convention, or cannot do so because they are not in an economic position to put in place the sophisticated resources required to implement the Convention.
• Countries where the Convention has impacted long-standing community traditions and cultural practices around the care of children as part of the community
• How the interests of the child permeates the legal thinking in most jurisdictions and how these can be reconciled in an international setting.

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It was an honour to be invited to attend and deliver our session on Equity in Permanency. You can find out more about our campaign to prevent discrimination in children’s care planning here. 

Read the full programme of events at the World Congress here. 

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