Adoption - special restrictions: list of countries

Nigeria

Title of order: Special Restrictions on Intercountry Adoptions from Nigeria
Date order in force: 12 March 2021

The Order places restrictions on adoptions from Nigeria. The Order has been made in response to significant child welfare and safeguarding concerns due to issues affecting the Nigerian adoption system.

This decision is based on evidence received through international partners, including the UK Government, and other Central Adoption Authorities and diplomatic missions. There is a pattern of evidence that weak safeguards and unreliable documentation within the Nigerian adoption system create significant safeguarding risks such as child trafficking and corruption. Specific areas of concern include:

• difficulties confirming the background and adoptability of children
• unreliable documentation
• concerns about corruption in the Nigerian adoption system
• evidence of organised child trafficking within Nigeria
• concerns about weaknesses in checks completed by Nigerian authorities in relation to adoption applications from prospective adopters who are habitually resident in the United Kingdom and therefore are likely to in fact be intended to be intercountry adoptions. This includes weaknesses in pre and post adoption monitoring procedures. There is an absence of checks as to whether the adoption is intended to be an intercountry adoption in light of the habitual residence of applicants and accordingly whether prospective adopters have been assessed and approved by their local authority in Scotland and issued with relevant documentation (e.g. certificate of eligibility to adopt) to proceed with an intercountry adoption from Nigeria

Such practices are contrary to the principles of the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (‘the Hague Convention’) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As such, restrictions are deemed appropriate on the basis that it would be contrary to public policy to further the bringing of these children into the UK. Putting in place these restrictions means that future applications to adopt from Nigeria will not be permitted unless the Scottish Ministers are satisfied that a particular case ought to be treated as an exception 

These special restrictions are a significant child safeguarding measure which increases the Scottish authorities’ oversight of adoptions of children from Nigeria, to improve the protection of children adopted from Nigeria and ensure that any adoptions which do take place are evidenced to be in the best interests of the child.