Brasília - Over the last two decades, some 12,000 Brazilian children have been adopted by foreign couples. Just in the last ten years, Italians have adopted 5,000 Brazilian children.

As a result, professionals from Brazil and Italy who work with international adoptions are holding a seminar this week in Brasilia to make the process smoother and more efficient.

The consensus is that Brazilian legislation on foreign adoptions is adequate in halting traffic in children and their commercialization. Would-be adoptive parents are accompanied by authorities while they are in Brazil, for example.

International adoptions are regulated by the Hague Convention. The process in Brazil takes around a year. After receiving a child, foreign parents must make annual reports for four years. The child obtains dual citizenship - the country where his parents take him and Brazilian citizenship.

The deputy secretary for Human Rights, Mario Mamede, reports that in general children adopted by foreign couples are older - the average age is four.

Agência Brasil
Reporter:Shirley Prestes
Translator: Allen Bennett
09/21/2004