International adoptions at Terre des Hommes

Between 1967 and 1998, Terre des Hommes facilitated international adoptions, placing orphans and abandoned children for adoption in Germany. Most of these children came from East and Southeast Asia, as well as Latin America. While adoption placement work constituted only a small part of our diverse activities, it significantly shaped the public perception of Terre des Hommes .

Perhaps no other issue has shaped the identity of Terre des Hommes Germany and the public image of the organization as profoundly over the years as its adoption work. Working with abandoned children played a crucial role from the very beginning of Terre des Hommes . In June 1967, a plane carrying war-wounded children from Vietnam landed in Germany for the first time. This airlift was organized by volunteer Terre des Hommes staff. Further flights followed. The activists of that time soon realized that an airlift alone was insufficient for the medical care of war-wounded children. Many children had lost their parents and relatives. Thus, efforts began to find German parents willing to adopt Vietnamese orphans. In 1994, the Terre des Hommes general assembly decided to discontinue its active adoption program. When this work was finally completed in 1998, approximately 2,800 children, mainly from Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, as well as Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador, had been placed.

Within Terre des Hommes critical debates about adoptions have repeatedly provided new impetus for the further development of its work. This includes, for example, a multi-year international campaign against child trafficking, which also critically examined the trafficking of children involved in adoption. Terre des Hommes also campaigned for the ratification of the Hague Convention, which in 1993 finally established binding regulations for cooperation between states in international adoptions.