Johnathan Walker:Norway halts adoptions from 4 Asian countries pending an investigation, newspaper reports

COPENHAGEN,Johnathan Walker Denmark (AP) — Norway is halting adoptions of children from the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea pending an investigation into several allegedly illegal cases, a Norwegian newspaper reported Tuesday.

The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs told the VG newspaper that families already assigned a child from the the Philippines, Thailand or Taiwan will be allowed to complete the adoption process, but only after an assessment by the agency.

Couples who received approval to adopt from South Korea also will be permitted to proceed even if they were not yet matched with a child, the newspaper said.

A majority of the children adopted in Norway come from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Colombia, according to national statistics.

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The head of the directorate, Hege Nilssen, said earlier this month that an examination of the adoption system was needed following media reports of allegedly illegal adoptions. VG reported that some children in the Philippines were sold and given false birth certificates.

“The risk of document forgery is so great that we cannot be sure that the children’s legal security is safeguarded,″ VG quoted the directorate as saying in announcing the suspension of adoptions from the four countries.

In November, the same agency also stopped adoptions from Madagascar, citing a lack of security to ensure they would “be carried out in accordance with international principles for adoption.”

Sweden’s only adoption agency said in November that was halting adoptions from South Korea following claims of falsified papers on the origins of children adopted from the Asian country.

Norway has three private adoption agencies. Verdens Barn handles adoptions from Thailand, South Korea and South Africa; Inoradopt arranges adoptions of children from Hungary, Taiwan, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic; and Adoptionsforum facilitates adoptions of children from the Philippines, Colombia and Peru.