Norwegian adoption authorities face scrutiny over systemic failures and potential child trafficking

A damning report on Norway's international adoption system has exposed a near-total failure at every level, suggesting that any successes were more a matter of chance than deliberate planning. The investigation, documented in NOU 2026: 7, uses the word "criticizable" 164 times, alongside frequent use of "critical of" and "objectionable," painting an alarming picture of the system's deep-seated flaws.

Investigators have uncovered conditions resembling corruption within the adoption system, involving Norwegian actors and multiple countries. The report details instances that could constitute the buying and selling, kidnapping, and theft of children, amounting to direct human trafficking. It reveals blatant lies and half-truths regarding agreements and financial transfers, including advance payments for children destined for adoption in Norway.

Adoption associations reportedly offered bonus schemes to their foreign contacts and employees, amounting to $100 per adoptable child secured. Advance payments of up to $6,000 per child were not uncommon. In 2000, Adopsjonsforum alone had transferred 2.7 million kroner in donations to orphanages in Colombia the previous year. These donations, funded by potential adoptive parents awaiting a child, were not always disclosed to them.

The report criticizes Norwegian adoption agencies, like Adopsjonsforum, for making foreign orphanages financially dependent on them. One example from Colombia in the 1990s shows Adopsjonsforum providing a $15,000 loan to an orphanage, with repayment contingent on the orphanage supplying a certain number of children for adoption to Norway. Norwegian authorities, meanwhile, operated under the assumption that foreign countries followed their own rules, with limited oversight, a stance that enjoyed cross-party political consensus in Norway.

As late as 1996, an office manager at the Norwegian Adoption Office stated in Parliament that authorities had to assume countries followed their laws and that Norway could not guarantee that children were not stolen or bought due to limited control possibilities. This statement, made after an interview in Arbeiderbladet, reflects the lax attitude of Norwegian adoption authorities three decades ago, with few questioning the system.