Immigration NZ alerted to child smuggling, families adopting more than 10 kids

Otago Daily Times

08-06-2025

By Gill Bonnett of RNZ
Some New Zealanders have adopted more than 10 children from overseas and one woman with previous convictions smuggled children into the country, government briefings have revealed.
Internal intelligence reports and warnings to Labour and National immigration ministers show concerns about the motives of some parents in adopting children from abroad, but being powerless to act.
A Swedish commission recommended last week that international adoptions be stopped after an investigation found a series of abuses and fraud dating back decades.
In New Zealand, too, the abuses - and the unchecked pathway for adoptees coming from countries which have not ratified the Hague Convention - have been known about for decades. It has included adoptive parents with previous convictions and children being held as house-slaves or sexually assaulted.
Oranga Tamariki and the Family Court here do not need to be consulted - or even notified - before the children are adopted and arrive in New Zealand, which has also prompted fears the lack of oversight could mean other abuses remain undiscovered.
An immigration and customs report from June last year, which analysed threats to the New Zealand border, said fraud involved in "non-genuine adoptions" included falsifying family relationships to gain residence or citizenship.
A briefing to immigration minister Erica Stanford in January said the majority of intercountry adoptions were genuine, but some young people may be adopted out by birth parents who see it as a way for their children to access New Zealand's better "education, services and labour market".
"Several cases of harm to international adoptees, perpetrated by their adoptive families, have been identified in recent years, and there is a risk that the incidents may rise in future.
"While the risk of exploitation and abuse exists in both genuine and non-genuine adoptions alike, the latter presents a much higher risk, both at an individual and systemic level. MBIE intelligence evidence, for example, indicates that children and young adults entering New Zealand as a result of a non-genuine adoption are at higher risk of sexual abuse, labour exploitation and domestic servitude, as well as reports of physical abuse, neglect and preventing school-age adoptees from participating in education."
The number of such adoptions was expected to increase over time, "potentially exponentially as cohorts of previous adoptees come of age" it said, seeming to suggest adopted children could later adopt children themselves from their home country. Adoptees over 18-years-old
The dependent child category residence visa extends to the age of 24 and a "large proportion" of those adopted overseas were over the age of 18 when they were brought to New Zealand, officials said.
A 2021 intelligence report said 65% of dependent child category applicants in 2020/21 from one unnamed (redacted) country were aged from 18 to 25, totalling 224 young adults.
"While the issues cited above can arise for adoptees of any age, adoptions initiated at a relatively older age tend to present higher risk of some types of harm, such as financial exploitation, and are also more likely to raise questions in respect of their genuineness, with associated risks to the integrity of the immigration system.
"While New Zealand law sets age restrictions for domestic adoptions, there is no upper age limit for recognising international adoptions, which creates a situation where adoptees well past the age where standard arguments for genuine adoptions, eg, for the care and protection of a child in the nature of a parent child relationship, may no longer be as applicable, and it is likely that secondary gains, such as securing residence may be the primary motive in many of these cases."
Some adoptions over a certain age would be genuine - "Officials do, however, consider that there are likely to be very few situations where adoption at older ages (especially 20+) would be truly genuine."
Protection from child welfare services did not extend to the older cohort, who were considered vulnerable because they were young adults in an unfamiliar country. The warnings have been known to ministers for many years.
"Once in New Zealand, the children are placed under a high level of control by their adoptive parents," officials told then-immigration minister Iain Lees-Galloway in 2019. "They have their passports taken and movements controlled. They are placed into paid work. However, their wages are controlled by the adoptive parents and they are frequently required to take out substantial loans. The adoptive parents would control these funds, with the children required to pay off the debt." Children smuggled into New Zealand
New Zealand-resident parents have "often" adopted more than 10 children or young adults each from overseas, said the same briefing, indicating some appeared to have been physically, sexually or emotionally abused.
And in an August 2023 report, MBIE Intelligence said Immigration New Zealand (INZ) reported a woman "alleged to have been adopting children and smuggling them into New Zealand".
"INZ has additional concerns around offences against the New Zealand Citizenship Act 1977, convictions of welfare fraud, and family harm incidents with New Zealand Police. INZ has concerns around the welfare of these nationals and has requested additional information to inform decisions on their residency applications."
It found she had "highly likely" provided false and misleading information to INZ to secure residence for her adopted children, had a history of misleading government agencies and was unlikely to be a suitable adoptive parent.
It said she "occasionally resorts" to violent behaviour towards children under her care, and a redacted section referred to a conviction for which she was discharged. "Given [her] history of violent behaviour, she is unlikely to be an appropriate sponsor to adopt children under her care ... there is no information on the frequency of [her] violent behaviour towards her children. It is unknown whether [she] uses physical discipline against her children on a regular basis."
Stanford asked for more policy information after she was alerted to a concerning dependent child category residence visa application in a "no surprises" item in December.
The adopted children would be classed as victims of people trafficking if they were later forced into work or unpaid labour, domestic servitude, coerced marriages or suffered sexual exploitation, she was told. Other adverse outcomes ranged from neglect, emotional abuse, limited access to schooling, and trauma and loss from being removed from their biological families and their home countries.
"While there are concerns about the nature of the adoption, the Immigration Act and relevant immigration instructions do not provide a pathway for legally declining the application."
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