If fraud is proven, whatever the reason, can a foreign govt...?

Question

invalidate the adoption and recover the child, even one that has already become a U.S. citizen?

Yes/ No?

This is in the cases of international adoption.

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

Once the child is outside the jurisdiction of the court in it's country of origin there is not much that the court itself can do.  The country of origin can start to put pressure on the new country of residence for the child but other then that there isn't anything that can be done, citizen or not.

My daughter, under an Indian passport and not yet a Canadian, could only be taken from us by a Canadian court as long as they had cause.  Exactly the same way they would have had to do it, and with the same grounds, as if she was a biological child of mine.  

It's like anything else in the legal world, once the person is outside the jurisdiction of the court in question then there isn't much they can do.  

Answer 3

Pretty sure that it's "No" if the child is a US citizen.  If not, I'm not sure, but I think it would be more likely.  I'd have to check the precedents.  

Answer 4

Not if the child is already a citizen.  It would have to be a U.S. immigration decision to send the child back once that has happened, the foreign government is powerless at that point.  

There were cases of this involving Cambodia (which is now shut down).  U.S. immigration looked at the situation (baby trafficking) and did not require that the known trafficked children be returned to Cambodia.  The children stayed with their adoptive family.  At least, though, U.S. immigration no longer issues immigrant visas for adoption from Cambodia, so U.S. citizens can no longer adopt from Cambodia while trafficking occurs.  

If the child is not a U.S. citizen , that is a different story, although it is probably rare that the child would be returned, but it could happen.  I know of a case recently where a 15 yr. old adopted from Guatemala as an infant is in limbo with U.S. immigration who is saying she is to be deported.  Apparently her parents never went through the naturalization process and there is some weird thing with immigration and the poor girl is scared to death.  This wasn't a case of fraud, though, or the foreign government trying to get a child back, so it doesn't really fit your scenario.  In reality, children who are trafficed for adoption have government officials in their native country who are involved in the trafficing and the government wouldn't be seeking to get them back.  It would be the poor biological family speaking to the deaf ears of the government officials who refuse to try to do anything.

Answer 5

I doubt that a foreign government can "recover" a minor child from the country of adoptive parents.

As a general rule, if fraud is known to have occurred during the adoption, caused by ANY party, it might serve to undermine  the final adoption decree.  SO...imagining that some party overseas lied to a birth parent during the course of an international adoption, and that birth parent finds out and wants the child back,  be aware this becomes not simply a legal matter, but one of humanity and human relationships.   A birth parent overseas who was deceived will not forget and for years may persist in trying to locate the child.  When the child is an adult, they might actually meet one another, because one or both sides took steps to find one another.  How hard it would be for the young adopted adult to learn that adoption happened against the wishes of the birth parent, and that for many years there has been a grieving heart over his/her loss to an overseas family?

This is why it it important to work with legitimate agencies and honest people and follow all legal procedures in the process of any adoption, domestic or international.