Hague Adoption Convention
In May 1993 the proposal was presented at the seventeenth session of The Hague Convention. It became effective in 1995. The United States ratified the Hague Adoption Convention in December 2007. Forty-six countries had ratified the treaty as of May 2002. Thirteen more had yet to ratify it. Many countries which have not ratified the Convention do not permit foreign adoptions of their children nor adoptions of foreign children. For example, Muslim countries do not permit foreign adoptions.