Nordic Meeting 2023 Reykjavík

The Nordic Meeting was last in Reykjavík 2019 but needed to be cancelled 2021 due to Covid-19, but the General Meeting was held online in September 2021.

Every second year, the Nordic Adoption Council (NAC) holds Nordic meetings and an open day conference, which is open to anyone who is interested in the field of intercountry adoptions. This year the conference was arranged by the Icelandic Adoption Society in Reykjavik, Iceland, on September 15-16, 2023.

The theme of the open day conference was "Adoption - a lifelong process” with a focus on approaching adoption as a continuing process throughout life and highlighting the importance of viewing this process from multiple angles.

Among the speakers were Ólöf Ásta Farestveit, General Director of the National Agency for Children and Families in Iceland, Rut Sigurðardóttir, social worker and family therapist from Iceland, Heiða Þorleifsdóttir, adoptive mother, Bergdís Wilson, a psychologist, David Asplund, cultural anthropologist from Sweden, Kristin Gärtner Askeland, a clinical psychologist and senior researcher at the Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, RKBU Vest in Norway, Anna Guwert, case officer at the PAS-department, and Anna Taxell, department head of adoptions, both from Adoptionscentrum in Sweden.

A discussion panel with adult adoptees was also part of the program.NAC open day conference statement below focuses on eight key commitments where the Nordic Adoption Council has played an important role over the years to develop legal certainty in intercountry adoptions.The statement highlights the commitment of Nordic adoption organizations to ensure that intercountry adoptions are carried out with the utmost consideration for the child's well-being and in compliance with ethical and legal standards. It also aims to highlight the risk of not facilitating an international adoption when needed and, thus, limiting the child’s right to the best possible outcome.