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HANOI, Vietnam – The number of international adoptions has plummeted to its lowestpoint in 15 years, a steep decline attributed largely to crackdownsagainst baby-selling, a sputtering world economy and efforts bycountries to place more children with domestic families. Globally, the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parentsdropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 lastyear, according to annual statistics compiled by Peter Selman, anexpert on international adoptions at Britain's NewcastleUniversity. Some adoption advocates argue the decrease is also linked to a setof strict international guidelines known as the Hague AdoptionConvention. Devised to ensure transparency and child protectionfollowing a rash of baby-selling and kidnapping scandals, criticssay the guidelines have also been used by leading adopting nations,such as the U.S., as a pretext for freezing adoptions altogetherfrom some countries that are out of compliance. "It should have been a real step forward, but it's been used in away that's made it a force for shutting down countries," ElizabethBartholet, a Harvard Law professor who promotes internationaladoptions. "That affects thousands of children every year." She says places where international adoptions are stopped mayultimately see more children stuck in orphanages or on the streetwhere they could fall prey to sex traffickers. "I question whetherit's ever true where adoption is all about buying and selling andkidnapping," Bartholet says. U.S. adoption officials and international agencies such as UNICEFsay the Hague rules, which require countries to set up a centraladoption authority and a system of checks and balances, arenecessary to safeguard orphans and keep profit-driven players fromcorrupting a system that should be purely about helping unwantedchildren. Alison Dilworth, adoptions division chief at the U.S. Office ofChildren's Issues and a strong supporter of the Hague guidelines,says they shield adoptive parents from everyone's worst nightmare:"God forbid, that knock on the door ... saying your child that youhave raised and loved and is fully integrated into your family wasstolen from a birth parent who is desperately trying to look forthem." Much has changed from a decade ago, when busloads of would-beforeign parents flocked to orphanages in poor countries such asChina, Vietnam and Guatemala to take babies home following arelatively quick, easy process. Waits have become increasingly longer and requirements stiffer,with some countries now refusing obese or single adoptive parentsand requiring proof of a certain amount of cash in the bank.Countries embroiled in scandals have pulled the plug on theirprograms, or been cut off by the U.S. and other countries, leavinghundreds of children caught in bureaucratic limbo. Sharon Brooks, 56, of New York, knows the story all too well. Shewaited three and a half years for the release of a little girl inVietnam after the U.S. froze adoptions there in 2008 amid seriousfraud concerns. Finally, in January, Brooks learned the child shehad named Akira-Li would instead be adopted by a Vietnamese family. "That was my one shot," says Brooks, who now believes she is tooold to qualify for most international adoptions. "Everything in mylife has been at a standstill." Vietnam joined the Hague convention on Feb. 1, and U.S. officialssay they are hopeful adoptions will resume within the next year. Shutdowns in other countries such as Guatemala, Nepal andKyrgyzstan have coincided with changes in big sending countrieslike Russia and China, which have placed more emphasis on domesticadoption and tightened restrictions for foreigners. China, for instance, stopped allowing single woman to adoptchildren -- up to one-third of U.S. adoptive parents fell into thiscategory in the late 1990s, Selman says. Advances in fertilitytechnology and the increasing number of couples turning tosurrogacy have all contributed to the global drop. The U.S., which historically has received about half of the world'sannual international adoptions, saw a decline of more than 60percent from 2004 to just over 9,000 last year. Dilworth, the U.S. adoptions official, says the economic downturnis at least partly to blame, with foreign adoptions typicallycosting between $20,000 to $40,000. But the U.S. freezes on adoptions from some countries also arecurtailing the supply. Guatemala used to provide up to 4,000 children a year forinternational adoption at its peak in 2006. But the U.S. will notaccept further adoptions from the country until it has fullyrevamped its system to root out corruption, Dilworth says. "They have incredible problems with fraud," she says. In one recent high-profile case, a Guatemalan court ruled that anAmerican family must return their 7-year-old adopted daughter toher birth mother after it was discovered that the girl wasallegedly snatched from in front of her house five years ago. Thechild remains in the U.S. Other countries that have seen large drops in the adoption offoreign babies include Spain and France, which fell 48 percent and14 percent, respectively, from 2004 to 2010. Canada remained thesame and Italy actually saw a 21 percent increase during thatperiod, according to Selman, who analyzed data from 23 countriesthat are primary receivers of adopted orphans. Last year's 25,000 adoptions globally were the lowest amount since1996, Selman said. The global numbers could decline further as South Korea, one of thetop providers of orphans for foreign adoption, works to phase outits long-running program. Since the 1950s, it has sent more than 170,000 children abroad,with the majority ending up in the United States. Despite havingone of the world's fast-growing economies, and growing domesticconcern about falling birth rates that are already among theworld's lowest, it continues to rank as a top sending county.Experts blame this on a strong cultural stigma against both unwedKorean women who give birth and couples who adopt. But pressure has been mounting for years for the government toabandon the program. In recent years, lawmakers have created newincentives to help promote domestic adoption, while quotas haveallowed fewer children to leave. If the decline in global adoptions is to be reversed, says Selman,the source is likely to be Africa, where Ethiopia has emerged inrecent years as a top source of orphans available for foreignadoption. It's unclear whether other African countries will follow. "If it's going to go up, it'll be from Africa," he says. 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