According to Teresa Rojas Fernández, most of the adoptions that occur in the DR are the result of the voluntary release of children by their living parents. Rojas is the director of the Organismo Rector de Proteccion de Niños, Niñas and Adolescentes, that supervises adoptions in the DR. She expressed her concern over the intermediaries that bring foreigners seeking children for adoption and indigent parents. In 1999, she said there have been 83 adoptions, of which 67 were by voluntary release. Only 17 orphans of both parents were adopted. Of the total, foreigners adopted 49. Rojas said that Spaniards have adopted the most Dominican children among foreigners, given the shared language which makes the adaptation process easier.
