Labels: international, orphanages

The U.S. actress says groups or individuals who want to help Haiti's children should rather support orphanages or their families inside the country.

Farrow, who herself has adopted 11 children, says offering parents a better life for their children elsewhere is "completely unacceptable and immoral."

Adoption practices in Haiti are in the spotlight since a group of American missionaries was caught trying to smuggle Haitian children out of the country in the wake of the Jan. 12 quake.

Labels: haiti, illegal adoptions, international

Col. John Marselus, the 607th Air and Space Operations Center commander, and his wife, Kim, traveled to Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, in January where they picked up their newest son Caleb, a 5-year-old orphan whom they had just adopted.

"The adoption process took about two years, but in reality this journey started well over two decades ago," Colonel Marselus said. Their trip to Ethiopia opened yet another opportunity; the opportunity to meet face-to-face with one of the many children they had sponsored worldwide for almost three decades. ...

After 25 years of sponsorship of multiple children, the Marselus family decided it was time to have an even greater impact on a needy child. It was at that point they decided to pursue the option of adoption.

"Sponsoring needy children ... is great, but we were convicted to see if there was a child who needed a family," Colonel Marselus said. "We strongly felt that the right thing to do was provide an orphaned little boy or girl the love and nurturing they so desperately deserve."

Labels: international

Are there any new adoptions being started for children who were already orphaned or children newly orphaned in Haiti?

Reputable adoption agencies would tell you that neither the State Department nor Haiti’s government are considering new adoption applications at this time. Their primary concern is the safety of children who may have been separated from surviving relatives and need time to be reunited with extended family.

Labels: haiti, international

We are a community of scholars, activists, professors, artists, lawyers, social workers and health care workers who speak with the knowledge that North Americans and Europeans are lining up to adopt the "orphaned children" of the Haitian earthquake, and who feel compelled to voice our opinion about what it means to be "saved" or "rescued" through adoption."

We understand that in a time of crisis there is a tendency to want to act quickly to support those considered the most vulnerable and directly affected, including children. However, we urge caution in determining how best to help. ...

For more than fifty years "orphaned children" have been shipped from areas of war, natural disasters, and poverty to supposedly better lives in Europe and North America. ... Like us, these "disaster orphans" will grow into adulthood and begin to grasp the magnitude of the abuse, fraud, negligence, suffering, and deprivation of human rights involved in their displacements. ...

As adoptees of color we bear a unique understanding of the trauma, and the sense of loss and abandonment that are part of the adoptee experience, and we demand that our voices be heard. All adoptions from Haiti must be stopped and all efforts to help children be refocused on giving aid to organizations working toward family reunification and caring for children in their own communities.

Labels: haiti, international

"Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told the Miami Herald his government has considerable fears that children may be scooped up in the streets of Port-au-Prince by nongovernmental organizations. The government also has concerns that children may be trafficked into prostitution or slavery." [Source: The Palm Beach Post]

Labels: haiti, international

Even before the earthquake, Haiti was considered one of the most challenging countries for adoption because of red tape and an unstable and corrupt government. ...

Adoption agency officials say people who are now flooding local agencies with calls may not have any idea what obstacles they'll encounter.

“No one right now is accepting applications for adoptions because of the collapse of the (Haitian) government," said Hollen Frazier of All God's Children International.

She said she believes it will be a year before Haiti will begin to allow adoptions again and then the wait may be up to three years.

"I would just encourage people to keep the orphan in their foresight with the understanding we have orphans throughout the entire world," she said.

Labels: haiti, international

Fleming is the founder of Adoption-Link Inc., an agency in Oak Park [Illinois] through which she has placed hundreds of children since 1992. During a 2002 visit to Vietnam to meet her now-9-year-old daughter, her eyes were opened to the crisis of children and HIV.

She returned to the U.S. and established Chances by Choice, a program that helps place children born with HIV.

To date, close to 60 such children have found adoptive families.

According to a UNICEF report, about 370,000 children younger than 15 around the world became infected with HIV in 2007. Most infections occur during birth or through breast-feeding. Many of these children are orphaned when their parents die of AIDS.

Labels: adoption_agencies, HIV, international

"Though both know their children are safe ... what they don't know is when they'll be able to proceed with their dream of bringing the children to the United States. They fear for their children's safety in the days to come, and that their months-long effort to adopt the children could be stalled by the chaos." (Source: The Associated Press)

Labels: haiti, international

Lacking a birth certificate and naturalization papers, Whiteley, who doesn’t speak Spanish, was deported to Mexico on the assumption that it was his country of origin. …

The laws on migration and foreign adoptions are complicated, said Heidi Cox, executive vice president and general counsel for the Gladney Center in Forth Worth... "Your Texas adoption will establish that you are the parent, but not that the child is a citizen,’ she said."

Labels: international

"Big declines were recorded for all three countries that provided the most adopted children in the previous fiscal year. In China and Russia, government officials have been trying to promote domestic adoptions, while in Guatemala, a once-bustling but highly corrupt international adoption industry was shut down while reforms are implemented." [Source: The Associated Press]

Labels: international

The Federal Attorney-General has put the adoption program on hold because of concerns over a request from Ethiopia that Australia enter into a formal aid agreement as part of the arrangement.

Adoption agencies and prospective parents say they and hundreds of children have been left in limbo for no good reason and they are calling for the suspension to be lifted.

In the past 10 years more than 450 Ethiopian children have been adopted to Australia and many more families are interested in adopting an Ethiopian child. ...

Teacher Alex Grieve and her husband Rod have been going through the adoption program for six years. About 16 months ago their application was finally sent to Ethiopia to be matched with a child.

But then came the news that the Australian Government had suspended the adoption program. ...

Ms Grieve says she is devastated by the news.

"It's been pretty crushing, pretty hard. This is our only option to become parents," she said.

Labels: australia, ethiopia, international

Families like Brad, Terri, and Sachi are helping to bring about that much-needed transformation. They're part of a small but growing group of would-be parents looking to bring a child into their homes and lives. Coupled with the increasing manageability of HIV in areas with access to medical care, children like Sachi are finding homes ... and thriving.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing them for a story in Parenting magazine, "An HIV Adoption Story" (December 2009 issue.) While no hard numbers exist for HIV adoption, the field is growing by "leaps and bounds," Erin Henderson, the coordinator for HIV-positive kids at Adoption Advocates International in Port Angeles, WA, told me.

In 2005, AAI helped two HIV-positive Ethiopian children come to the U.S.; in October 2009, the agency had 45 such adoptions in process or completed.

Labels: HIV, international

According to Tara Whitmer, the couple has spent a considerable amount of time attempting to find local adoption possibilities, but discovered in many local private adoptions there were no guarantees. The Whitmers were concerned that there might be a chance that the estranged parents of orphaned children would come back and attempt to regain custody. The uncertainty of the possibilities frightened the couple.

iSurf news contacted Jenny Morin of the Department of Community Based Services (DCBS) in Hopkins County concerning the risks of adoption. Mrs. Morin stated that she understood the Whitmer's concerns regarding adoption, but for the birth-parents to simply change their minds was not sufficient reason for any Kentucky court to appeal and adoption.

"There are truly no guarantees," said Morin. "Three out of four private adoptions fall through because the birth parents change their minds at the last minute, prior to termination of parental rights. Once an adoption is finalized, however, it his highly unlikely that the decision will be overturned."

Labels: adoptive parents, international, kentucky

Since all ethnic groups maintain their own unique culture and mannerisms, it is imperative that the adopting parents not only learn their adopted child’s way of living, but they have to be willing to incorporate the child’s culture into their lives as well as appreciate and respect it. ...

The adopting parents have to venture out of their own comfort zone to meet and befriend others who look like and can identify with the adopted child. ... The child should always have access to an environment where there are people he/she can relate to and form a strong sense of self.

Needless to say that there is an added responsibility when adopting outside of one’s own race. That is why, it is imperative for the adopting parents to be prepared to embrace fully, the cultural lifestyle of the child they intend to add to their family in order to ensure the positive, well-adjusted growth of the child.

Labels: international, parenting, trans-racial

Concurrent planning runs for up to one year, during which the baby is cared for by the adoptive family while the natural mother is given a chance to turn her life around and show she could look after the child.

Unusually, the prospective adoptive parents agree regularly to bring the baby to see the mother up to five times a week so that the relationship can be maintained.

The charity offers the mother intensive support during this time to give her the best possible chance to sort out her problems. At the end of the year, if social workers judge she still poses a risk to the child, the adoption goes ahead immediately.

Labels: international, UK

There are presently a number of conflicting forces at play: a disapproval of adoption from those valuing past norms, yet many of these people are the ones adopting heirs into their family near the end of their lives. This negative viewpoint also clashes with the many younger families who are seeking to adopt, rejecting past ideals and placing the importance on their present family.

Labels: international, japan

Now, looking back, there were some red flags that made Pat and Sharon concerned about the adoption, according to Pat. One of them was when they received Tran’s birth certificate saying he was adopted, ‘but at the bottom, it said, “this is not proof of citizenship,”’ Pat said.

Labels: international

"I'm very, very scared," says Cathy Wagner, who wants the federal government to stop all Canadian adoptions from China until fears about the true origins of orphans there can be properly investigated.

This week the Los Angeles Times published explosive evidence that Chinese babies, particularly those in rural villages, had been kidnapped from their parents and sold to orphanages by corrupt adoption officials cashing in on the vast sums of money made available by the foreign demand for Chinese children.

The newspaper also said local authorities had tricked or coerced Chinese families into giving up newborns for adoption, only to sell those children to orphanages.

The paper quoted parents in the provinces of Guizhou and Hunan who said their babies had been stolen, sold, and adopted overseas in recent years.

Labels: China, international

The ‘conventional wisdom’ is that the infants, mostly girls, were abandoned by their parents because of China’s one-child policy and a cultural preference for boys, the Globe reports.

Although this is likely true for tens of thousands of the adoptions, some Chinese say that government officials took their children by coercion, fraud or kidnapping to collect money from orphanages.

Labels: adoption fraud, international

[G]ay rights groups have been celebrating the prospect that Uruguay could become the first country in Latin America to give gay and lesbian couples the opportunity to adopt.

But nowhere in the law does it specifically say that homosexual couples have a right to adopt. And in some places, it suggests otherwise - for example by specifying how the child should take a mother and father's surnames.

Lawyers, judges and even the law's own authors now have doubts about how the law will be applied.

Deputy Margarita Percovich, who wrote the law, acknowledged that it doesn't directly mention same-sex adoptions, but said it would enable them because gays and lesbians already can legally form civil unions, and "the law enables couples in civil unions to adopt children without impediment."

Labels: international, same-sex couples

Elton John faces a legal battle over his dream to adopt a Ukrainian tot -- because the country bans gay couples from doing so.

The superstar [age 62] and partner David Furnish, 46, are also deemed too old under national laws.

Their only hope would be a presidential dispensation to take home 14-month-old Lev - after 62-year-old Elton declared at the weekend: "He has stolen my heart."

It was also revealed that if Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko were to grant their wish the pair would have to adopt Lev's brother as well. He too is in care -- and Ukrainian law states siblings must be adopted together.

Labels: international, same-sex couples

• KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Gauteng have the largest number of vulnerable children and with an estimated 1.5 million orphans in South Africa
• The number of vulnerable children is expected to reach two million by 2010.
• Minister of Social Development Edna Molewa said that the economic downturn has resulted in dramatic increases in cases of child abandonment, with the majority of children becoming vulnerable to poverty.

Labels: foster_care, international

The agency hopes that the controversial events will increase the chances of finding homes for young people repeatedly passed over by potential adoptive parents, such as those aged over five, sibling groups, children of black and minority ethnic origin, and those with mental and physical disabilities.

"This is not just about putting some jelly and ice-cream in a parish hall and inviting everyone along," [said Mo O'Reilly, director of child placement for the BAAF]. "We are going to hold these parties professionally and in the best way that we know how, and we are pretty optimistic that these parties could be a success."

About 10 families and 20 children will be invited to each event, which will take the form of a children's party, hosted in community centres by the prospective parents themselves, who will organise group games and one-to-one activities.

There will be no prior matching between children and adults, but the families invited will have expressed interest in the "type" of children present. The BAAF hopes that at least two children will find a new family at each event.

Labels: hard-to-place youth, international

It all started about two years ago when a nurse from Beaufort went to work at a Chinese orphanage for a few weeks. She saw baby Emma and knew she had some medical issues that needed addressing and made it her mission to help Emma get the treatment she needed with the hopes of giving her a better life. ...

"She was being put aside as a baby that was essentially going to die if not taken care of or at least grown up in an orphanage being kind of the rejected one," said Beaufort nurse, Mariah ByWater. ...

"She was deemed unadoptable because of her Hemangioma and so her paperwork was not even processed. She wasn't even in the system, adoption system," said [Emma's eventual adoptive mother, Colleen] Brant.

Labels: international

Labels: international

Labels: health, international

Labels: Canada, international

"The journey took off thanks to a mighty convergence of curiosity and restlessness at the Cohen household this year," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

"Chloe had been asking more questions about Guatemala [her birth country]. ... At the same time, Amy Cohen, a world geography teacher at Julia R. Masterman Middle and High School in Spring Garden, yearned to travel again."

Labels: international

Kids Link operated Imagine Adoption, which organized adoptions from Ethiopia and co-ordinated them in Manitoba with Winnipeg-based Adoption Options. BDO Dunwoody, a bankruptcy trustee, has been assigned to take over Kids Link's files, but nine Manitoba couples and hundreds of other Canadians have no idea what will come of their parenting hopes.

Manitoba's assistant deputy minister of Child and Family Services Carolyn Loeppky said the agency learned of the problems with Kids Link on Monday. The province is expected to take part in a cross-country teleconference next week to see what can be done, she said.

"We know that families are probably anxious right now, and we do feel for them, because this is a very important life decision that families make," she said.
The Province of Alberta has promised to help families there affected by the bankruptcy, but Loeppky said Manitoba is still waiting for information from BDO Dunwoody "to give good advice to Manitoba families."

Labels: Canada, international

Brett, originally from Australia, met Eleonore, a Swede, 12 years ago while he was backpacking across Europe and she was on holiday with friends. They married in 2000 and spent time living between Sweden and Australia before settling in Stockholm to start a family. After many failed attempts to conceive, they decided to research the option of adoption.

They say the process was long, stressful, and mentally draining. Before applying to an adoption agency, couples must be approved by government social welfare services (Socialtjansten), which can take up to six months. Social workers assess aspects of the couple’s suitability, including economic status, reference and police checks, health, and living conditions, including house visits.

Labels: international, sweden

Tang Jian, leader of Birth Control Administrative Bureau Inspection Team of Ahenyuan county apparently admitted the practice was prevalent at the time [from 2004-2006].

"It is true that some baby girls were forced be brought [sic] into the charity house and then send abroad," he was quoted as saying. (Source: The Telegraph News)

Labels: China, international

A group of Rochester women began gathering once a month more than a year ago to talk about their experiences and offer emotional support to one another.

Who else, after all, would understand a process in which certified documents and dossiers can be so critical in adopting a foreign-born child? Or how a missed signature can suddenly throw the process out of whack for weeks, if not months? How those months and even years add up to an emotional rollercoaster ride few would understand except those who have been through it.

"It's just nice to have somebody else that understands the process, that you're not constantly explaining something to people. You just talk about your feelings without giving some type of explanation," said Elyse Mitchell, who, along with her husband, adopted a girl from Korea last summer. (Source: WCCO Rochester, June 27)

Labels: international, support

Judges ruled in a test case that the charities, which find homes for hundreds of children each year, will be breaking the law if they refuse to accept same-sex couples as adoptive parents.

The ruling means some Catholic agencies face a choice between abandoning their adoption services or their religious principles. ...

Following the ruling a spokesman for the diocese said: 'As the charities cannot provide unrestricted services without being in breach of their obligations to act in accordance with the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, it seems likely that the charities will need to close their adoption services and a flagship service of the charities will be lost.

Labels: international, same-sex couples

Labels: international

The family needed to finalize the adoption earlier this year. The four of them packed their bags and went to Nepal, anticipating they would all return to the U.S. But Nepal's new government hasn't yet completed developing its adoption laws. Dolker had to be left behind.

"It's heart-breaking," Philip Kaake said.

Though the family hopes the attorneys and connections they have in Nepal will soon bring good news about the adoption and they can fly back to bring Dolker home, they have no knowledge of when that may happen.

Labels: adoption_laws, international, Nepal

By August [2008], the Hoehns had completed the steps to adopt Magaly and had a U.S. passport for her, but the authorities were not going to let her leave Guatemala ... As legal guardians, the Hoehns were responsible for supporting Magaly and began paying for her care. ...

This March, the Hoehns brought their older daughter, almost 5, to the U.S. -- Source: The Dundalk (MD) Eagle

Labels: international

Though their biological parents died from AIDS, the two children tested negative for the virus. Jenna and Stephen have adjusted well to life in Colorado, but Michael and Kimberley were determined to ensure the kids didn't forget their roots.

"We've always wanted to keep the kids connected to their culture, so we knew we had to do something," Michael said. The village in Uganda, where Jenna and Stephen were raised, is in the heart of a ghetto, covered in trash. Much of the population has been stricken by the AIDS virus and can hardly afford to eat meals regularly or clothe themselves. Despite the cost, the McGehees decided to raise money to help their children's homeland and make the trip to Uganda as a family.

Labels: adopted children, international

In Muslim countries like Egypt, such adoptions are nearly impossible, snarled in religious tradition and murky laws. Botros and Andros ... also may have been caught up in an attempt by the Egyptian government to show it is cracking down on human trafficking after criticism from the United States.

On the advice of Egyptian friends, the two traveled to Cairo in the fall and were put in touch with a Coptic Christian orphanage that was caring for two newborn orphans. The orphanage gave them forged documents to say Botros had given birth to the children, and the couple donated $4,600 to the orphanage ...

But when they tried to get American passports for the babies, a U.S. Embassy employee became suspicious of them ... When asked by an embassy official, Botros admitted she wasn't the biological mother, [the couple's] lawyer said.

Labels: adoption rights, international, laws

In an Early Show world exclusive, Kambewa tells correspondent Priya David, "I do not want my baby to be adopted because I want to take care of her and I'm capable to take care of my baby ... Mercy, she is a Malawian – so [I] need her to grow as a Malawian, as well with our culture." (Source: CBS)

Labels: adoption rights, international

Children who are adopted from China, Russia and Guatemala may not be protected against polio, measles and other diseases even though their records suggest they are, say researchers who checked for evidence of immunity. ...

"Immunization records should not be accepted as evidence of protective immunity," the study's authors concluded. "Parents should be well informed and supported to choose between re-vaccination or vaccination, based on serologic [blood] testing."

Labels: adoption_agencies, health, international, vaccination

The stricter guidelines, intended to limit the overwhelming number of applicants to China's well-regarded adoption program, have been effective -- adoptions of Chinese children by U.S. citizens have dropped 50 percent, according to the U.S. State Department.

The new regulations require, among other things, that adoptive parents be married, under 50, not classified as clinically obese, not have taken antidepressant medications in the past two years, not have facial deformities and meet certain educational and economic requirements.

Labels: adoption rights, international

Labels: accreditation, adoption_agencies, international

Joseph Chigona, Registrar of the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal, said the case will come before three judges from the Supreme Court of Appeal on May 4 ...Malawi requires prospective parents to live in the country for 18 to 24 months while child welfare authorities assess their suitability.(Source: The Associated Press)

Labels: adoption rights, international, malawi

Fraud concerns put a halt to adoptions from Guatemala and Vietnam in the last several months. The Kazakh Embassy has ceased processing adoption dossiers -- the inches-think binder of required home study and family background documents. ... China poses challenges as well. ... Ethiopia, by contrast, allows both married and single parents to adopt, and the process typically takes less than two years. (Source: The Contra Costa (California) Times)

Labels: adoption rights, ethiopia, international

"[Lindsay] did try to adopt in Canada, but she is single and has been told adopted children mostly go to married couples. She could have a baby naturally but she doesn't want to wait for the right man to come along."

Labels: Canada, international

"Oregon has sent 27 children to relatives outside the United States since October 1999, The Oregonian reported. About half went to Mexico."

Labels: international, oregon

"According to a ministry official, the joint-secretary responsible for looking after adoptions, Prakash Adhikari, left for the United States... and is yet to return. Similarly, joint-secretary Ratna Kaji Bajracharya, who was deputed to shoulder Adhikari's responsibilities in his absence, is currently in Pokhara [Nepal, near the Chinese border.]"

Labels: foreign_adoption, international

"The Beckers have been keeping friends and family updated by a website, as they've waited for the end of a 44-day-long Columbian court workers' strike that has prevented them from getting the judge's signature they need to bring [their son] home to Minnetonka."

Labels: international

"A mere 277 Czech kids have been adopted by foreign families since 2000, when the Czech Republic ratified a Hague convention on adoption and child protection. These children, predominantly of Roma origin, often find their new homes in Denmark, Germany or Italy."

Labels: foreign_adoption, international

"Joel Neikirk said the world already had a lot of orphans, and instead of bringing another child into the world, they would take care of one from a Third World country. Neikirk said he had always wanted to adopt because he had been adopted."

Labels: international

"She wrote to the Croatian Ambassador, but embassy officials told her she couldn't adopt Mishi because the countries had no adoption agreement. So she contacted the Rijeka hospital, where bosses welcomed her dream - and persuaded government officials to authorize the adoption."

Labels: international, obstacles

"The guideline, jointly issued by five ministries and made public on Monday, allows people to register their illegally adopted children without fear of punishment... The legal rights of these children are not currently guaranteed, such as permanent residence of a city, schooling, and inheritance."

Labels: China, international

"The six-month investigation of 300 cases unearthed disturbing situations, including hospitals sending babies to orphanages for overseas adoption in the wake of parents being unable to pay medical bills for the birth. Health officials also got financial inducement. In one case a grandmother sent a baby girl for adoption without the knowledge of the parents, though in that instance the baby was reunited with her mother."

Labels: corruption, international, Vietnam

"Activists are concerned that the lucrative business of inter-country adoption of Nepalese children - with clients from Europe and the USA willing to spend as much as $25,000 per child - increases the risk of abduction, trafficking and the illegal sale of children by children's homes."

Labels: activists, international, Nepal

"Since 2003, with the Government's 68/202/ND-CP decree coming into force, a number of agreements on child adoption with other countries have been signed and an International Adoption Department under the Ministry of Justice has been set up."

Labels: international, protection, Vietnam

"[Jackie] helped found the International Child Foundation in 2003. The non-profit group facilitates about 20 international adoptions a year of children from countries including Haiti, Guatemala, China, and Khazakstan."

Labels: advocacy, international, non-profit

"On the day [Karla] arrived in Vietnam - Oct. 25 - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that because of 'growing concerns about irregularities in the methods used to identify children for adoption in Vietnam and the resulting difficulties in classifying those children as orphans,' a field office in Ho Chi Minh City now would decide all I-600s, which is a form that classifies an orphan as an immediate relative and expedites the visa process."

Labels: frustrations, international

"On the day [Karla] arrived in Vietnam, Oct. 25, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Ho Chi Minh City announced that because of 'growing concerns about irregularities in the methods used to identify children for adoption in Vietnam and the resulting difficulties in classifying those children as orphans,' the local USCIS office would need to verify the status of any orphan up for adoption to the U.S."

Labels: adoption_process, immigration, international

"In its nine-page report, the US Embassy said some American adoption agencies paid orphanage officials as much as US$10,000 per referral, while others took them on shopping sprees and junkets to the US in return for a flow of babies. It said questions arose after routine investigations turned up widespread inconsistencies in adoption paperwork."

Labels: bans, international, orphanages

"The uncertainty has fueled rumors and speculation within the tight-knit community of Americans who have adopted from China or hope to do so. Some believe the longer waits are part of a temporary Chinese effort to scale back international adoptions ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August. Others wonder if China may be phasing out foreign adoptions almost entirely."

Labels: China, international

"For most adoptive families the preservation of the first language is not a major priority: on arrival, the main concerns are about learning English, the child's health, attachment, initial adjustment, education, and remediation (if needed). There is no place here for preserving native language as the first-order priority."

Labels: cultures, international, languages

"The convention outlines the process by which a child becomes eligible for adoption and also outlines the processes whereby a family is deemed eligible to adopt a child. This protects children because it ensures that every attempt has been made to keep the child in his or her birth family and birth country. It protects adoptive families, who can be confident that any child they are considering for adoption has been previously designated as eligible for adoption."

Labels: inter-country_adoption, international, protection

"At least one human rights group in Republic of Congo has been calling for action on suspected child trafficking in the country since August. The head of that group, Loamba Moke, said he was glad the government was taking action to assure the safety of adopted children, but called for tougher laws in the prosecution of child trafficking networks."

Labels: governments, international

"Twenty-one entry visas for children have been rejected in the last two years, according to the State Department. More than half the denials have come since last October, prompting complaints that the department is singling out individual cases to embarrass the Vietnamese government into changing its adoption process."

Labels: inter-country_adoption, international, state_department

"Part reunion and part support, the event is the largest of several that the group holds each year, chances for parents to get together, share stories and enjoy their children. For the kids, it's also an opportunity to interact with people who look like them - and who don't ask the awkward questions that the outside world sometimes does."

Labels: communication, international, support

"[Caroline] Mercary said the ruling effectively prohibits France from refusing adoption requests on sexual orientation grounds."

Labels: court, descrimination, international

"The new adoption ads were distributed to more than 28,000 media outlets nationwide on Wednesday, December 12 through donated media space. The multi-media program includes Spanish-language television, radio, and print public service announcement (PSAs) issuing a national call-to-action in the messaging itself."

Labels: Hispanic, international, Spanish

"The new law, passed last month, requires the creation of a centralized government authority to oversee adoptions and mandates that any private orphanages, such as those run by charities, be registered."

Labels: international, laws

"Brodine said she and her husband chose to adopt from Vietnam when they heard of a new program through Dillon International, Inc... Although the adoption was officially recognized in Vietnam after the Giving and Receiving Ceremony, Phoebe won't be able to apply for U.S. citizenship until after three post-placement visits by Dillon International officials."

Labels: international

"Today is a historic day for the country, because the foundations have been laid for putting an end to the theft of children to place them in adoption', said parliamentary Deputy Edgard Alfredo Rodriquez of the centre-left National Union of Hope (UNE), after the law was approved by more than two-thirds of the legislators."

Labels: adoption_process, international, kidnapping

Labels: foreign_adoption, international

"[Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Bartholet] said China and Russia reflected a trend in which countries opened themselves up to international adoption, then scaled back."

Labels: foreign_adoption, international, rules

"Deciding whether or not to initiate the search is not easy. While there are a multitude of heartwarming stories, there are also others, where alcoholism was rampant in the family or where the birth mother abused the child."

Labels: birth_parents, international, services

"I don't think the media is very balanced. They tend to show sensationalized stories and worst of all, they never seem to devote enough time to really understand the dynamics. But when a reporter is given two days to pump out a piece, what can we expect to happen?"

Labels: adoption_policy, international, laws

"The French [citizens] are part of a group of 16 Europeans, including a seven-member Spanish flight crew, detained Thursday on suspicion of trying to smuggle the children out of Chad with the aim of adoption."

Labels: international

"I am all for packing light... and especially when you're traveling to adopt a child, I think you should bring everything that you need. While it is true... that you can often find what you need when you arrive, you don't want to have to spend your first few hours or days with your child in a store in a new place trying to find diapers, formula, lotion or dish soap."

Labels: international, stress, traveling

"Four P.E.I. children have been adopted under China's Waiting Child Program... The program arranges the adoption from China of children with minor medical needs... but the P.E.I government now believes it is illegal for the province to allow agencies to match children and families, as was done previously."

Labels: Canada, China, international

"The U.S. is one of just six nations that allow its citizens to adopt a Chinese child while living in China. Other countries are concerned about the lack of control and oversight they have over their far-flung citizens, but American expats seeking to adopt follow the same well-defined adoption process that is required of families living in the U.S."

Labels: China, expatriates, international

"Diplomatic officials said the move left plans by some 358 foreign families to adopt children from the Himalayan country up in the air. 'It's a very emotional problem and it's becoming a humanitarian issue for these families,' French Ambassador Gilles-Henry Garault told AFP."

Labels: adoption_policy, adoption_procedures, international

"TB rates among the children in the American study ranged from nearly 15 percent in adoptees from Eastern Europe, 14 percent from Russian and 12 percent from Korea to between 12.5 percent and 11 percent in India, China and South America, 8.3 percent in Central America and the Caribbean and 2.8 percent in Southeast Asia."

Labels: health, international, tuberculosis

"'They need to understand that race and ethnicity still matter,' [Judy] Stigger says. 'Love is not going to be enough. Where your child came from is part of them, whether that's a neighborhood in Chicago or an orphanage in China.'"

Labels: cultures, international, parenting

"Most international adoptees are younger than five years of age and frequently come from resource-poor countries where tuberculosis is common and pre-natal screenings for infectious diseases are rare, say Richard Long, MD, professor in Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Alberta and lead author of the study."

Labels: disease, health, international

"The world of international adoption is evolving, said Mary Kate Schneider, director of adoption for the Family and Children's Agency in Norwalk [Connecticut]. 'We try and tell families from Day 1 and on that... time frames can change,' Schneider said. 'I think in the end, each country is trying to have these regulations in place so we can secure the best possible adoption for their children.'"

Labels: adoption costs, adoption_procedures, international

"'We believe this to be a substantial step in the direction of the stability of Russian adoption,' reads a statement on the web site of the International Assistance Group, one of the agencies that was reaccredited. The statement appears along with a copy of the agency's new accreditation document from the Education and Science Ministry, dated June 27."

Labels: adoption_agencies, international, Russia

"A prime example of severe adoption stress was created for families when Romania closed its doors to international adoptions. When this occurred, hundreds of families were caught in the pipeline, and their children were condemned to living in an institutional care environment despite the fact that there was a loving family somewhere in the world that had already developed a bond with them."

Labels: adoption_procedures, international, stress

"...here are some tips on finding the right adoption program for your family. Decide what age and gender child you are hoping for. Determine what your 'adoption budget' will be, and what you can and cannot afford in regards to adoption fees. Determine how long you can manage to travel..."

Labels: domestic_adoptions, international, tips

"'Anytime you can give a child a better life, I'm all for that,' [Roy] Shoulders said. 'I'm not opposed to international adoptions; I don't have any qualms with it. But because of the need in this country, I would love for us to take care of our own first.'"

Labels: awareness, domestic_adoptions, international

"She said previously, persons who wanted to overlook the procedures used to file adoption matters in High Court stations outside Nairobi where they would find judges who were overwhelmed by other judicial work and managed to easily obtain orders, especially in cases of international adoption."

Labels: Africa, international, rules

"'Every country has its own way of defining health, so we try to interpret it and tell the families what's going on,' said Inshirah Farhoud, a Pediatric Practitioner at the clinic."

Labels: adoption_clinics, international, medical_records

"Ethiopia, with a population of 76 million, has an estimated 5 million orphans, according to aid organizations. Many African nations have outlawed or impeded the adoption of their children by foreigners. Ethiopia has welcomed American and European families who are willing to provide homes for children who have lost both parents to AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis or starvation, or who come from families too destitute to feed and clothe them."

Labels: ethiopia, inter-country_adoption, international

"There are some big differences between domestic and international adoption. Bill says there is a lot more paperwork adopting overseas. 'I mean, they send us a tomb filled with paperwork that has to be done over 6 or 8 month period. And everything is time sensitive, too.'"

Labels: domestic_adoptions, international, overseas

Labels: adoption_agencies, international, Russia