The U.S. and Russia Sign New Adoption Agreement

The New York Times reports a new adoption accord signed by both countries today:
Ending a Rift, Russia and the United States Sign Adoption Accord

Adoption Institute's Report on Changes in Ethiopia's Adoption Process

REPORTS OF ABUSES LEAD TO CHANGES IN ETHIOPIA'S ADOPTION PROCESS


Recent reports of fraud and corruption have caused concern about adoptions from Ethiopia among child welfare organizations and the U.S. State Department, reports Peter Heinlein in a December 14 VOANews.com article titled "Under Pressure, Ethiopia Plans Crackdown on Baby Business." Earlier in the month, the State Department issued a statement cautioning prospective adoptive parents against "malfeasance and abuse" and announcing delays in the adoption process in an attempt to ensure that all adoptions are ethical and in the best interests of the child. Ethiopian officials report that they will close orphanages that only serve as "transit homes" en route to adoption, and re-accredit all foreign adoption agencies in an effort to impose higher ethical standards. To read the article, go to: http://bit.ly/eWXZWi . To read the State Department notice, go to http://bit.ly/bqj5wI  and scroll down to December 6, 2010.

Record Low in International Adoptions

Adoptive Families Magazine reports that 2010 was a year of record low international adoptions.

The number of intercountry adoptions by Americans fell 13 percent in the past year—from 12,753 to 11,059—to reach a 15-year low, according to data from the U.S. Department of State. Adoptions from China continued to head the list, with 3,401 adoptions to the U.S. in 2010. Rounding out the top five sending countries are Ethiopia (2,513), Russia (1,082), South Korea (863), and Ukraine (445).

Ethiopia Update by JCIC

This is from their blog:

Ethiopia Update 3/11/11


Following are our notes from the Department of State Office of Children’s Issues conference call regarding Ethiopian adoptions conducted earlier today. These notes do not represent nor are they in any way attributable to the Department of State or US Citizenship and Immigration Services. We are providing the notes with respect to those who could not participate in the conference.

We extend our thanks to the Department of State for conducting the conference call and to US Citizenship and Immigration Services for their participation and contributions.

The Department of State is Actively Involved

The Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs announced a reduction in the processing of intercountry adoption cases from 50 per day to 5 per day, effective March 10, 2011.

The Department of State is actively involved in discussions with the Government of Ethiopia, other governments and stakeholders.
A coalition of countries is preparing a proposal to assist the Ministry increase its capacity.
Embassy suggested that children with special need’s cases should not be delayed.
The US Embassy officials have a scheduled meeting with the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs for Monday, March 14, 2011.
There are areas of concern related to intercountry adoption, however the reduction is disproportionate.

Adoption Cases
Currently there are no implementation guidelines for in-process cases.
For adoption cases registered with the Ethiopian court, the best estimate is a one-year delay.
The staff change at the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs has been confirmed as taking effect the week of March 13, 2011. The impact this will have on adoption cases is not known.

It is estimated that between 800-1,000 adoption cases are currently on the docket of Ethiopian courts.
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Also on the JCIC blog is an open letter by Dr. Jane Aronson (Founder and CEO of Worldwide Orphans Foundation)  to President Bill Clinton, asking for his involvement in this matter

U.S. Department of State Issues an Adoption Alert for Ethiopia

Ethiopia Plans to Reduce International Adoptions by 90%.  Here is the alert issued on March 9, 2011 by the U.S. Dept. of State:

Government of Ethiopia Plans Major Slow-Down in Adoption Processing


Citing the need to work on quality and focus on more important strategic issues, the Government of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA) has indicated it will reduce to a maximum of five the number of adoption cases it processes per day, effective March 10, 2011. Under Ethiopian adoption procedures, MOWCYA approves every match between prospective adoptive parents and an Ethiopian child before that case can be forwarded for a court hearing. The U.S. Embassy is working with Ethiopian government officials and adoption agencies to learn more about this change in procedures. We will continue to share information as it becomes available.

Given MOWCYA's current caseload, the U.S. Embassy anticipates that this change could result in an overall decline in case processing of some 90 percent. If this change is implemented as proposed, we expect, that parents who have begun the process of adopting from Ethiopia but have not yet been matched with a child could experience significant delays. It is not clear if this change in procedures would have any significant impact on cases in which MOWCYA has already approved matches.

Prospective adoptive parents should remain in close contact with their adoption service provider to obtain updates on individual cases.


The Embassy's Adoptions Unit can be reached at consadoptionaddis@state.gov.


Please continue to monitor http://adoption.state.gov/  for updated information as it becomes available.

Note:  Ethiopia is not party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention).

Adoptions-In-Progress in Limbo as U.S. Bans Adopting from Nepal

Here is a story from the Chicago Tribune about a woman who went to Nepal to pick up her adopted daughter, only to find out that the U.S. had banned Nepalese adoptions.

Adoption route leaves mother, child exiled in Nepal
Chicago woman wants to bring daughter home, but U.S. policy is blocking her path
September 26, 2010 By Mary Schmich

You can also listen to her tell her story on NPR's Here and Now:
Adoptive Mom Finds Herself Stuck In Nepal

Here's a link to the latest information from the U.S. Department of State concerning adopting from Nepal:
http://adoption.state.gov/news/nepalalerts.html

State Department Issues Warning About Adoption from Nepal

As reported by Adoption Today magazine:
In mid-February the U.S. State Department issued a statement warning prospective parents from adopting from Nepal. A report issued by the Hague Conference on Private International Law pinpointing the weaknesses of Nepal’s current adoption system prompted the warning. 
After a visit to Nepal in November 2009, a Hague delegate reviewed Nepal’s new terms and conditions that went into place in 2008.  Included in the report were concerns about falsification of documents, improper financial
gain and lack of a child protection system.  The report, in addition to one of the first adoption  cases from Nepal to the United States being questionable when the child was found not to be a true orphan whose biological parents were actively searching for him, caused the State Department to issue the warning. The State Department states on its Web site: “We caution prospective adoptive parents who have yet to choose a country that the intercountry adoption system in Nepal is not yet reliable. ”
For additional information, visit http://www.adoptinfo.net/.

40 percent decline in overseas adoptions by Americans since 2004

Idaho's Impact
Haiti scandal overshadows bigger threat to evangelical adoption efforts.
from Christianity Today

The high-profile legal saga of the 10 Idaho-based Baptists arrested in January for attempting to smuggle 33 Haitian children into the Dominican Republic is winding down. But evangelical adoption advocates wonder what the long-term impact will be.

Leading orphan care advocate Russell Moore suggested in the days following the arrests that the scandal might be a black eye to evangelicals' adoption efforts worldwide. But two months later, Moore said he is no longer worried about a fallout.

"In many ways, the controversy served as an opportunity to clarify what we mean and what we do not mean," said Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. "No one in the Christian orphan care community is calling for children to be adopted who are not in fact orphans. And no one is calling for children to be adopted apart from the legitimate processes."

A larger hurdle for international adoptions by evangelicals may be new restrictions on adoptions in countries where they have been most prevalent, including China, Guatemala, Russia, Vietnam, and Liberia.

China, which has traditionally accounted for the majority of adoptions to the U.S., rewrote its qualifications for adoptive parents in 2007. Guatemala, the second-largest source of American adoptions, completely shut down its program in 2008 due to widespread corruption, though it will launch a new adoption system this June. Since 2004, these and other restrictions have resulted in a 40 percent decline in overseas adoptions by Americans—from an all-time high of almost 23,000 in 2004 to fewer than 12,800 in 2009, according to the U.S. State Department.

Read the complete article here:  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/may/2.14.html?start=1

Russia Threatens to Halt Adoptions By Americans

U.S. to urge Russia to keep adoptions after boy's return


(CNN) -- Top officials from the U.S. State Department plan to travel to Moscow this week to push Russia to allow adoptions by U.S. families to continue.

The trip comes after a U.S. family sparked outrage by sending an adopted 7-year-old boy back to Russia alone. Officials in Moscow have threatened to halt all adoptions by U.S. families.

"We were certainly shocked, as was everybody, about the return of the child. We are hoping to work with the Russians to continue the adoptions of children," said Michael D. Kirby, principal deputy assistant for consular affairs.

"We have had over 50,000 children adopted from Russia. The vast majority are doing great here in the United States."

Families in the United States have adopted 14,079 children from Russia in the last five years, including 1,586 in 2009, according to the State Department.

Russia is the third most popular country for U.S. families adopting children internationally, behind China and Ethiopia.
The family that returned the boy said he showed violent and psychotic behavior -- and that officials in Russia had given no warning.
"I am sorry to say that for the safety of my family, friends and myself I no longer wish to parent this child," Torry Hansen wrote in a note in the child's backpack.

She added that Russian orphanage workers "lied to and misled" her about the boy, Artyem, who was renamed Justin Artyem when the family adopted him last year.

In a phone call with CNN, Hansen's mother, Nancy Hansen, said the boy "had a hit list of people he wanted to hurt." No. 1 on that list: his American mom.

The final straw, the adoptive grandmother said, came last week when the family caught him trying to start a fire in the home.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in an interview with ABC News, called the boy's return a "monstrous" act.
Kirby, speaking to CNN's "American Morning," said, "We have to talk about how we can follow up after the children are adopted. First, are the parents properly screened in the process? Are the agencies that are screening them doing all that they could do to ensure that they are prepared to be new parents?"

He added U.S. officials also must work with Russians "to make sure that the children themselves are also fully understanding what is going to happen to them as they move to a new country in a strange place."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/12/russia.adoption/index.html?hpt=T1

State Department: Now's Not the Time for Haitian Adoptions

"Official says first priority should be placing Haitian children with Haitian families."
An article from Christianity Today: 
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/februaryweb-only/16-32.0.html

Haitian orphans' adoptive parents wait, worry, battle red tape

Story from the Orlando Sentinel

Since the first earthquake hit Haiti last week, Suzanne Hetherman has careened between despair and elation as she waits for news of the two Haitian girls she has tried to adopt for two years.

On Monday morning, the Winter Garden woman was told they could arrive any minute. By afternoon, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services were asking for more paperwork.
 Continue story

Adopting from Kenya

Because Kenya is party to the Hague Convention and has not yet established regulations and procedural infrastructure necessary to meet its obligations, the State Department is unable to issue U.S. immigrant visas for children adopted from Kenya.  The State Department warns Americans against beginning the adoption process for Kenyan children at this time.  For more information visit http://www.travel.state.gov/.