COUNTRY SURVEY REVEALS STATUS OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION(July 30, 2005) An Adoption Council of Canada survey of 19 countries finds many instances of delays or stoppages in the adoption process abroad. ACC's second annual survey of the status of intercountry adoption shows that while popular countries like China and South Korea remain fully open to Canadian adopters, other countries process applications slowly or are closed temporarily or permanently. Here is an overview:
2005 COUNTRY SURVEYThe following survey of the status of adoption in 19 countries shows changes since the first report of June 9, 2004. For previous updates and background information, see that report at www.adoption.ca/news/040609cystatus.htm. Azerbaijan Azerbaijan has effectively suspended intercountry adoptions while it implements new procedures. As this requires parliamentary approval, it is unlikely that Azerbaijan’s parliament will do so before the current session ends June 1, 2005. Next session of parliament begins in late November 2005. [U.S. State Department, travel.state.gov/family/adoption/notices/notices_2188.html, April 29, 2005] Belarus An adoption moratorium was imposed Oct. 14, 1997, pending revision of Belarus's Family and Marriage Law. The moratorium was lifted on June 5, 1998. The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption entered into force in Belarus on Nov. 1, 2003. In October 2004 President Aleksander Lukashenko announced he would impose strict restrictions on adoptions. The new adoption law of Jan. 4, 2005 requires that children eligible for adoption be placed on a central registry, the National Orphans Database, for six months, making them available for adoption locally, before being considered for intercountry adoption. The National Adoption Center will review cases on the list over six months and then send files to the Minister of Education for approval before proceeding to court. [U.S. State Department, travel.state.gov/family/adoption/notices/notices_2083.html, Feb. 14, 2005] Adoptions Suspended -- The Department of State has heard from parents trying to complete adoptions in Belarus that intercountry adoptions are on hold. Belarus hasn't said why there is an apparent suspension or how long it might last. [U.S. State Department, travel.state.gov/family/adoption/notices/notices_2196.html, March 30, 2005] Cambodia In March 2003 Canadian officials concluded that the adoption process in Cambodia is open to abuse and insufficiently protects the interests of the children and the birth and adoptive parents. Adoptions from Cambodia remain stopped. Still closed -- Cambodia continues to remain closed to intercountry adoptions with the United States. It is our understanding that in the near future there may be research conducted on the status of institutionalized children in Cambodia. [Joint Council on International Children's Services, www.jcics.org/Country_Information.htm, May 2005] China To minimize the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), China introduced a six-week suspension of file processing on May 15, 2003. After the SARS risk ended, China lifted all restrictions and the process is running normally. Ethiopia AIDS orphans in intercountry adoptions -- The rising number of orphans in Ethiopia resulting from HIV/AIDS and poverty has led to an increase in the number of children placed abroad. The number of Ethiopian children adopted internationally doubled from the previous year, to 1,400, with most children going to France, Australia, the United States and Ireland. In addition, the number of adoption agencies in the capital of Addis Ababa has doubled, to 30. [Reuters AlertNet, "Ethiopia: Coping with Increasing Orphan Numbers through Adoption," Jan. 10, 2005] Georgia The Alberta ministry for adoptions reported in November 2003 that the Republic of Georgia has stopped its international adoption program so it can change procedures to allow for domestic adoption and comply with the Hague Convention. No Canadian province is accepting applications for Georgia until further notice from Foreign Affairs in Ottawa. Guatemala Adoptions from Guatemala have been suspended since September 2001 and will remain so until the Guatemalan government implements effective adoption safeguards. The Canadian Embassy advised that illegal and unethical practices still exist and issues of child trafficking continue to arise. Immigrant visas -- The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala announces that due to new biometric security enhancements, all immigrant visas including those for adopted children will be available for issuance at 3:30 pm the next workday following the immigrant visa interview. It is no longer able to issue immigrant visas the same day. [U.S. State Dept., travel.state.gov/family/adoption/notices/notices_2504.html, July 11, 2005] Haiti Adoptions continue but travel to Haiti remains fraught with danger. The coup d'état of Feb. 29, 2004 brought the adoption process to a temporary halt. It resumed but by May 31, 2004 Foreign Affairs warned Canadians not to travel to Haiti unless absolutely necessary, and the Canadian Embassy in Haiti strongly discouraged adoptive parents from travelling to Haiti to pick up their children. Official warning: Do not travel to Haiti -- In its July 18, 2005 travel report, Foreign Affairs Canada advised against all travel to Haiti. Criminal activity, police reprisals and lawlessness are persistent throughout Haiti. Kidnappings and carjackings are frequent. Personal safety cannot be guaranteed by local authorities, and police no longer have a presence in certain cities. Canadians who decide to travel to Haiti despite this warning should monitor local news reports and exercise extreme caution at all times. [Foreign Affairs Canada, www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/report-en.asp?country=117000, July 18, 2005] Requirements easing -- Although Alberta has had no official notification of this change in Haiti's requirements for adoptive families, practice confirms that a prospective adoptive parent must be older than age 35; for married couples, one parent may be under age 35, provided the couple has been married ten years and has no children together. Haiti may lower its age requirement. Requests to have the age requirement waived must be submitted to the Institut du Bien Etre Social et de Recherches (IBESR, the Haitian adoption authority) in writing. However, a local adoption agency reports that IBESR agreed to sign dossiers for parents 28 years or older, married for at least five years and with no biological children. They also say that the President will sign for those who have no more than three biological children, but all files for families with more than three biological children will be refused. Haiti still permits adoption by single parents. [Alberta Children's Services, www.child.gov.ab.ca/whatwedo/adoption/page.cfm, July 2005] India Adoption cases cleared in Delhi -- On March 4 Delhi High Court directed a district court to clear all adoption cases under the Guardians and Wards Act within three weeks, thereby paving the way for the clearance of nearly 200 adoption cases in the capital -- at a standstill since last year -- within 21 days. Adoptions in India are governed by two laws. The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956 allows adoption by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists. Foreigners have to adopt under the Guardians and Wards Act of 1890, which bestows "guardianship" but not "parenthood". They may then take children out of India and adopt them under their country's laws. There were about 80 intercountry adoption cases waiting in the Delhi High Court. In a country with an estimated 12.4 million orphans and only 5,000 adoptions per year the inevitable question seems to be: must India's adoption laws be so intimidating and so tough? [Delhi Newsline, cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=119919, March 4, 2005, and India News, news.newkerala.com, March 16, 2005] Moldova Adoptions resume -- In 2002 the government of Moldova resumed international adoptions between the United States and Moldova. Prospective parents must use an accredited adoption agency when adopting in Moldova. There are several U.S. based adoption agencies accredited by the Moldovan Adoption Committee. [Joint Council on International Children's Services, www.jcics.org/Country_Information.htm] Delays during process changes -- Moldova revised its adoption process in February 2005. A new National Committee for Adoptions (NCA) will replace the Moldovan Adoption Committee. The new committee will not be part of the Ministry of Education but will report directly to the prime minister. It will be in charge of approving all adoptions before they proceed to court, and will match adoptive parents with orphans, which may delay the adoption process. Presently there is no functioning committee in existence, although some adoptions are moving forward through Moldovan courts. Until the NCA is functional, procedures for adoptions lack transparency and may involve delays. [U.S. State Department, travel.state.gov/family/adoption/notices/notices_2195.html, March 30, 2005] Philippines Backlog in Philippines matching -- The Intercountry Adoption Board (ICAB) in the Philippines has advised of a significant delay in matching Filipino children to prospective adoptive parents because the children increasingly don't meet the preferences of approved parents. While most parents prefer a healthy child under two, most children cleared for overseas adoption are six years old and up, belong to a sibling group of three or more children, with medical/surgical/psychological concerns and/or with a negative background (product of schizophrenic/mentally retarded mother, product of incest). Parents will have to wait longer for a child proposal unless they are open to accepting older or special needs children. To date, ICAB is still serving the approved parents from 2003. [Alberta Children's Services, www.child.gov.ab.ca/whatwedo/adoption/page.cfm, February 2005] Romania Adoptions from Romania have been suspended since June 21, 2001. The new adoption law of 2004 restricts adoptions by foreigners to only grandparents and siblings. Adoptions by non-relatives abroad are not possible. Russia Adoptions from Russia faced a slowdown in early 2005 because of months of legislative and bureaucratic changes. The changes were triggered by Russian outrage over the killing of a six-year-old Russian boy in Illinois by his American parent, Irma Pavlis, in December 2003. Russian officials said there had been 12 cases of American parents killing adopted Russian children since 1991. Orphans listed for six months before adoption abroad -- A new Russian law took effect Jan. 10, 2005 that increases to six months, from three, the time that orphans must be on the federal data bank registry before they are eligible for international adoption. This will increase the chance they can be adopted domestically. Foreign adoptions to resume -- The Moscow Times reported that the Education Ministry will oversee foreign adoptions of Russian children, ending the bureaucratic confusion that put foreign adoptions on hold for months. Since last March, no ministry was assigned the job of accrediting adoption agencies, with the result that licences to operate in Russia lapsed and most adoptions from Russia could not be processed. Some 700,000 children under 16 living in Russia are eligible for adoption, and about 15,000 of them are adopted each year, according to the ministry. More than half of those children are adopted by foreign parents. [Washington Times, washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050322-054311-3277r.htm, Mar. 22, 2005] Agencies get approval -- On May 17 the Ministry of Education reaccredited 23 U.S. adoption agencies and is reviewing the remaining applications for reaccreditation. The Ministry has also stated that, while compliance with the post-adoption reporting requirement is only one of several criteria considered in the reaccreditation process, even one missing post-placement report may cause loss of accreditation. (Agencies are supposed to file reports by a social worker on the child's medical status and development 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after the adoption.) [State Dept., travel.state.gov/family/adoption/notices/notices_2011.html, May 24, 2005] Agencies await accreditation -- The Canadian Embassy in Moscow reported that of five Canada-based agencies working in Russia, four are waiting for their accreditation to be renewed. "We are very concerned about the slowdown in adoptions and the review of agencies," said a Canadian Embassy official. "Many adoptions are on hold, because they cannot be finalized until the agency accreditation issue is cleared up." Visas granted to Canadian adoptive parents fell by a third in the first half of 2005, the Embassy said. [Canadian Press NewsWire, July 4, 2005] Rule changes -- The Education Ministry is planning to change the rules so that Russian children may be adopted only through accredited organizations, eliminating "independent" adoptions carried out through middlemen. Prospective parents will have to undergo an independent psychological assessment and take a special educational course. In 2005, the Education Ministry continued the accreditation for 52 agencies handling the adoption of Russian children by foreigners. Three U.S. adoption agencies were denied accreditation because they failed to submit the required post-adoption reports. According to ministry data there are currently 25 unofficial organizations dealing with the adoption of Russian children by foreigners. [RIA Novosti, en.rian.ru, July 19, 2005] Russian database online -- On June 1 the Education Ministry launched a Russian-language web site (www.usinovite.ru) to provide better access to a database of 260,000 Russian orphans eligible for adoption, along with information on adoption laws and a list of accredited agencies. An English-language version of the site is to follow. [Canadian Press NewsWire, July 4, 2005] Choose children by appearance -- Prospective parents can choose a child by hair colour, eye colour or sex. The Education Ministry says the web site has names and photos of the youngsters, each with a description of the child's personality such as "sociable" or "lively". A search for blue-eyed, male babies with blond hair born in 2002 for example lists 263 entries and includes whether the child has brothers or sisters. There is also a special category for disabled children. [The Age, www.theage.com.au, June 6, 2005] Sierra Leone Temporary hold -- The Canadian High Commission in Ghana (where adoptions from Sierra Leone are processed) wrote on Oct. 12, 2004: "We will not be expediting the processing of any adoption cases from Sierra Leone, in the near future. Our office will be investigating the adoption process in Sierra Leone, and this will likely take several months, if not more. Cases will not be finalised until the investigations are completed." [AFABC Focus on Adoption, Jan. 2005] South Korea After years of being closed, South Korea is now open to Canadian adopters. In 2004 the 97 Korean children adopted by Canadians went to Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Thailand The Thai Department of Social Development and Welfare (DSDW) announced it would not accept new applications for international adoption between Jan. 2003 and Jan. 2004. About 800 applications were on file, more than the number of children available in DSDW care. The Canadian Embassy in Thailand advised in February 2004 that DSDW had extended its suspension of new applications through 2004, because the number of applications still exceeded the number of children available. Ukraine Adoptions suspended temporarily -- According to the July 11 decree of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, by Sept. 1, 2005 Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers should submit draft legislation to transfer adoption authority from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports and create a new National Adoption Center there. During the transition period, Ukraine will temporarily suspend intercountry adoptions. The U.S. government has urged Ukraine to institute the planned changes as quickly as possible to allow for a prompt resumption of intercountry adoptions. [U.S. State Dept., travel.state.gov/family/adoption/notices/notices_2544.html, July 20, 2005] Halt for about two months -- Ukraine will temporarily stop accepting applications by foreigners to adopt children, the government said Monday, calling the move necessary while it creates a new department to better protect children's rights. It's expected to be operating within two months, at which time applications will be accepted again. Parliament is expected to consider the measure to create the new department and to ratify Ukraine's participation in The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption this week. [L.A. Times, latimes.com, June 13, 2005] Licences for intermediaries -- The General Office of the Public Prosecutor has started licensing adoption intermediaries. "Mediatory activity must be licensed, this question is to be decided on legislative level," said the deputy prosecutor general Tatiana Korniakova. She said there are 300 officially registered middlemen in Ukraine, who demand four-nine thousand euros for their activity from foreigners. She also mentioned that several criminal cases had been instituted in connection with illegal activity of middlemen. [Forum, Ukrainian Internet Newspaper, www.for-ua.com, July 18, 2005] United States New U.S. law could threaten adoptions -- As of 2006, fewer American children may be available to B.C. families. While B.C. families have regularly been able to adopt children from the United States, new regulations could mean severe restrictions on whether American children are made available to Canadian families. In 1994, the United States government signed an international agreement on adoption standards called the Hague Convention. Drafted in response to abuses that were taking place in intercountry adoption, the agreement set out several standards and regulations on adoptions and has been ratified by other countries, including Canada. The U.S. could ratify the Hague Convention as early as 2006, meaning that adoption agencies in the U.S. will need to be accredited. [Vancouver Sun, May 7, 2005] Vietnam A two-and-a-half-year moratorium ended on June 27, 2005 when Vietnam and Canada signed a bilateral agreement reinstating adoptions between the two countries. Delays in U.S. -- Even though Vietnam and the United States signed a bilateral agreement on June 21, 2005 governing intercountry adoption between the two countries, adoptions are not currently being processed. It is estimated that the agreement will go into effect two months after the signing and then Vietnam will begin licensing agencies, a process estimated to take an additional two to four months. [Joint Council on International Children's Services, www.jcics.org/Vietnam.htm] Canada signs adoption agreement with Vietnam -- Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced the signing of an agreement on June 27 allowing Canadians to adopt Vietnamese children for the first time since January 2003. The agreement establishes safeguards so that intercountry adoptions are carried out in the best interests of children. Revelations of adoption-related corruption and child trafficking prompted the Government of Canada to recommend, in August 2001, that provinces and territories suspend adoptions from Vietnam until safeguards could be implemented. Following the Canadian suspension, Vietnam implemented its own moratorium in January 2003. Adoptions were stopped pending new agreements with partner countries. Canada negotiated this agreement in consultation with all provinces and territories, which have jurisdiction for adoption. Although the signing of the agreement is an important first step, adoptions can only resume after both countries have ratified it and after provinces and territories have signed and implemented Understandings with Vietnam, a process which could take some months. [Foreign Affairs Canada, June 27, 2005] Agencies to be accredited -- Now that Ottawa has negotiated a treaty, individual provinces will be responsible for setting guidelines and certifying adoption agencies, officials said. [National Post, www.canada.com, June 28, 2005] Alberta prepares -- An agreement between Canada and Vietnam to reopen international adoptions has been signed. As adoption is under provincial jurisdiction, each province must now negotiate the terms for the adoption process. Alberta will work with the Department of Foreign Affairs to expedite this negotiation. We expect that the program could be available to Alberta families within the next few months. [Alberta Children's Services, www.child.gov.ab.ca/whatwedo/adoption/page.cfm, June 2005] B.C. to define procedures -- Although an agreement has been signed between Vietnam and Canada, adoptions will not proceed until all requirements are met and an Understanding is in place between Vietnam and the provinces. Once procedures are in place to support this Understanding, the Director of Adoption will allow licensed B.C. agencies to start participating in adoptions from Vietnam. [B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development, www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/adoption/alerts_fact_sheets/vietnam.htm] Quebec refuses to sign -- Officials of Vietnam and Canada signed an adoption treaty in Ottawa June 27, but the next day Quebec refused to sign the agreement under the treaty that would allow Quebecers to adopt children from Vietnam. Quebec Premier Jean Charest said that changes demanded by the federal government stripped the agreement of its legal weight. According to Ottawa, federal officials balked at wording in the document that implied Quebec was acting as a sovereign state. The province maintains it is fully sovereign in areas of provincial jurisdiction, i.e. adoption. [The Gazette, Montreal, www.canada.com, July 2, 2005] FOR MORE INFORMATION For ACC's 2004 report on the status of international adoption,
see: For the statistics of international adoption to Canada, see "ACC - Statistics", http://www.adoption.ca/statistics.htm
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ABOUT ACCBased in Ottawa, the Adoption Council of Canada is a federally chartered, charitable organization which aims to inform and educate Canadians about all aspects of adoption, and encourage the adoption of children needing permanent homes. Interested in domestic adoption? Consult Canada's only national photolisting web site, "Canada's Waiting Kids", http://www.canadaswaitingkids.ca, run by the Adoption Council of Canada. It shows photos and profiles of children in the care of Canadian child welfare agencies and waiting for permanent adoptive families. For definitions of adoption terms, go to http://www.adoption.ca and click "Glossary". Source: Adoption Council of Canada, www.adoption.ca Copyright 2006 Adoption Council of Canada. Reproduction permitted, if credited "Source: Adoption Council of Canada, www.adoption.ca". Please make a request to reprint, so we can track where ACC news items are used. Send your request to acc@adoption.ca. |
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