Van: Sandberg Elisabet [mailto:Elisabet.Sandberg@adoptionscentrum.se]

Verzonden: donderdag 14 februari 2008 15:48

Onderwerp: Ethiopia in GM

Dear      ,

Towards a European procedure for adoption

Strasbourg, 12.02.2008 – Despite the considerable volume of content of legal provisions on national and international adoption, the best interests of the child do not always take precedence over other considerations. Nevertheless, these legal arrangements decide the future of thousands of orphans and abandoned children every year.

Convinced of the need to create an adoption procedure common to all EU member states – in line with the recent adoption of a report on children's rights calling for such a mechanism – and to encourage international adoption where there is no national solution, a number of Members of the European Parliament, together with the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, have drawn up a joint declaration addressed to European ministers responsible for family affairs.

Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France), Claire Gibault (ALDE, France) and Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, would like to invite you to a press conference at 3pm on Tuesday 19 February in the European Parliament press room (LOW) in Strasbourg where they will present this initiative.

Journalists who are not accredited with the EU are asked to make themselves known in advance in order to facilitate their access the building.

Towards a European procedure for adoption

Strasbourg, 12.02.2008 – Despite the considerable volume of content of legal provisions on national and international adoption, the best interests of the child do not always take precedence over other considerations. Nevertheless, these legal arrangements decide the future of thousands of orphans and abandoned children every year.

Convinced of the need to create an adoption procedure common to all EU member states – in line with the recent adoption of a report on children's rights calling for such a mechanism – and to encourage international adoption where there is no national solution, a number of Members of the European Parliament, together with the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, have drawn up a joint declaration addressed to European ministers responsible for family affairs.

Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France), Claire Gibault (ALDE, France) and Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, would like to invite you to a press conference at 3pm on Tuesday 19 February in the European Parliament press room (LOW) in Strasbourg where they will present this initiative.

Journalists who are not accredited with the EU are asked to make themselves known in advance in order to facilitate their access the building.

EU Commission not accountable

PUBLISHED

08/02/2008 | 09:04SHARE

Bertie Ahern somewhat dramatically claims this week that a 'No' vote would spark an EU crisis.

SHARE

Are U.S. Dollars Supporting Abortion in China?

by Deal W. Hudson - February 4, 2008

Reprinted with permission from our good friends at InsideCatholic.com, the leading online journal of Catholic faith, culture, and politics.

The mission of the Global Fund is to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis around the world. Since 2004, this Swiss organization has received over $3 billion, one third of its entire budget, from the United States. A study just released by the Gerard Health Foundation provides evidence that Global Fund grants are supporting abortion providers in China, which violates the spirit of the Mexico City Policy.

When There's No Place Like Home

Children's advocates can't agree on how much to emphasize intercountry adoption as a solution.

By Pat Wingert | NEWSWEEK

Feb 4, 2008 Issue

Some advocates blame the decline in intercountry adoptions over the past three years on a single surprising source: UNICEF. The United Nations Children's Fund may be known worldwide for helping underprivileged children obtain better health care and education, but when it comes to finding homes for orphans, they argue, the organization places misguided emphasis on maintaining cultural and geographic ties rather than on the child's overall well-being. That's true even when there is little chance of domestic adoption and virtually no public programs to provide care for abandoned children or struggling families. "National boundaries should not prevent abandoned children from having families," says Thomas Atwood, president of America's National Council for Adoption. "UNICEF's exclusive focus on domestic programs amounts to an obstacle to international adoption and prevents untold numbers of children from improving their lives through international adoption."

Timmermans bezoekt kindertehuis Bulgarije

Honderden kijkers en bezoekers reageerden op de uitzending van afgelopen woensdag, waarin Netwerk de documentaire toonde over de wantoestanden in een Bulgaars kindertehuis. Staatssecretaris Timmermans van Europese Zaken nam afgelopen vrijdag poolshoogte in het kindertehuis. Een reportage.

Presentatie: Frank du Mosch

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1x_ILpOIdx58sIf9p23L244g9A3BB8sMY

Plane: PH-MEX

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(Novum) - State Secretary Frans Timmermans (PvdA) will visit the Bulgarian children's home in Mogilino on Friday to see 'the situation with and care for children' with their own eyes. He does this as a result of a British documentary, which was broadcast on Wednesday evening in a shortened version by Netwerk.

January 30, 2008, 9:54 PM

The parentless or disabled children live in a family replacement home. The BBC documentary explains that they live in miserable conditions. Their basic necessities are provided for but they would not receive medical care and therapy. As a result, most children would never have learned to talk.

The documentary also led to great social unrest in Bulgaria. On Monday Timmermans talked about it with his Bulgarian counterpart. Gergana Grancharova said he was shocked by the minister and said he had taken steps to improve the situation in the home in Mogilino. It was also agreed that Timmermans would come to Bulgaria to view the developments.

According to Timmermans, policy in Bulgaria is going 'in the right direction', but there is still a lot to improve in daily practice. The State Secretary wants to continue to support the Bulgarian government in improving Bulgarian youth care. "This is not only about money, but also about knowledge and expertise.

Text: Adoption Forum // Date: 22-05-2012

In recent years, doubts have been raised about whether the European Union respects international adoption as a solution for children who cannot grow up in a permanent family in their own country.

First Published 30.01.2008

The doubts arose when Romania and Bulgaria wanted to become members of the EU. Those who negotiated for the Union made it clear that progress in child welfare was necessary if the two countries were to be accepted. The requirement was in some contexts made so that the countries had to be able to "take care of their own children". This was interpreted as - at least by some - that international adoption had to be discontinued.

The EU also contributed more than € 50 million in child welfare support in the two countries - in the hope that the problems could be resolved through increased funding. That was at least what an envoy expressed at the special commission meeting on the adoption convention in The Hague in September 2005. Her speech was so startling that an envoy from the Adoption Forum, representing EurAdopt at the meeting, seized the word and emphasized that international adoption is far from "the last" resort "according to the adoption convention, but rather a good solution for a child who cannot have a permanent family in their own country - a preferred solution compared to both a long-term stay in an orphanage and a limited foster home placement. He received wide support among those present for this, and the Secretary General of the Hague Conference even came away and thanked for the post. An important point in this regard is that if the EU had actually stopped international adoption between the member states, this would have been in direct contradiction to a convention to which 24 of the 25 countries that had joined the Union at this time.