n 2004 Robak/Schneuman/Wetterberg had organised a meeting for US adoptive parents with their children at the US Embassy. Journalists Ann anMcAleer were there. They made them retract the press statement, saying the UNCRC was wrongly quoted.

The whole 'lobby' was there 

Zembrenti = Amici dei Bambini and MISA

Clement = works for Gaz de France, adopted from Romania (SN) - leader of the adoptive parents in France = AFAENER

Belinda Castor. A US nurse. She wrote openly about the corruption in 2000 on Romanian egroup = For the Children SOS (Linda Robak)

Translation: INternational Committee for the Coordination of ICA in Romania gave a press conference with the theme: Abandoned children in Romania have the right to grow up in a family, here or abroad: give them that Right.

Romania has banned the adoption of its children by families in other countries, except in very limited circumstances.

The vote by MPs to approve the bill passed by the upper house two months ago bows to the EU's demand that the lucrative trade in children should be stamped out, and defies pressure from the US for regulated foreign adoption.

The ban, which will take effect at the beginning of next year, replaces a moratorium on foreign adoptions imposed three years ago but widely ignored.

The US ambassador, Michael Guest, has been crusading for months to have the moratorium rescinded.

US Congress members have been piling on the pressure, US lobby groups have been seeking to influence the government, and would-be adoptive parents in the US have been advertising in the Romanian press, pleading to be granted the opportunity to adopt Romanian children.

Romania to ban international adoptions permanently

By Noelle Knox, USA TODAY

The Romanian government passed a controversial law Tuesday that will forbid foreigners from adopting any of the country's 84,000 orphans.

The vote had been delayed for more than a month because the United States led a full-court press to block the legislation. But in the end, Romania bowed to pressure from the European Union and agreed that the only way to end rampant corruption in the system was to end international adoption.

"We are stopping corruption in the child-care system and trying to rebuild the whole system as a modern one," said Alin Teodorescu, head of the chancellery for the prime minister.

VITA15/06/2004

Stop adozioni in Romania: parla Melita Cavallo

di Benedetta Verrini

Il rammarico della presidente Cai di fronte alla chiusura rumena, la voce dei cooperanti AiBi a Bucarest. E le accuse dell'unica "vincitrice", Emma Nicholson

0 0 0

Sent to a Polish orphanage after seven years

The doctor couple adopted a boy from Poland, as a gift on their wedding day.

Five years later they had their own daughter. Shortly afterwards, they returned the boy to the orphanage in Warsaw.

The boy, who is now nine years old, was adopted by the couple seven years ago.

The couple has been working as a doctor in a Swedish city since 1999, but are Polish citizens.

EU whistleblower wins a seat in Brussels

Paul van Buitenen

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels12:02AM BST 12 Jun 2004

Anti-Brussels crusaders made their first big breakthrough in the European elections yesterday with the victory of Paul van Buitenen, the Dutch whistleblower whose revelations brought down the European Commission in 1999.

Catching the Dutch media off guard, Mr van Buitenen's new Europa Transparant party won 7.3 per cent of the national vote, securing two of the country's 27 seats. Starved of press coverage and excluded from televised debates, he relied on word of mouth and the internet to spread his message.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

A lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that former Holt International CEO David Cousineau sexually molested an underage girl for four years while he served as a Roman Catholic priest in the 1970s.

Cousineau resigned from the Holt position in April, two months after the adoption agency learned he had once been accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy in California. An independent law firm hired by Holt couldn't substantiate those allegations, but the agency decided the accusation had impaired Cousineau's ability to manage Holt.

The plaintiff in the new suit said in a telephone interview that she decided to file after learning Cousineau worked in a job involving children.

"I heard he worked with orphans, and I just thought that was a scary situation," she said. "I felt I had to come forward and that something needed to be done."

http://web.archive.org/web/20040610005319/www.balkansnetwork.net/

Viewing cable 04BRUSSELS2496, VERHEUGEN RESPONSE TO DEPUTY SECRETARY ON ROMANIAN

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin

04BRUSSELS2496 2004-06-10 12:56 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Embassy Brussels

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

Since January 1, 2003, the federal government has been responsible for supervising the placement offices for adoptive children. In accordance with Article 6 of the old adoption ordinance and in accordance with the Hague Convention, the federal government and the cantons guarantee the reliability and seriousness of the placement agencies on the list. Accordingly, the cantons were previously and since January 1, 2003 the federal government has been responsible for approving the switching centers. The responsible regional social services provide the list of recognized adoption agencies to parents who are willing to adopt, thereby providing a guarantee. Parents who are willing to adopt and who care about the child's well-being rely on the list of Swiss placement agencies with a Swiss permit, which is checked by the authorities.

In this context I ask the Federal Council:

1. According to which criteria does the federal government draw up a license or withdraw it?

2. What does the official approval of an exchange guarantee for?

3. Is the Federal Council aware that the agency "RomAdopt" is working with questionable practices?