Adoptions to Italy raise questions
Alleged Misconduct Prompts Slovakia To Change Its Intercountry Adoptions Policy
29 Jul 2013Michaela Terenzani - Stanková Politics & Society
DOZENS of children born in Slovakia each year, unwanted by their own families and unable to find an adoptive family in their home country, have been fortunate enough to find new parents through intercountry adoptions. While there are not enough intercountry adoptions to generate much public interest, such adoptions recently became a hot-button issue, with some media outlets pointing out that the practice may have been conducted as a sort of business by some state officers in the past.
The Centre for International Legal Protection of Children and Youth (CIPC), the office under the Labour Ministry responsible for facilitating intercountry adoptions in Slovakia, has recently undergone a series of changes, starting with the replacement of the centre’s director. Labour Minister Ján Richter appointed new director Andrea Císarová in July 2012, after signs of misconduct emerged within the CIPC, previously led by Alena Mátejová.