James Derek Mize is an American citizen, born and raised in the United States. His husband, who was born in Britain to an American mother, is a United States citizen, too.

But the couple’s infant daughter isn’t, according to the State Department.

She was born abroad to a surrogate, using a donor egg and sperm from her British-born father. Those distinct circumstances mean that, under a decades-old policy, she did not qualify for citizenship at birth, even though both her parents are American.

“It’s shocking,” said Mr. Mize, 38, a former lawyer who lives in Atlanta with his husband, Jonathan Gregg, a management consultant. The couple received a letter denying their daughter’s citizenship last month.

“We’re both Americans; we’re married,” Mr. Mize said. “We just found it really hard to believe that we could have a child that wouldn’t be able to be in our country.”

Tuesday, July 07, 2015

THE INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION DEBATE IS OVER

Despite what some may believe, the intercountry adoption debate is effectively over.

For years, the intercountry adoption (ICA) debate has involved a continuum involving three positions. One side, whom I will label the ICA cheerleaders, sees ICA as the best intervention for millions of children caught in destructive, dead-end situations with no adequate domestic solutions. Under the banner of “every child has a right to a family,” this position prioritizes ICA as often the only means of providing children living outside of parental care with a permanent family. The hope was there would routinely be hundreds of thousands of intercountry adoptions annually, such that there would no longer be “orphans” wasting away in orphanages or on the streets.

On the other side are the ICA opponents, who oppose any systemic practice of ICA as neo-colonialist exploitation which takes children from poor, usually non-white, vulnerable families and communities in developing and transition economies, and sends them to generally white, privileged families in rich nations. This perspectives emphasizes the child’s loss of family, community, culture, language, and nation. Some ICA opponents interpret the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as opposed to any systemic ICA practice, and as incompatible with the Hague Adoption Convention.

Adoption which was a taboo in the past is a choice for many couples now. It is viewed positively by society and has many benefits for the child as well as the families who are longing for children and cannot give birth or have other reasons for choosing to adopt.

Such loving families care for and raise their adopted children as if they were their own and giving them opportunities for better lives. The procedure for adoption of an orphan, abandoned or surrendered child by a non – resident Indian, overseas citizen of India and foreign prospective Indian Parents is composite and a step by step process. Due to child trafficking and other illegal activities stringent laws have been made in India to protect children who were being exploited earlier.

The main authorities involved in the process in India are CARA – Central Adoption Resource Authority, the concerned government department in the country of habitual residence of prospective parents or the Authorised Foreign Adoption Agency and the Specialized Adoption Agency in India.

The main process starts in the foreign residence of the adoptive parent where he gets his credentials tested through a home study report which is a detailed analysis of the family background, credits, case history and eligibility. It is a study into the circumstances of the family and also their capability and capacity to adopt the child. These agencies have to be authorized by the Indian Government and then only the Home Study report would be valid.

The Authorised Foreign Adoption Agency in the country of habitual residence, on ascertaining the eligibility of the interested adoptive parents gets their Home Study report completed and registers their application in Child Adoption Resource Information. These documents along with other documents are again scrutinized at the CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority) in order to determine their eligibility and suitability and are automatically forwarded to the Specialized Adoption Agency in India or the adoptive parents. If the child is chosen then the concerned documents are signed and the medical examination is conducted within a specific time frame and thereafter the child should be accepted by the parents within 30 days of this procedure and if they do not do the same then the child is again free for adoption and withdrawn by CARA.

'The world today is full of orphaned children, but it's also full of loving families who are ready and eager to adopt them'

The House of Representatives unanimously passed a bipartisan bill Monday afternoon aimed at helping streamline the international adoption process for prospective parents.

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The "Intercountry Adoption Information Act of 2019" aims to help American families keep abreast of other countries' adoption laws and any changes that could delay or halt the process.

"The world today is full of orphaned children, but it's also full of loving families who are ready and eager to adopt them," Rep. Ron Wright (R-Texas) said on the House floor. "All too often American families encounter policy obstacles that delay or prevent those adoptions."

As soon as adoptions make money, fraud lurks around the corner

The resignation of the UNICEF director in connection with adoptions from Guatemala will have led to difficult conversations, primarily with the children's rights organization, but also in all Flemish families with an adopted child. I can participate. What can we still assume to be true? Can we open up the wound or leave the initiative to the adopted person? Adoption involves so much good intention and so much unspoken, only suspected suffering that questioning it is a big taboo.

Congo, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, India, Guatemala ... Meanwhile, it is clear that there are no good and less good countries of origin. The same applies to the countries of destination, Belgium is certainly not alone. Where adoptions make money, fraud lurks around the corner.

Dolores is now telling her story in the Belgian press for the first time, suspicious as she is, because of what she experienced as a child. At the age of five she was abducted in her village in the Guatemalan mountains. A bit like the kidnapped Maddie McCann, but without worldwide attention. Her documents were forged and hoped, another child who could go to Belgium. Only after 25 years were her mother's prayers answered and the lost daughter was at the door. The mother, the daughter, the adoptive parents, are all signed for life.

CAUTION AND RESPECT

A chance audio clip has blown the lid off a well-entrenched network involved in the sale of newborns. Such is its expanse that the CB-CID has been roped in to investigate. Poverty of ‘sellers’ and desperation among ‘buyers’ is believed to have fuelled the racket

On April 25, an audio clip of a conversation on procuring babies for illegal adoption by childless couples went viral on social media.

An inquiry by Namakkal police into the conversation, which sounded like one between a prospective buyer and a broker, uncovered a network involved in the sale of 30 newborns – 24 of them female -- from various parts of the State, including villages in the Kolli Hills of Namakkal District.

Police said the racket involved facilitation of illegal adoption of babies, mostly born into poor families, for huge sums of money. The price varied with the gender, health and complexion of the child.

The Namakkal police arrested S. Amuthavalli, a retired nursing assistant from Rasipuram, her husband S. Ravichandran, who works in a public sector bank, and an ambulance driver, Murugeshan, from Kolli Hills. They also arrested a few agents from Erode, who lured childless couples into illegal procurement of children. They were the link between the “buyers” and Amuthavalli, who then worked the deal with parents who wanted to give their children away.

The aim of the "Euregional Conference on Aftercare Adoption" is to be able to offer better psychological support to the adoption triangle of child, biological and adoptive parent through an exchange of experiences. Association for aftercare adoption from Venray and Osteopathy Vivi from Straelen are starting a collaboration for that reason.

Dutch: Doel van “euregionale conferentie nazorg adoptie” is het om door een uitwisseling van ervaringen een betere psychische begeleiding aan de adoptiedriehoek van kind, biologisch en adoptiefouder te kunnen bieden. Vereniging nazorg adoptie uit Venray en Osteopathie Vivi uit Straelen starten om die reden een samenwerking.

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Baby in custody of issueless Pune couple

By Kumud Jenamani in Jamshedpur

An Adityapur woman, who was forced by poverty to virtually sell her infant boy to an issueless couple in April, approached police late on Friday night pleading she wanted her son back, the case raising highlighting how unauthorised adoptions work.

Adityapur police have contacted the couple, now in Pune, and ordered them to return the infant to its biological mother in a couple of days.

Birth mother Seema Mahali aka Seema Rao, who lives in Rambadhaiya area in Adityapur, said she had no choice but to hand over her newborn son to a well-off family in the area when she failed to return a loan of Rs 5,000 that she had taken from them.

CHENNAI: As multiple cases of illegal sale of babies, including the Namakkal racket, cast a shadow on adoption in the state, data released by the department of social defence shows that while there are 2,382 prospective parents waiting for more than two years to adopt children across Tamil Nadu, the state currently has only 82 children ready for adoption.

“The adoption process is complicated and there are only very few children available. But we hope we can bring home our child,” said Rakesh Saxena, a city-based entrepreneur, who had applied for adopting a child two years ago. Among the 274 children currently placed across 20 adoption agencies in the state, only 82 were found eligible and ready. “Not all children can be placed for adoption. Only those who are willing, undergone counselling and are deemed fit by authorities are eligible for placement,” said an official from the department of social defence. While most of the children in adoption homes

are above eight years of age, the demand is only for children who are below four years of age.

Officials, however, also raise concerns about what this figure could mean. “We suspect that many children are being put for adoption illegally and are not coming through the process,” said an official pointing to the Namakkal baby selling racket. Demand for kids aged under four very high, say officials

According to officials from the State Adoption Resources Agency, the demand for children below four years is extremely high, while for those between 8 to 17 years of age is a lot lower. “But only a few children are below the age of four in adoption agencies,” the official said. The adoption agencies, however, continue to get more than 200 children every year under three categories – orphan/ abandoned, surrendered and cradle baby. The numbers, according to officials, are low, especially newborns surrendered under cradle baby scheme.