FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010

Sad state of adoption in Australia

Australians have the option of adopting internationally from 14 different countries. As I mentioned late last year, the Ethiopia program is currently suspended pending investigation and a decision by the Attorney General. Other programs are now dropping like flies. Philippines have placed a moratorium on adoption of children 24 months and younger. The Fiji program is on hold until a bilateral agreement can be reached.

Some countries have placed small quotas on the number of files it will accept from Australia this year (for example, Lithuania will only accept TWO files from each central authority for adoption of children under age 6), and other countries have obscene waiting times (for example, China is nearly up to four years from the time they receive your file, and all indicators suggest it is going to get much worse before it gets better.)

Local adoption is so scarce it is almost non-existent.

Get a womb: Gay couples outsource Indian mothers

By Saritha Rai - GlobalPost

Published: February 26, 2010 09:55 ET

BANGALORE, India — In a building smack in the middle of chaotic Hyderabad, an hour’s flight from Bangalore, 29-year-old American Brad Fister recently got acquainted with the delirious joy of first-time parenthood.

Fister and his partner Michael Griebe, who own a computer business in Kentucky, contracted a womb from an Indian surrogate mother thousands of miles away in Hyderabad. Their daughter Ashton, conceived in a laboratory out of Fister’s sperm and an anonymous donor’s egg, was born in mid-February.

GOOGLE TRANSLATION:

GOOGLE TRANSLATION

Breath again for adoptions of Nepalese children. Held

Thursday, February 25 the meeting convened by the Commission for Adoptions

International (CAI) with representatives of institutions authorized

Friday, February 26, 2010

PEAR Statement on Nepal Adoptions

PEAR Statement on Nepal Adoptions

The country of Nepal reopened its intercountry adoption program in January of 2009 after closing in 2007 due to allegations of trafficking and corruption. At the time it reopened, PEAR was cautiously optimistic that Nepal would be able to follow this new program and adoptions would be transparent, ethical and in the best interests of children. Our two major concerns were whether Nepal had adequate processes in place to protect children from needlessly entering into the intercountry adoption system, and the inclusion of numerous large, mandatory fees/donations and the possible corrupting influence this would have on decisions to place children for intercountry adoption. These fees include a $10,000 per agency per year fee to the Nepali government (the Ministry is currently requesting that this money goes to the Child's Rights Fund via direct donation to CNFN), a $5,000 per adoption donation to the orphanage or Children's Home caring for the child prior to adoption, and a $3,000 fee per child to the government of Nepal.

Since the reopening of adoptions, over 500 dossiers have been registered with the Nepali government by families hoping to adopt a child. Only 22 adoptions have been finalized with another 40 or so prospective adoptive families being matched with a child. Those matches occurred in the summer and fall of 2009 and have sat in limbo with the Nepal adoption authorities ever since. According to the US State Department, seven of those matches were to families in the US and though the GON has promised movement on those cases since late January or early February, nothing has happened. No invitations to travel have been received by matched families and no new matches have been made.

Questions surround status of Haitian kids in Pa

PITTSBURGH — A spokesman says Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell didn't know

several children he accompanied from earthquake-ravaged Haiti to the

United States might not even have been slated for adoption.

The Homeland Security Department says 12 of the more than 50 children

25-02-2010 - Aanvulling op nieuwsbericht Adoptie uit Ethiopië, 19-02 Naar aanleiding van het bericht van vrijdag is er een aantal vragen bij Wereldkinderen binnengekomen die wij graag willen beantwoorden. Wat is de reden dat Wereldkinderen nogmaals onderzoek wil verrichten, als de gevolgde procedure tot nu toe als betrouwbaar werd gezien en het Ministerie van Justitie dit niet eist? Het onderzoek waar hier op gedoeld wordt, is de controle van de achtergrondgegevens van de kinderen in het fosterhuis, waar de hele tijd al sprake van is, in samenwerking met het Ministerie van Women Affairs in Ethiopie. Het Ministerie van Justitie in Nederland heeft toegestemd in het hervatten van de procedures onder de voorwaarde dat bovenstaand onderzoek (controle) per dossier is afgerond. Waarom kiest Wereldkinderen ervoor om dit onderzoek samen met MOWA uit te voeren? Het Ministerie van Women Affairs fungeert als centrale autoriteit en is daarom vanzelfsprekend betrokken Waarom heeft Wereldkinderen niet al eerder zelf onderzoek gedaan? Gedeeltelijk had Wereldkinderen al zelf onderzoek gedaan en deze kinderen zijn inmiddels voorgesteld voor adoptie en naar Nederland gekomen. Na het bezoek aan Ethiopie met het Ministerie van Justitie, Stichting Afrika en Wereldkinderen is afgesproken met Mowa dat de controle van de achtergrondgegevens van de kinderen die nu nog in het fosterhuis van Wereldkinderen verblijven met hen samen gedaan zou worden. Stichting Afrika had voor deze tijd al deze controles al afgerond. Wereldkinderen heeft een groter aantal kinderen in het tehuis. Wat is de geschatte omvang en tijdsplanning van het onderzoek? Vanuit Ethiopie is bekend geworden dat alle dossiers van de nog aanwezige kinderen in het fosterhuis zijn opgehaald. Hier is uit af te leiden dat de controle is begonnen. Er is geen indicatie te geven hoe lang dit gaat duren. Er is op tal van momenten aangegeven dat de verkiezingen voor vertragingen kunnen zorgen. Zodra er nieuws is, zullen wij via de website hierover berichten. Worden er vanaf nu weer nieuwe kinderen in het tehuis opgenomen? Op dit moment ligt de prioriteit bij de controle van de in het tehuis verblijvende kinderen en worden er geen kinderen in het tehuis opgenomen. http://www.wereldkinderen.nl/site.php?id=nl_news&nieuws_id=329

Burnley mum fails to prevent child's adoption

9:00pm Thursday 25th February 2010

Print

Email

Share

German surrogate twins: Government to relax adoption norms

New Delhi, Feb 25

The government Thursday told the Supreme Court that it is willing to waive some of the restrictions in adopting children born through surrogacy to help a German couple adopt their twin sons born to an Indian surrogate mother in 2008.

A bench of Justice A.K. Ganguly and Justice R.M. Lodha then asked the government to file an affidavit stating its intention to waive the stipulations to help German national Jan Balaaz and his wife. The twins have been in India since their birth due to immigration problems.

Appearing for Balaaz and his wife, advocate Kamini Jaiswal told the bench that Germany treats childbirth through surrogacy as illegal and has "flatly said that it will not do anything" to help the couple.

Dans les coulisses de l'adoption internationale. Visite d'une "usine à bébés" au Vietnam

South China Morning Post, Hong Kong. Reportage.

Des couples viennent du monde entier à Lang Son, au Vietnam, pour adopter des nourrissons. Sans savoir qu'ils ont été vendus par leur mère pour une bouchée de pain.

Dans une cahute crasseuse jouxtant l'entrée d'un orphelinat, à l'extrême nord du Vietnam, la mère de Hoang pose un regard inquiet — elle semble écartelée entre instinct et résignation - sur son premier bébé, tandis qu'on le lui prend pour le remettre à une femme qui me le propose pour 10 000 dollars [7 000 euros]. "Regardez-le, c'est un si joli petit garçon", me lance Tang Thî Cai, négociante en enfants de son métier, alors que le nourrisson de 2 mois agite les jambes et cligne des yeux. "Si vous le voulez, dépêchez-vous. Nous avons déjà lancé les formalités pour le confier à l'orphelinat, il n'y a pas de temps à perdre." Sentant mon hésitation pendant qu'elle s'affaire dans la pièce insalubre, Mmc Cai poursuit sa ritournelle commerciale. "Si vous préférez une fille, dites-le-moi Nous avons des femmes enceintes sur le point d'accoucher. Dès qu'une petite fille est disponible, nous pouvons vous téléphoner."

Dans les années 1990, le Vietnam est venu se ranger à la quatrième place mondiale en matière d'adoption internationale après la Chine, la Russie et la Corée du Sud. Au plus fort de la tendance, quelque 2 500 enfants étaient adoptés chaque année au Vietnam. Mais l'attrait de rétributions dépassant 10 000 dollars par enfant adopté dans un pays où le revenu annuel moyen ne dépasse guère un dixième de cette somme est à l'origine d'une myriade d'affaires de corruption. Celles-ci jettent le discrédit sur les programmes internationaux et sèment le doute sur des dizaines de milliers d'adoptions. En 2008, des enquêteurs américains ont découvert que de nombreux bébés prétendument abandonnés sur les marches d'hôpitaux et d'orphelinats avaient en réalité été vendus par leurs mères. Il est par ailleurs de notoriété publique que les autorités falsifient certains documents pour faciliter l'adoption de ces enfants par des couples étrangers. Les enquêteurs ont même mis le doigt sur plusieurs cas impliquant des familles qui n'avaient jamais eu l'intention de faire adopter leur enfant. Ils ont également recueilli les preuves de l'existence de "foyers de maternité" identiques à celui que dirige Mmc Cai, où les mères sont payées l'équivalent de onze mois de salaire par nourrisson remis.

25 FEBRUARY 2010 New name new focus Charity co-founded by J K Rowling reveals spellbinding new identity The Children’s High Level Group today unveils its new name and a new brand with a rallying call to put an end to the systematic institutionalisation of disadvantaged children across Central and Eastern Europe. The charity today re-launches as Lumos - named after the spell in J K Rowling's global sensation Harry Potter. In the books, Lumos causes a small beam of light to emit from the spell-caster's wand. With the change of name to Lumos comes a shift in focus: Lumos will no longer work in Romania – this work will be continued by the Asociatia Children’s High Level Group, whose Chair is Baroness Emma Nicholson. Lumos, chaired by J K Rowling, will continue its work in the Czech Republic and the Republic of Moldova, as well as expanding into other countries. J K Rowling says, "Twenty years ago, as Communist regimes across Europe toppled, harrowing images of Europe's hidden children began to emerge. Thousands upon thousands of children were living in vast, depressing institutions – malnourished and often maltreated, with little access to the outside world. Slowly governments have begun to transform care systems. Real and lasting change takes time, but today we are putting down a marker and calling for significantly more progress in the next twenty years to ensure that eventually no children are living in, or at risk of entering, such institutions." Dr Richard Alderslade, Chief Executive of Lumos, says: "While pockets of really good progress have been made since 1990, the scale of the challenge remains almost unimaginable. There are still more than 1 million children and young people living in institutions, not just in a handful of countries, but in most countries across Central and Eastern Europe. This means that we have to be realistic in our approach. Working with governments at a strategic level - to create country-wide reforms, not just one-off closures of particular institutions - takes time. It is not only a question of closing down the institutions, but also implementing new systems and creating alternative care settings as well as the not so insignificant task of changing mindsets." Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of these children are not orphans, but are disabled, from ethnic minorities or poor backgrounds. Institutionalisation damages children’s health and development and reduces their chances in life. Lumos is currently working on major reform programmes in the Czech Republic and Moldova. The charity has been assisting the Czech government to develop a National Action Plan for the reform of all its services for vulnerable children and families. It is now working in the county of Pardubice, helping the local authorities to transform all of their large residential institutions for children. In Moldova, the charity is supporting the government and local authorities to implement large-scale de-institutionalisation programmes as well as an initiative aimed at significantly reducing infant mortality. Lumos has also been providing advice and support to the European Commission in Brussels on the best way to use funding for reforming the child social protection system in Bulgaria. We are now setting up a major programme in the country to help accelerate and improve the process of de-institutionalisation.

.