Green street to international adoptions - 2009-03-13 15:23 On 19 March the Ministry of Justice and organizations-facilitators will hold a joint conference at Sheraton Hotel
Eliana Mitova
It is expected that the conference to be held on 19 March at Royal III Hall, Sheraton Hotel, by the Ministry of Justice and the Association of Licensed Organizations will grant a green street to international adoptions. Ilonka Raychinova, Chairperson of the International Adoptions Council and Deputy-minister of Justice will personally familiarize the audience with the main aspects of this issue. Her report has been expected with great interest by all involved parties, because for four years now international adoptions have been almost a topic under taboo in the Bulgarian society. Directors of homes for bringing up abandoned children will discuss the disastrous effect of the institution on the development of growing-up children. Specialists in the field of law will present the new Family Code (not discussed yet on second reading), which is the basic document in relation to international adoptions implementation. Judge Mariya Georgieva, of Sofia City Court, whose experience in related procedures is extremely valuable and useful, will also render her standpoint from this conference rostrum. The painful topic of placing children with special needs (i.e., children with severe health problems) will also be brought to light. Representatives of foreign central authorities, involved in adoption abroad, will share the difficulties they encounter in the dialogue with their Bulgarian partners. In order to take part in the conference, some adoptive families from abroad will arrive together with their children. The open discussion will enable the presentation of opinions, which may be extremely useful for the future of international adoptions.
Defrosting after ice age
The conference to be held on 19 March is a sign that the ice age in international adoptions (known also among informed people as the Ganev-Kalauzka age) has come to an end forever. For some four years, Margarit Ganev, former Deputy-minister of Justice, has in practice blocked international adoptions, reducing them to some 100 adoptions annually. He explained his actions as depending on some European requirement, which, you see, has imposed that Bulgaria should perform no more than 100 procedures per year. The “requirement” turned out to be just mere talk, however it virtually deprived hundreds of abandoned Bulgarian children of the chance to have families. As a result of this misanthropic policy, adoptive parents from abroad, broken-hearted and disappointed with so much waiting for, withdrew their dossiers and went to other countries. The international adoptions system practically collapsed. The present team of the Ministry of Justice is still fighting the terrifying consequences of such collapse.