KYRGYZSTAN: ADOPTION REFORM LEAVES KYRGYZ ORPHANS, AMERICAN FAMILIES, IN LIMBO

Laurie Rich 9/10/09

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Last November, Suzanne Boutilier was sitting outside a Kyrgyz orphanage, cradling the slight 6-month-old baby girl she was set to adopt. She sang to her daughter-to-be and kept returning to a Carly Simon tune with the chorus "Lovin’ you is the right thing to do," and every time she came to the line "Even though you’re 10,000 miles away," she would sob.

In a few days Boutilier would be back in California, and the baby she had been waiting five months to finish adopting would remain at the orphanage. Now, more than a year after she was first matched with the little girl by an international adoption agency -- and told she’d likely be able to bring her home in eight weeks -- she is still waiting. And by all accounts, there is no telling when her wait will end.

Joint Council Update

Program Child Permanency and Welfare

Date September 9, 2009

Regarding Nepal

Dear Colleagues,

Sep 9, 2009

Couple sold girl to raise sons

 BEIJING - A COUPLE in Beijing has been tried on charges of trafficking children after they allegedly sold their newborn daughter to raise money to help rear their two sons, state media reported on Wednesday.
The migrant couple is accused of selling their daughter to a middleman for 10,000 yuan (S$2,086) in January as they left the Beijing hospital where she was born, the Beijing Times said.
The middleman is facing similar charges after he sold the girl to another couple for 21,000 yuan, it said.
The three were tried in a Beijing court on Tuesday, but no verdict was reached, the report said.
'Give me back my child, you cheat,' Zhao Zhongying, the mother of the child, was quoted as shouting at middleman Wang Jianjun, an illegal taxi driver, as she entered the courtroom. 'I never wanted to sell my child. I only wanted to find a good home for her.'
Wang allegedly arranged the sale of the child after Zhao's husband complained about the financial difficulties the family was in while riding in Wang's car.
'I thought if we could sell the girl, we could save money to raise our two boys,' the paper quoted the husband as saying.
Trafficking of women and children remains common in China, with many cases often linked to the country's 'one-child' birth control policy.
Young women are also often forced into marriages or prostitution.
During a four-month period ending in August, Chinese police arrested more than 800 suspected human traffickers and freed nearly 3,400 women and children, state media reported earlier. -- AFP
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_427445.html

Orphanage gives out 750 children for adoption

The Proprietress of the Little Saints Orphanage, Lagos, Rev. Dele George, said that the orphanage gave out 750 orphans for adoption in the past nine years.

George disclosed this during the 2009 Orphan Child Concert, organised in Lagos by the House of Love Church, Lagos.

She said the figure represented about 70 per cent of the 1,080 children brought to the orphanage since its inception in 1994.

George was satisfied with the rate Nigerians adopted children, but said orphanages needed more support to take care of the orphans in their custody.

Archives for: September 2009, 08

09/08/09

12:47:44 am, by nazret.com, 1557 words, 34 views

Categories: Ethiopia, Yilma Bekele

Ethiopia - Selling citizens, selling children and selling land

Canadian families asked to bail out bankrupt adoption agency

WINNIPEG FREE PRESSSEPTEMBER 8, 2009

WINNIPEG — Hundreds of Canadians are being asked to put a price on children — by bailing out a bankrupt adoption agency.

About 350 Canadian families in the process of adopting overseas children were left in limbo when Cambridge, Ont.-based Kids Link International Adoption Agency, which operated as Imagine Adoption, was placed into bankruptcy on July 13 amid suspicions of fraud.

The families are working with bankruptcy trustee BDO Dunwoody to put together a proposal to rescue Imagine Adoption. They've been asked by the trustee to donate $4,000 each to help complete the agency's unfinished adoptions.

Statement on the debate – should children be taken into care sooner?
08 September 2009 Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent, Director of Operations at Coram

It is high time that we put the needs of children first. We certainly share the view that for babies who cannot be looked after by their birth parents, that early adoption is the best solution. Of course the decision cannot be made lightly, but it must be made before subjecting children to a life without love and stability being moved from carer to carer.
It is not surprising that our society tends to shy away from taking children from their biological parents. We feel it is somehow unnatural. We must assess whether parents are able to change enough to parent their child safely. Where there is clear, solid evidence of abuse or neglect, we need to be much more willing to remove them from danger. And we need to attempt to do this at a much earlier stage in children’s lives.

Children who are adopted into loving families can have very positive happy lives and this is especially true when they are adopted at a young age. Later adoptions can also work but it is much more difficult for children who come into the care system when they are older. By then, they have suffered the effects of abuse and neglect which can meant that they may not believe in themselves or that anyone can care for them. They are often isolated and tend to behave badly or do poorly in school because learning requires the security that makes it OK to risk failure by trying new things.

There are children currently in the care system who should have been taken into care earlier but that is not to say this is straightforward. Taking a child away from parents is emotionally draining, especially when the alternatives also have risks. Making such decisions requires the skills of a variety of people working together. The right interventions to try to help parents cope and quick input ensures that the child gets the care and support needed even when parents are not coping.

Parenting itself is complex and can be difficult. People need support to help them to do it better. There is no doubt that a child is better with its family of origin as long as the care they provide is not only practical but also warm and appreciative of the child. It is this warmth that is so tied to positive results– to be loved helps us to go on to love.