Joint Council on Intl Children's Services speaks out on CDC's TB policy for adopted children
Joint Council on Intl Children's Services speaks out on CDC's TB policy for adopted children
August 13, 6:31 PMInternational Adoption ExaminerCathy Doheny
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In an effort to provide some insight into the CDC's TB policy for immigrants and how it affects internationally adopted children like Harper Yue Ye Scruggs, this Examiner page will be featuring a series of articles on the topic, referencing a variety of sources.
Though the 2007 Technical Instructions for Tuberculosis Screening and Treatment for Panel Physicians policy was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007, it has been implemented on a country-by-country basis since then, with Ethiopia beginning on April 1, 2009 and China on July 1, 2009. These screening instructions were instituted to help reduce the number of immigrants wtih tuberculosis entering the U.S. with tuberculosis and apply to all immigrants ages 2 and older, including newly adopted children who are already legally the children of US citizens.
The three main points of concern with this policy from key adoption advocacy organizations are:
This TB screening relies primarily on sputum cultures, which is not an effective screening tool for pediatric tuberculosis.
Pre-adolescent children are not contagious, unless they have the adult form, which carries only an infinitesimal risk.
Adoptions from China and Ethiopia are finalized prior to the initiation of this testing. This means that these children are legally the children of U.S. citizens and are being denied access to U.S. medical care.
Thomas DiFilipo, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services, a membership-based organization which advocates for and protects every child's right to a safe, permanent, and loving family, spoke with the International Adoption Examiner regarding his organization’s concerns with the CDC’s TB policy.
Though we applaud the CDC for the work that they do, they have unfortunately developed an over-reaching policy that's not appropriate for this particular population and cannot exist in a vacuum to achieve its purpose. No policy can exist in a vacuum.
They need to also take into consideration the legal citizenship issues and diplomatic ramifications. Chapter 1, Article 1 of the Hague Convention states that the main objective is ‘to establish safeguards to ensure that intercountry adoptions take place in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or her fundamental rights as recognized in international law.’ The CDC's policy is clearly not in the best interest of these children.
In addition, we must remember that even though these adopted children are legally the children of American citizens at the time of testing, they are not American citizens themselves until they arrive in the U.S. In the case of adopted Chinese children, these tests are being performed on Chinese citizens, therefore consultation with the China Center of Adoption Affairs should have been at the forefront of consideration when planning this policy.
DiFilipo only sees two ways of this getting resolved:
1. The CDC exempts pre-adolescent (ages 2-12) adoptees from the policy.
2. action by Congress, which is currently being pursued by the Joint Council and other adoption advocacy organizations.
We’re making excellent headway with this initiative, but will need the help of the entire adoptive community to strengthen the effort.
So, how can adoptive families help?
sign the Build Families, Not Barriers Petition
contact members of congress to take action to exempt this population of adoptees from the policy.
We need a solution, not a temporary fix. Tweaking the system and making it faster or trimming a few days off of the screening process for these children is simply not a solution.
For more info: Jay Scruggs' Blog: Bring Harper Home, FACE act (eliminates the need for an immigrant visa for an internationally adopted child of an American citizen to enter the U.S.)
*logo courtesy of Joint Council on International Children's Services
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