Update: NCFA's Meeting with Bulgaria

Update: NCFA's Meeting with Bulgaria

by Adoption ARK - A Nonprofit, International Adoption Agency on Tuesday, 05 April 2011 at 17:34

Chuck Johnson, President and CEO of the National Council for Adoption, recently met with a child-welfare delegation from Bulgaria. Adoption ARK wrote to Mr. Jonhson this week and asked for a rundown on the meeting and the outcome. Below is his response.

I met with four Bulgarian representatives on March 30 for about two hours. Participants included:

the chairperson for International Adoption and Reintegration

the department chief for International Child Protection and International Adoption

the director of the State Agency for Child Protection

the deputy minister for the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.

As described to me by the US Department of State, Bulgaria has committed to deinstitutionalize children over the next 10 years and this was a fact-finding mission. The delegation is visiting the US for three weeks and is meeting with US government adoption officials and other child welfare “experts” to help them in this mission. I was asked to present to them an overview of the domestic foster care and adoption process in the US.

In the discussion, I worked in NCFA’s recommendation of the “Child Welfare Continuum Model” as best practices (https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/images/stories/documents/ncfa%20advocate23%204-30.pdf), which includes the use of intercountry adoption as part of a comprehensive child welfare program. IAs are taking place from Bulgaria and slowly increasing, and they assured me IA is part of the plan for meeting the needs of orphans.

It was a very good meeting. They’ve asked me to be available to help them in the future and I’ve agreed.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Chuck Johnson

President and CEO

National Council For Adoption

(703) 299-6633

www.adoptioncouncil.org

Adoption ARK would like to thank the National Council for Adoption for being passionately committed to the belief that every child deserves a nurturing, permanent family.

-The Team at Adoption ARK

www.adoptionark.org