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Haiti Presidential Decree to Tighten International Adoptions

Haiti Presidential Decree to Tighten International Adoptions

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Category: Presidential
Published on Friday, 24 June 2011 09:11
Written by Samuel Maxime

PRESIDENT MICHEL MARTELLY [FILE]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - President Michel Martelly will issue a decree to make law the adoption of Haitian children subject to institutional processes.

The law had begun forming during the Preval administration and has passed a vote in the Chamber of Deputies but is awaiting passage in the Senate.

As the nation is awaiting the ratification of a prime minister, the vote in the Senate is postponed. The President, believing no time can be wasted on the matter, will enact the decree in the meantime.

"While waiting for a vote on this law, a delay I hope will be as short as possible, I intend to issue a presidential decree making it obligatory for adoption applications to go through authorized organisms, as the Hague Convention outlines," Martelly was quoted.

The measure will effectively ban private adoptions, the President concluded.

Haiti

Spain probes 849 cases of alleged baby trafficking

Spain probes 849 cases of alleged baby trafficking

 

By HAROLD HECKLE
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Jun. 17, 2011 - 12:40 pm
Last Modified: Friday, Jun. 17, 2011 - 1:41 pm

MADRID -- Spanish prosecutors are investigating 849 cases of newborn children stolen from their mothers and sold to other families for profit, the country's attorney general said Friday.

Candido Conde-Pumpido said 162 cases had already been referred for trial and only 38 have been dropped for a lack of evidence.

It is well documented that babies were taken from women who had supported the defeated Republican side after Spain's 1936-39 civil war. However, some of the baby trafficking cases are as recent as the mid-1990s.

"A great many Spaniards" had been affected by the scandal, which took place "over a prolonged period of time," Conde-Pumpido said at a news conference.

His office was alerted to the cases by ANADIR, an association of people searching for lost children or parents.

Enrique Vila, a lawyer representing ANADIR, said what had begun as a politically motivated punishment for Republican sympathizers eventually became a purely moneymaking scheme that persisted illegally well past Spain's return to democracy in 1978.

Investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzon has calculated there could have been 30,000 baby thefts in Spain in the wake of the civil war.

Vila has argued that there was more or less a nationwide network behind it, involving doctors, nurses, midwives, nuns and intermediaries that would find children for couples that wanted them. Mothers were told that their babies were stillborn.

"It is not possible to attribute this to a single organization," said Conde-Pumpido, speaking in the eastern city of Valencia following a meeting with prosecutors general from Spain's 17 autonomous regions.



Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/17/3708944/spain-probes-849-cases-of-alleged.html#ixzz1PdcnFskG
Spain

Babies just another commodity

Babies just another commodity

18 June, 2011
9:55 am In rural Nepal, where the going rate for a healthy orphan is US$6000 ($7449), about 600 children are missing.

They were taken by agents who came to the villages promising parents they would educate the children and give them a better life in the capital, sometimes for a steep fee. The children never returned.

Between 2001 and 2007, hundreds of Nepali children with living parents were falsely listed as orphans and adopted by high-paying Western couples a world away.

One widow, according to the child protection charity Terre des Hommes, was unable to feed her seven children and sent them to an urban "child centre", where three were quickly adopted without her consent by rich Westerners.

Another, Sunita, was told by sneering authorities she would never see her child again. She doused herself in kerosene and struck a match.

Tens of thousands of babies, toddlers and young children are now adopted across international borders every year, according to Unicef.

The Nepali adoption industry is part of a broader child-trafficking trend which saw some "orphans" from the rural provinces of Humla and Jumla sold to circuses.

Western prospective parents, however, are the preferred revenue stream. Adoption brought US$2 million a year into the country before 2007, when the programme was suspended pending an inquiry that uncovered many cases of abduction and improper financial gain.

Nepal is not the only country where international conventions on the rights of children have been breached as unscrupulous middlemen trade toddlers like livestock to desperate Western couples.

The process is simple: parents in Europe and America contact an adoption agency in the country of their choice, either privately or via a home agency.

Money changes hands, and their papers and the papers of the child are checked, the latter being easy to falsify. More money changes hands, and the child goes home with new parents.

Many of these adoptions are legitimate, beneficial and bring nothing but joy to the new parents and hope to the child. But there is another side. The possibilities for corruption and backhand profit are immense, because the emotional stakes are so high.

"When people want something so very much, like a baby, the amount of money they are prepared to throw at it can be limitless," said Andy Elvin of Children and Families Across Borders.

"In some countries, those amounts of money on offer mean that people do things they wouldn't otherwise do, and that's the problem."

According to Terre des Hommes, there is now, in many cases, "an industry around adoption in which profit, rather than the best interests of the child, takes centre stage".

The business is a seller's market, because there are far fewer orphans in need of adoption than Western prospective parents wishing to adopt.

Although many children adopted in this way do enjoy loving, stable homes with their new families, the number of truly "adoptable children" in overseas orphanages is smaller than the number of prospective parents.

Even in the aftermath of wars and natural disasters, those without a single relative to provide proper care is insufficient to meet the demand for exotic orphans.

After the tsunami in Japan, many Westerners inquired as to when and how they would be able to adopt a tsunami orphan, only to be told any child left parentless would be rehoused with extended family.

There is sometimes a distinct missionary element to this charity.

Christian lobby groups exhort congregations to demonstrate their faith by adopting foreign orphans from countries that know neither Jesus nor Walmart. Networks exist to help individual ministries organise funds to pay the orphanages and middlemen who supply the babies.

Last year, 10 Southern Baptists "obeyed God's calling" by smuggling 33 Haitian children - most solicited from living parents - across the Dominican border to await adoption by American believers.

All were jailed for a time but Christian adoption lobbies in the United States are putting increasing political pressure on organisations such as Unicef to ratify their agenda rather than raising ethical issues about the human rights of the children involved.

There are more mundane reasons why Western couples might wish to adopt overseas rather than be matched with one of the tens of thousands of children in need of adoption at home (many of whom do not match, in age or background, the ideal child some would-be parents want).

One Ukrainian tourist website boasts that "Ukraine has very few restrictions" and adds that unlike many countries, which seek to eliminate unfairness with rigorous matching systems, "prospective parents have the chance to choose the child they wish to adopt".

"Ukrainian children are typically family-oriented, caring, make attachments easily," enthuses the site, as if it were selling a new breed of house pet. "They look to their new parents with adoration."

Elvin, of Children and Families Across Borders, said: "There is an almost inexhaustible demand for very young children to adopt. People looking to adopt are generally looking to adopt children under the age of 3, and preferably under the age of 1. That's your essential problem.

"In America, which is the biggest importer, if you like, there are 23,000 children in the foster system waiting for adoption, but most of them will be aged 5 to 16. There's a very rich, powerful and well-resourced inter-country adoption lobby in the US."

The leading supplier of babies for adoption is China, which sent 5078 children abroad in 2009. It used to be Vietnam, then Guatemala (at one point one in every 100 babies there was sent for adoption to the US). Ethiopia, which until recently, was sending 50 children daily out of the country, announced a clampdown in March. No one knows where the agencies and parents will turn next.

Infant income

* In 2009, the last year for which reliable figures are available, the top five adopting countries took in 24,839 children from overseas.

* Half of these, 12,753, went to the US, with Italy taking 3964, Spain and France around 3000 each, and Canada 2122.

* China, the leading source of babies for adoption, sent 5078 children abroad in 2009.

* Russia sent 4039 and 4564 came from Ethiopia, one of a range of countries which, through lax regulation, had a vogue as a ready source of babies.

- INDEPENDENT
Nepal

Ethiopian Adoption Update!!!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2011

Ethiopian Adoption Update!!!

We just got an Update from our Adoption Agency!

We are pleased to announce that the Ethiopian Ministry of Women's Youth and Children's Affairs (MOWYCA) have decided to increase the number of files to be reviewed on a daily basis. As of June 15, 2011

the number of files

will increase

from five(5) files per day

to ten (10) files per day.

During the next two to three months the Ministry plans to

increase the number of files reviewed to

fifteen (15) files per day

as they complete the system improvement goals that they have previously outlined for themselves.



For anyone that doesn't know the details...

that's ok.

All you need to know is that

it's WONDERFUL news!

Answered pray!

Praising Him!

Dove Adoptions International Inc.
Ethiopia

Surinamereis mei 2006


Surinamereis mei 2006


Surinamereis mei 2006
 
Contact bureau Familierechtelijke Zaken en andere instellingen

Afgelopen meivakantie zijn wij, Marlies Lambers (voorzitter van Meiling) en Elza van Vliet (landencontactpersoon Suriname) in Suriname geweest.

We hebben in Suriname verschillende instanties bezocht, waaronder Bureau Familierechtelijke Zaken en het ministerie.

Zoals misschien wel bekend is het aantal adopties vanuit Suriname sinds april 2005 terug gelopen en hebben we helaas nog maar drie kindjes kunnen voorstellen.

Voor ons was niet duidelijk wat daar de oorzaak van was. Dit was dus een belangrijk gesprekspunt. Helaas zijn we niet met goede berichten naar huis gekomen.

In Suriname zijn ze bezig om meer kindjes in eigen land op te vangen, zij willen daarvoor de mogelijkheden voor pleegzorg verder uitbouwen. Dit heeft tot gevolg dat er minder kinderen voor adoptie in aanmerking gaan komen.

Als Meiling staan wij daar achter. Ieder kind wat op een goede manier opgevangen kan worden in het eigen land, daar zijn we blij mee. We hopen echter dat daardoor toch geen kinderen buiten de boot gaan vallen of langdurig in kindertehuizen zullen worden ondergebracht.

Reden voor Meiling om wel in gesprek te blijven met de betrokkenen in Suriname en hen, iets wat wij tijdens onze reis ook gedaan hebben, duidelijk te maken dat adoptie voor kinderen, bijv. special needs kinderen, die moeilijker plaatsbaar zijn in een gezin wel een goede optie is.

Dat wij Nederland gezinnen/ouders hebben die een kindje met een dergelijk rapport goed kunnen en willen opvangen.

Ook nu wij terug in Nederland zijn, zijn we daar nog steeds mee bezig.

Mw. Bughwandass van Bureau Familierechtelijke zaken geeft ook duidelijk aan dat het absoluut niet de bedoeling is dat het Surinamekanaal gaat sluiten.

Alleen is het niet meer mogelijk om aan te geven om hoeveel kinderen het ongeveer per jaar zal gaan. Dat maakt het dus moeilijk. Voor ons als medewerkers van Meiling, maar ook zeker voor alle wachtende ouders. Er is veel meer onzekerheid gekomen over de toekomst en de wachttijden.

Daarom houden wij intensief contact met Suriname om daar waar mogelijk duidelijkheid te creëren en ieder kindje wat voor adoptie in aanmerking komt nog steeds een goed thuis te bieden.
 
Illegale adoptie

Ook tijdens ons verblijf in Suriname werden we geconfronteerd met zaken waarin illegale adoptie een rol speelt. Hoe jammer om dat te horen. Het draagt absoluut niet bij aan een goed beeld van adoptie en aan de bereidheid van Suriname om mee te werken aan adoptieprocedures. Door deze illegale adopties wordt het alleen maar moeilijker voor adoptiefouders die wel de legale weg behandelen om een kindje te adopteren. En daarmee zijn niet alleen deze ouders gedupeerd, maar ook beslist alle kinderen die daardoor in een gezin op zouden kunnen groeien.

We hebben ook aan alle betrokkenen duidelijk aangegeven dat het voor Meiling absoluut onbespreekbaar is en dat wij, dat wat in ons vermogen ligt, zullen doen om illegale adoptie tegen te gaan.
 
Follow-uprapportages

Voor dat wij vertrokken hebben we alle ouders met een kind uit Suriname geprobeerd te bereiken om ook dit jaar weer hun follow-uprapportage te maken en aan ons toe te sturen. Gelukkig gingen we met een hele dikke map naar Suriname. Maar hij had nog veel dikker kunnen zijn. Want niet alle ouders geven een reactie terug in de vorm van de follow-uprapportage of een boodschap hoe zij met hun follow-uprapportage om gaan.

Misschien wel omdat zij verhuisd zijn en hun nieuwe adres niet bij Meiling hebben achter gelaten. De rapportages waren erg welkom, zowel bij Bureau Familierechtelijke zaken en het ministerie van Justitie in Suriname.

Op deze manier hebben wij de instanties laten zien dat wij ook hen op de hoogte willen houden van de ontwikkelingen van het uit Suriname geadopteerde kind.

Wat niet wil zeggen dat alle rapportages gelezen zijn, maar de foto’s van de kinderen maken al heel veel duidelijk.

Tijdens ons verblijf werd al twee keer door biologische ouders of familieleden gevraagd of er nieuwe foto’s waren van de kinderen of misschien zelfs wel een tekening. Een familie konden we blij maken, de anderen helaas niet. Van hen is er al langere tijd geen rapportage meer opgestuurd, terwijl de familie wel blijft vragen hierom. Zo jammer…..

Op Bureau Familierechtelijke zaken werd verteld dat de familie/ouders van het kind de foto’s mee mogen nemen. Er blijft slechts een foto achter bij Bureau Familierechtelijke Zaken voor het dossier. Mw. Bughwandass vertelde hoe blij ze daar mee zijn, maar dat familie/ouders vaak nog blijer zijn als er ook nog een tekening bij is die speciaal voor hen gemaakt is.

Opnieuw is de grote waarde van de follow-uprapportages gebleken. Ook op deze plaats dank aan alle ouders die een rapportage hebben opgestuurd of op een andere wijze rapporteren aan Bureau Familierechtelijke Zaken hoe het gaat met het door hen geadopteerde kind.
 
Jubileum Samuël

Naast het bezoek aan de instellingen hebben wij in Suriname het jubileum mee mogen vieren met kinderhuis Samuël. Zij bestaan inmiddels veertig jaar.

Het vieren van het Jubileum werd begonnen met een kerkdienst. In deze dienst werd door alle kinderen een bijdrage geleverd. Van een lied met tamboerijnen tot een mooie dans. De kinderen waren allemaal heel mooi gekleed. Zij hadden alle de traditionele kleding aan, behorend bij hun afkomst. Heel bijzonder om te zien en mee te maken.

Tijdens de dienst werd er ook een bijdrage geleverd door zowel het Nederlandse als Surinaams bestuur van het kinderhuis, als ook door de (oud)medewerkers.

De dienst straalde veel dankbaarheid en blijdschap uit.

Daarna zijn we meegegaan om samen met andere genodigden te eten in Samuël zelf. 
Naast dat het gezellig was om met elkaar te eten, is het goed om te zien dat het huis zich in redelijk goede omstandigheden bevindt. En steeds verder opgeknapt wordt door Dirk-Jan.

Helaas begon het heel hard te regenen op dat moment, maar ook daar valt wel een mouw aan aan te passen. De kinderen lieten zich niet uit het veld slaan door de regen.

Speciaal voor de gelegenheid stond er een grote trampoline en springkussen. Het springkussen zakte in door de regen. Maar springen op de trampoline kan wel….. Totdat ook de trampoline te glad wordt.

Ter gelegenheid van het jubileum heeft Meiling een grote glijbaan gegeven, waar ook al veel gebruik van werd gemaakt door de kinderen.

Daarnaast hebben we ook voor alle kinderen een cadeautje meegenomen. De koffer was flink vol toen we vertrokken en bijna leeg toen we naar huis gingen.

’s Avonds was er nog een receptie ter gelegenheid van het jubileum waar ook wij naar toe gegaan zijn.

Het was een hele vrolijke dag, ondanks de grote regenbuien.
  
Bezoek kinderhuizen

Tijdens ons verblijf hebben we ook nog een (kort) bezoek gebracht aan drie andere kinderhuizen. NL. het Lotjeshuis, Bethel en de Mariahoeve.

Het Lotjeshuis zit nu nog in een oude behuizing, gelukkig wordt er inmiddels nieuw gebouwd voor de kinderen. Het is nu erg donker en somber.

De Mariahoeve is het huis van Nesta en John. Zij vingen in het verleden al kinderen op voor o.a.. Meiling, maar bieden ook andere kinderen een warm plekje om te wonen. Zij hebben er voor gekozen om het aantal kinderen uit te breiden en hebben daarvoor hun huis verbouwd. Er is niet alleen ruimte gekomen voor meer kinderen, maar zij hebben ook ruimte gemaakt voor de biologische moeders van de kinderen. Zodat zij hen ook voor korte periodes kunnen opvangen of zij langs kunnen komen om hun kinderen te bezoeken.

Zij hebben hun huis daarom ook een naam gegeven. Op 27 april, helaas net voor onze aankomst in Suriname, is het huis ingezegend door een priester en heef t het de naam Mariahoeve gekregen.

En dan zijn we ook nog naar Bethel geweest. Bethel ligt een eind buiten de stad Paramaribo. Een bijzonder huis waar ook voor oudere kinderen een mogelijkheid is om opgevangen te worden. Ook daar troffen we mensen aan met een groot en liefdevol hart voor de kinderen waar zij voor zorgen.

Zowel Marlies als ik (Elza) waren nog niet eerder in Suriname geweest. Wat is het goed om alles te mogen zien en mensen te mogen spreken. Dan weet je ook waar je het als voorzitter of landencontactpersoon over hebt en over wie je het hebt.

Het was een waardevol bezoek, ook al hadden we graag andere berichten mee terug gebracht voor alle wachtende ouders.
 
Regentijd

Tijdens ons bezoek aan Suriname was het al regentijd. Ook wij hebben tijdens ons verblijf regelmatig een flinke bui regen gehad. Een ochtend heeft het uren achter elkaar geregend. Volgens onze taxichauffeur kon ieder moment de straat onder water lopen, komend vanuit de rivier die door Paramaribo stroomt. Dat viel gelukkig allemaal mee. En het werd weer droog en door de zon en de warmte verdampte heel veel water ook weer.

Pas toen we weer terug waren kwam het bericht van de rampzalige gevolgen van de overstromingen in een groot gebied van de binnenlanden van Suriname. Daar heeft de regen duidelijk meer gevolgen gehad dan voor ons en de inwoners van Paramaribo.

Zoals al eerder op de site te lezen zal Meiling in de tijd van de wederopbouw onderzoeken welke mogelijkheden om vanuit projecthulp een bijdrage daar aan te leveren.
 
Digitale camera

Tot slot nog een klein moment van plezier wat ik heb mogen delen met de kinderen uit Samuël. Want een digitale camera kennen ze niet. En hé, je ziet jezelf direct terug op het schermpje van het toestel. Een reden voor veel plezier en een heel aantal foto’s van een lachende kinderen.
 
Al met al een heel mooi bezoek aan Suriname, waar er hopelijk nog veel van volgen.
 
Elza van Vliet

Landencontactersoon Suriname
Suriname

Romania: la testimonianza di Azota Popescu

Romania: la testimonianza di Azota Popescu.

PUBBLICATO IN NEWS

Di seguito riportiamo la lettera di Azota Popescu, Rappresentante della Associazione Il Conventino per le adozioni internazionali in Romania. E' una lettera che sprizza felicità e gioia da tutti i pori. Ci auguriamo che presto la situazione delle adozioni possa risolversi favorevolmente.

Buon giorno, carissimi Angeli protettori!
Vi ringrazio per la fiducia in me, in Catharsis !!! Vi ringrazio per l'aiuto !!!!Con i 3200euro, ricevuti da Voi, piu 1000 dollari ricevuti da Stati Uniti e più la mia pensione di 400 euro al mese, abbiamo girato il mondo ....
d'appertutto , per informare la gente, per cambiare la mentalita, per aiutare l'infanzia rumena condanata a una vita senza l'amore, senza la luce, senza futuro......Ecco, finalmente, sono arrivata alla fine della campagna- maratons di raccogliere le 100.000 firme per l'appertura delle adozioni internazionali in Romania. una vera ''aventura''. Per favore, scusate, per il mio silenzio. Sono stata impegnatissima, ho visuto un esperienza inimaginabile, conoscere l'oppinione della gente di strada, la credibilita di me e di Catharsis, l'aiuto della comunita (medici, insegnanti, assistenti maternali, le coppie che hanno adotatto e anche quelli che aspetano adottare, i studenti delle varie facolta, i turisti, i giornalisti, le partite .......Vorrei ringraziare a Voi,per il sostegno morale e finanziario, vorrei ringraziare al Signore per iluminarmi, per la forza fizica e morale di andare avanti, durante tre mesi , quasi, insuportabili....ascoltando in ogni giorno gli stessi commenti teribilli sul trafico di organi, la vendita dei bambini per prostituire, ....ma, anche belle parole di incoraggiare per continuare raccogliere delle firme on line, e di piu, sulla strada....Alla metta di agosto, doppo aver raccoglto oltre 70.000 firme,ero, quasi disperata.
Il Signore mi ha iluminato , di andare a Bucharest, per cercare - incontrare il Presidente della Comissione per Diritti del Uomo, della Camera dei Deputati del Parlamento rumeno, il 17 agosto. Lui e' ramasto impressionato del Progetto - -Petizione di Catharsis.....e mi ha incoraggiato moltissimo : ,, complimenti, signora, per tutto che stai facendo per i bambini- orfani rumeni ! Basta, non dovete piu raccogliere le firme, io prenderro il vostro progetto e preparerro l' iniziativa legislativa per riappertura delle adozioni internazionali in Romania".
Ci vediamo il 01 settebre nella Camera dei Deputati, con tutte le firme, il progetto, la petizione, tutto, tutto sui motivi per promuovere la vostra iniziativa.Ieri, 01 settebre, una delegazione Catharsis-9 persone( 2 ragazzi , 30 e 22 anni, in dificolta doppo l'uscita dal orfanotrofio, 2 assistenti maternali, io, la giurista e l'assistente sociale da Catharsis, un volontario e la Mirabella, ragazza di 24 anni, adotatta in Italia, 10 anni fa, oggi, felicissima di avere , insieme la sua sorellina -15 anni, la loro famiglia, due medici italiani, abbiamo parlato piu di tre ore meso, abbiamo motivato tutto con prove( fotografie), abbiamo lasciato tutte le firme (85.000),e dobbiamo ritornare, tra due- tre settimane, per presentare davanti ai 10 deputati membri della Comisione per Diritti del Uomo, anche altre prove sulle adozioni, grandi successi. in UE.... (...)Spero , che, la Grazia Divina, mi aiutera per vincere questa teribille battaglia!!!
Ciao, a tutti e, un abbraccio affetuoso, Azota

Mirabella Arisi, Azota Popescu, Marco Arisi
Lobby to Re-open Romanian Adoptions (2001- ), Catharsis, Associazione il Conventino
Romania

Couples sue adoption agency for "bait, switch" scheme

Couples sue adoption agency for "bait, switch" scheme

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA | Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:05pm EDT

(Reuters) - Five couples claim an international adoption agency that promised each a baby from Guatemala scammed them in a "bait and switch" scheme and are suing under a federal law more often used against mobsters and drug dealers.

The lawsuit against Main Street Adoption Services, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was filed under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of five couples from Illinois, Minnesota and Louisiana, accuses the agency and three individuals of conspiring with one another "for the illegal purpose of committing fraudulent adoptions through a bait and switch scheme, an adoption scheme that offered illusory promises."

The prospective parents in 2007-2008 spent up to $25,000 each for adoptions that have not yet been completed, and may never be, the lawsuit said. The couples suffered humiliation, outrage, indignation, sleepless nights, and severe emotional distress, court documents said.

Neither the defendants nor their lawyer could be reached for comment on Wednesday. A lawyer for the couples declined comment.

In each case, the promise was that a young child was awaiting the couple in Guatemala. But in each case, things went wrong, even after the couples had traveled to Guatemala to meet the children.

In one such case, in 2007, a couple was assured that they would be meeting their new daughter, Madeline, at a hotel in Guatemala. By that point, they had paid $12,500.

Nobody showed up at the hotel with the child, and they received a call from the agency saying the birth mother had reclaimed Madeline 11 days before they arrived in Guatemala, the lawsuit said. They were "heartbroken, devastated and appalled," according to court papers.

The couple then quickly fell in love with a second child, the suit claimed. But eventually, that adoption also fell through. By then the couple had paid over $25,000.

The suit demands the adoption agency pay each couple triple the amount of their losses as well as cover court costs and damages of more than $75,000.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Peter Bohan)

Guatemala, United States of America
Main Street Adoption

Opri?i exportul de copii!

Opri?i exportul de copii!

Senatul voteaz? mâine reluarea adop?iilor interna?ionale, deghizate în "adop?ii interne"
Autor: ADRIANA OPREA-POPESCU
13 iunie 2011 – 13:01
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 Foto: Karina Knapek / Jurnalul Na?ional 
ESENTIALCite?te avizul GuvernuluiCite?te Proiectul de Lege 250 pe 2011Cite?te raportul final al comisiilor

Ce-ar mai fi de vândut în România? P?durile le-am rezolvat, mun?ii îi întâlnim prin declara?iile de avere ale unora, terenurile agricole sunt cump?rate de str?inii ce-?i descoper? la noi pasiunea pentru agricultur?, fabricile ?i uzinele sunt mormane de fier vechi înghesuite în containerele din port, aurul e pe duc?, combinatele sunt date. Ce-a mai r?mas de vândut în România? O marf? dup? care str?inii tânjesc de ani de zile. Comercializat? en-detail, i-a îmbog??it în anii '90 pe negustorii pricepu?i. ONG-uri ?i case de avocatur?. Din ce s-ar mai putea face azi bani în România? Din copiii abandona?i. Guri de hr?nit, salarii de pl?tit asisten?ilor sociali ?i maternali, pagub?-n buget. Suflete-n plus pe harta României care e preg?tit? s?-?i exporte iar copiii.

"În sistemul de protec?ie social? din România sunt, în momentul de fa??, circa 67 000 – 70 000 de copii. Dintre ace?tia, circa 23 000 de copii sunt în centre de plasament, circa 21 000 de copii sunt în asisten?? maternal?, restul copiilor sunt în alte forme de plasament. (...) În momentul de fa?? ?i, de fapt, în ultimii cinci ani, num?rul de familii de români care vor s? adopte copii excede num?rului de copii adoptabili. Dac? num?rul de copii adoptabili este, undeva, la o medie de 1 100 – 1 200 de copii, num?rul de familii care doresc s? adopte copii, familii de români, este de circa 1 600 – 1 700 ?i, de foarte multe ori, aceste familii renun?? din cauza birocra?iei sau din cauza altor motive, dar interesul în România pentru adop?ia na?ional? este un interes major, care ne deosebe?te fa?? de alte state din Europa.” A?a î?i promova în plenul Senatului proiectul legislativ de modificare a Legii 273/2004 Bogdan Panait, secretar de stat la Oficiul Român pentru Adop?ii (ORA). În realitate, e o campanie de marketing, bine coordonat?, cu reportaje lacrimogene la televizor ?i imagini cu stadioane pline de copii ai nim?nui. Scopul proiectului legislativ e unul singur: reluarea adop?iilor interna?ionale! Cet???nii români sunt discrimina?i de lege, iar prevederile Constitu?iei sunt nesocotite, lucru care, într-adev?r, "ne deosebe?te fa?? de alte state din Europa”...

Protectul legislativ 250/2011 opereaz? 70 de modific?ri în legea privind regimul juridic al adop?iilor. Una singur? a fost scoas? la înaintare, în public: reducerea perioadei în care un copil poate fi declarat adoptabil (30 de zile de la eliberarea certificatului de na?tere în situa?ia copilului cu p?rin?i necunoscu?i – abandona?ii din maternit??i -, sau 1 an de la luarea m?surii de protec?ie în cazul copiilor care au p?rin?i, dar ace?tia sunt dezinteresa?i de ei). Familiile de români care vor s? înfieze s-ar putea declara fericite. Gre?it! De acum înainte, conform legii, vor concura pentru un copil adoptabil cot la cot cu cet??enii str?ni, la aceea?i categorie: "adop?ie intern?”. ?i asta în vreme ce cona?ionalii no?tri afla?i la munc? în str?in?tate vor aplica, dac? vor s? înfieze copii din România, la categoria "adop?ii interna?ionale”.

Ce nu s-a spus pân? acum despre PL 250/2011 este c? el modific? no?iunea de "adop?ie intern?”. Legea veche, înc? în vigoare, prevede c? adop?ia intern? e cea în care atât adoptatorul cât ?i adoptatul au domiciliul stabil în România. Legea nou?, care va fi votat? mâine de Senat, spune c? "adop?ia intern?” este cea "în care atât adoptatorul sau familia adoptatoare, cât ?i adoptatul au re?edin?? obi?nuit? în România”. Ce înseamn? "re?edin?? obi?nuit?”? PL 250/2011 introduce în lege un nou articol – art.3, ind (1) – cu urm?torul cuprins: "în sensul prezentei legi, prin re?edin?? obi?nuit? în România a adoptatorului/ familiei adoptatoare se în?elege situa?ia: a) cet??enilor români cu domiciliu în România (...)” dar ?i, aten?ie! "b) cet??enilor statelor membre UE/SEE sau str?inilor care au drept de reziden?? permanent? sau dup? caz, drept de ?edere permanent? pe teritoriul României”.

Romania

Ambassador post blocked as US adoptive families fight for release of Vietnamese orphans

Ambassador post blocked as US adoptive families fight for release of Vietnamese orphans

By: Margie Mason, The Associated Press

06/15/2011 4:17 AM | Comments: 0

In this June 3, 2011 photo, Marsha Sailors holds up a photo of herself and three-year-old Vietnamese girl, Claire, whom she and her husband are hoping to adopt in the room they prepared for the child in their Kansas City, Mo. home. Three birthdays have since passed, but the child has never slept in the room or worn the clothes hanging in the closet. After nine trips to see the girl Sailors and her husband named Claire, the couple are no longer even allowed to visit her. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

HANOI, Vietnam - Marsha Sailors painted the nursery pink and green at her Missouri home, put up princess pictures and built a crib for her new little girl. They hadn't yet met, but she already was in love with the smiling 6-month-old in a photo sent from Vietnam.

Three birthdays have since passed, but the child has never slept in the room or worn the clothes hanging in the closet.

Sailors and her husband visited the girl they named Claire a combined nine times in unsuccessful attempts to bring her home, and now are barred from any further contact.

Instead, Claire remains stuck inside a decaying Vietnamese orphanage along with 15 other kids who also have American families waiting to adopt them. Their cases went into bureaucratic limbo in 2008 when Washington suspended its adoption agreement with Vietnam over broad suspicions of fraud and baby selling.

"I just can't spend a lot of time in her room because it's just so sad," said Sailors, from Kansas City, who celebrated the past two Christmases at the orphanage in southern Bac Lieu province with her husband Chuck before authorities barred the visits in January.

"We're just longing to bring her home because otherwise her future ... I can't go very far down that road before my heart starts to break," she said.

Most of the adoptions already in the pipeline went forward under exceptions to the 2008 moratorium, but paperwork problems delayed the Bac Lieu cases. Vietnam now says it hopes to join the international Hague Convention on adoptions in October and that the pending cases must start over under those tighter rules, which bar prospective parents from even seeing the children until everything is finalized.

Some families blame the U.S. State Department for the hold up, arguing it has pressured Vietnam so hard to impose stricter regulations that their cases ended up getting stuck. They're now hoping for exemptions and have gained some leverage: Two U.S. senators have blocked President Barack Obama's pick for the new U.S. ambassador to Vietnam over the issue.

"If the Department of State can get a killer out of Pakistan, I think they can manage to get 16 unwanted orphans out of Vietnam," said Matthew Long of Merritt Island, Fla., referring to the U.S. mission that killed Osama bin Laden. He is waiting for the release of 4-year-old Ava. "They just need some help finding that will."

The orphanage is a two-room former prison deep in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. Couples had rotated visits there before January, each time taking food, milk, clothes and toys for the children who otherwise receive very little.

They brought video cameras to capture the moments and document the changes every parent yearns to see. With no shared language, they communicated using hugs and kisses.

Since then, photos sent by other visitors reveal that the children have lost weight.

Three Florida families have enlisted the help of Sen. Marco Rubio, who a placed hold on the ambassador nominee after Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar lifted a similar block. Rubio has concerns over the State Department's handling of the "long-delayed adoptions," said his spokesman Alex Burgos.

In 2007, 828 babies went home with American families, including actress Angelina Jolie's adoption of a 3-year-old boy. That was up from 163 the year before.

Washington ended the joint agreement in September 2008 after a spike in the number of abandoned babies, raising concerns about whether the children truly were voluntarily given up by their birth parents as U.S. law requires.

Months earlier, the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam reported evidence of fraud, bribery, kidnapping and outright baby-selling for adoptions that can cost more than $20,000. Washington had previously halted an agreement in 2003 over similar concerns, and resumed it three years later after safeguards were supposedly put in place.

After the 2008 suspension, most of the 534 cases already being processed were resolved and the children were allowed to leave. But officials put the brakes on Bac Lieu cases because irregularities were uncovered, including wrong birth mothers' names on paperwork, according to Keith Wallace, director of Families Thru International Adoption, the Indiana agency brokering the adoptions.

He said they reinvestigated most of the cases and fired a staffer who had taken "short cuts."

In one case, a baby who already was matched with an American family was returned to its birth mother because her financial situation had improved after she married, he said. In other cases, the agency obtained DNA samples and new paperwork from birth mothers stating they knowingly gave up their babies, Wallace added.

"Nobody doubts that these kids are orphans. Nobody," said Kelly Ensslin, a North Carolina lawyer representing two families. In 2008, she spent 10 weeks in Vietnam fighting to get her own adopted daughter out.

"It's full of so much drama, and it's sadly on the backs of these kids," she said.

Alison Dilworth, adoptions division head at the U.S. Office of Children's Issues, said Washington has pressed Vietnam's Communist government to release the children, but that officials there have refused to provide information on why they rejected the cases.

"We've made it very, very clear that we want them to move forward on these cases, and I can understand why the parents are absolutely frustrated," Dilworth said.

She denied that Washington's push for Vietnam to join the Hague Convention was to blame for the hold up, saying the adoption agency may have raised false hopes that these cases were still moving forward.

"I think they told a lot of their clients that it was the big, bad U.S. government that was stopping things, when in reality, we've never had a chance to even take a look at these cases," she said by phone from Washington.

Vietnam prohibited The Associated Press from travelling to the orphanage, and adoption officials in Bac Lieu province declined to comment.

In a written response to questions from the AP, Vietnam's Adoptions Department said all 16 cases are ineligible for processing under the old system and will go forward under the new Hague rules expected to be adopted Oct. 1. The toddlers will first be put up for adoption within Vietnam. If no one comes forward, they can then be paired with foreign families. A process that will take months, at best, if the American families are re-matched with the children.

But Marsha Sailors vows to never give up the fight. She said Claire, whose Vietnamese name is Yen, made a clear connection early on, telling mommy she loved her in her native tongue the first time they met.

She is desperate not to let the child she considers her own to be abandoned for a second time in her short life.

"I realize she doesn't yet understand fully the love between a mother and child, but to me, this interaction, at her own initiative, tells me that she understands the bond that we have," Sailors said. "And she knows that she is ours."

United States of America, Vietnam

Romanian Senate Approves Law Allowing International Adoption By Romanian Citizens

Romanian Senate Approves Law Allowing International Adoption By Romanian Citizens

Romania's Senate on Tuesday adopted a law allowing a Romanian citizen residing abroad to adopt Romanian children.

Romanian Senate Approves Law Allowing International Adoption By Romanian Citizens

The Romanian citizen residing abroad can adopt the child only two years after the adoption procedure has been started, to allow the child to be adopted domestically or by a relative up to the fourth degree who lives abroad.

The law amends Law 273/2004 on adoption. It must now be approved by the Chamber of Deputies.

Romania
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