Gordon Supports Bill to Aid Adopting Families

July 20, 2010, WASHINGTON. – Today, Congressman Bart Gordon voted to simplify procedures for American families interested in adopting children from overseas.

“Many deserving American parents want to welcome an adopted child into their family but are held up by high costs and red tape,” Gordon said. “Bureaucratic headaches should never stand in the way of giving a child a loving home.”

The International Adoption Harmonization Act of 2010 would simplify the admissions vaccination documentation requirements for certain countries. The bill would also allow an adopted child to legally immigrate so long as the adoption is completed and the petition is filed before the child turns 18, rather than the current age limit of 16. Adoptions of international teenagers are not as common as adoptions of young children, but equally important, often arising from special circumstances such as when a family wishes to reunite a group of siblings.

“I’ve heard from so many Middle Tennessee families over the years who have provided loving homes to adopted children, both international and American-born,” Gordon said. “The least we can do for these families is ensure detrimental adoption policies don’t stand in their way.”
A member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, Gordon has worked throughout his time in Congress to make the adoption process easier for deserving parents. In 1994, Gordon travelled to Romania, where he visited children the country’s orphanages and met with Romanian officials in the wake of reports of inhumane conditions and restrictive regulations that prevented children from being adopted.
“In my travels in Romania, I saw haunting images of physical and emotional neglect in the country’s orphanages. Many international families wanted to adopt these children, but cumbersome adoption laws stood in the way,” Gordon said.
Gordon’s visits ultimately led Romania to ease restrictions on Americans wanting to adopt Romanian children. In 1997, Gordon also co-sponsored legislation to help foster children find their way into permanent adoption, which led to a steep increase in the number of adoptions from foster care, with 55,000 adopted in 2008 alone. Last year, Gordon sponsored the Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act to make permanent a $10,000 tax credit for expenses related to adoptions.

Persons: Bart Gordon

Countries: Romania, United States of America

Surrogate twins in no-mans land

Surrogate twins in no-mans land

Sumitra Deb Roy, TNN, Jul 21, 2010, 03.43am IST

MUMBAI: Two representatives from the Norwegian embassy in Delhi are making enquiries about Andras Bells surrogacy procedure in a Mumbai clinic.

We provided all the relevant documents and two to three informed consent papers that she had signed, said medical director of Bandras Rotunda Clinic Dr Gautam Allahabadia. He added that the clinic had done nothing illegal or unethical.

Embryo adoption is a well-accepted choice, and probably the only option for women who are unable to conceive naturally, said Allahabadia, one of the key members who helped frame the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) draft bill guidelines. But the guidelinesasking fertility clinics to ensure that international clients had the approval of their respective consulates to avoid visa problems for their offspringwere framed only this year, months after Bell commissioned the surrogacy.

When TOI contacted the Norwegian embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday, they refused to comment on the issue. We are working on this case, was all an official was willing to say. Bell, too, who is in Mumbai with the babies refused to talk to TOI. The Norwegian delegates also visited L H Hiranandani Hospital at Powai where the twins were born. The hospital authorities chose not to comment on the issue on the grounds that that their role was restricted to delivering the twins.

Bells children are virtually in no mans land, but the greater ethical debate is why she commissioned surrogacy when she could have just adopted a child. One reason could be that she wanted to avoid the stringent adoption laws and believed that surrogacy was an easier path, said an IVF expert. According to Allahabadia, as far as he can recall, this is the first time a Norwegian citizen has come under her countrys scanner. He said that a friend of Bell had also commissioned a surrogacy in India and returned to her country with the child, without a hitch. I always insist that my clients be updated on their countrys laws, said Allahabadia. While it is not banned in Norway, the laws limit the use of reproductive technologies in connection with surrogacy.

The two Norwegian delegates, who said that the boys may not be given citizenship, mentioned that they were open to the idea of helping Bell adopt the twins provided the surrogate was named as their mother in the birth certificate. They wanted the surrogate to be named so that Bell could adopt them from her. But the ICMR guidelines clearly states that only the clients name be listed as a parent in the birth certificate, said Allahabadia. The Indian surrogate cannot be named on the certificate.

The fate of the two boys is not known: the chances of them being listed for adoption are very high. There is no way the children can be granted citizenship as per the Indian laws. It will be difficult for Bell to prove that she is their mother in any court of law, said legal expert Amit Karkhanis. Worse, the children could end up for adoption.

Last heard, with no alternative in sight, Bell has already begun the adoption procedure.

sumitra.roy@timesgroup.com

Countries: India, Norway

Russia-U.S. adoption agreement to come into effect by yearend - ministry

Topic: Talks on bilateral child adoption agreement

Talks on child adoption

13:13 21/07/2010

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Most important children’s rights

A Russian-U.S. agreement on child adoption will come into effect by the end of this year, an Education Ministry department head said on Wednesday.

On July 21-23, the fourth round of Russian-U.S. adoption talks will be held in Moscow.

"We hope we will manage to iron out the remaining uncoordinated positions during these three days in order to pass the text of this agreement within the next two weeks for coordination in the U.S. and Russian federal executive bodies," the director of the Department for Education, Additional Education and Social Protection of Children at the Ministry of Education and Science, Alina Levitskaya, said.

She said the agreement would come into effect in November or at the beginning of December.

Russian Child Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov also insists that the bilateral adoption agreement should be signed as soon as possible, the ombudsman's press service said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

"...Such a complicated and delicate issue as adopting children and taking them abroad can't be done without a proper legal base which a bilateral agreement should presuppose," the ombudsman said.

Astakhov also said that the number of foreign adoption agencies working in Russia should be reduced.

Russia is one of the largest sources of foreign adoptions for U.S. families, accounting for about 10% of foreign adoptions, but the issue has become controversial in recent years following several incidents involving the mistreatment of Russian children in the United States.

In early April, a 7-year-old boy was put on a plane alone to Moscow with a note from his U.S. adoptive mother, who claimed he was "psychopathic."

At least 15 children have died at the hands of their adoptive parents in the U.S. since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the issue has seen repeated calls for a ban on foreign adoptions of Russian children. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Russia could freeze child adoptions by U.S. citizens until the countries sign a formal agreement regulating them.

MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti)

Countries: Russia, United States of America

Fighting for the children

Fighting for the children

Iowa Native leaders protest child welfare practices

By Stephanie Woodard, Today correspondent

Story Published: Jul 20, 2010

Story Updated: Jul 16, 2010

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Native American children swept up in the Iowa child welfare system face perils ranging from loss of culture to death, according to Vicky Apala-Cuevas, Oglala Lakota, a member of the Iowa Commission on Native American Affairs.

The commission, a division of the state’s department of human rights, recently met with the state’s attorney general about several issues, including the disproportionately high rate at which Indian children are taken from their parents and doled out to non-Native foster and adoptive families.

The problem occurs throughout Iowa, but the disparities are worst in the county that includes Sioux City, according to another meeting attendee, Frank LaMere, Winnebago, director of the Four Directions Community Center, a local advocacy group.

“In Woodbury County, these policies have ravaged the Native community. Indian families have been torn apart, thanks to collusion among attorneys, adoption agencies, and others. Their actions are sinister at best, criminal at worst.”

LaMere, whose organization holds the annual Memorial March to Honor Our Lost Children, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the reaction of the attorney general, Tom Miller. “We built bridges in the meeting, and the dialogue will continue.”

Apala-Cuevas was less sanguine. “The attorney general said he was on our side but that there was not a great deal he could do at this time. Apparently the Iowa and federal Indian Child Welfare Act laws have no teeth. I was very disappointed. There are penalties for illegal parking, but nothing when it comes to separating Indian children from their families.

“Our children are not up for grabs.”

Several Indian youngsters have died in foster care in recent years, with little notice in the media or among the public at large, said LaMere. In contrast, he said, the state “came unglued” in an equally tragic situation, when a white toddler was killed in a manner that social services agencies should have been able to prevent.

A pattern that an Iowa newspaper, the Quad-City Times, uncovered in a multi-article investigative report – with adoption attorneys shuttling pregnant women and then their newborns among several states to cover unethical and illegal practices – occurs within the state of Iowa as well, said LaMere.

“It appears that Native kids are moved to rural counties, where the federal and state ICWA laws are not understood or perhaps not known. Judges in those places can be persuaded to hand over our children to adoptive or foster parents. That’s not all, though. Unscrupulous attorneys and officials find even more ways to do an end-run around Iowa’s department of human services, which is on our side. We need an investigation of these practices.”

Indian children fall prey to the system for various reasons, according to Apala-Cuevas. For one, non-Native people involved in their cases may not understand the extended family and larger tribal community to which an Indian child belongs, or may choose to ignore these relationships.

Money plays a part as well. Tens of thousands of dollars in fees may be at stake for attorneys and other facilitators when an adoption occurs, according to the Quad-City Times report. Native children appear to be especially prized by prospective parents, increasing the likelihood they’ll be snapped up by a corrupt adoption agency or attorney, said Apala-Cuevas.

Assistant Attorney General Charles Phillips, who works with the state’s social services department and multiple tribes (whether or not they are resident in Iowa), pointed to the need for more Native American families with whom Indian children can be housed.

“It’s essential to place a child quickly if he or she needs to be protected, and that can run up against the need for a culturally appropriate situation. There are parts of the state in which strides have been made toward shifting children to tribal courts and tribal placements more efficiently.”

Four Directions Community Center has held gatherings for survivors, including hours of testimony from children who had been reunited with their birth families, said Apala-Cuevas. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.”

On Aug. 16 and 17, the organization will hold public hearings on the issue. “We’ll talk about ICWA and the way it’s ignored in Iowa, we’ll discuss the possibility of strengthening our state law legislatively, and much more,” LaMere said. “Attorneys general in other states also need to know this is a problem. We have to protect our children, here and across the country.”

On Nov. 24, the center will hold its eighth memorial march to bring attention to the issue

Countries: United States of America

Bethany Reports Adoption Increases Up 26 Percent for 2010

Attributes Increases to New Socio-Political and Theological Movements

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of increased attention due to January's earthquake crisis in Haitiand other external factors, Bethany Christian Services (www.Bethany.org), the nation's largest adoption agency, is seeing significant growth and interest in the U.S. adoption market, with overall international and domestic adoption placements up 26 percent over the same time period in 2009.

The organization is reporting Intercountry Adoption placements up 66 percent and Intercountry Adoption inquiries ahead by more than 5,000 requests during the same six month time period of 2009, totaling an unprecedented 10,567 inquiries. Bethany ascribes these increases in part to the Haiti crisis and the need to find safe homes for children who lost one or both parents during the earthquake.

Domestic Infant Adoption inquiries are also higher than in 2009 with 8,037 in the first half of 2010. Additionally, Infant Adoption Home Studies have increased 15 percent and formal Infant Adoption applications have increased 23 percent over 2009.

In addition to the Haiti crisis, Bethany attributes the increase in adoption to new movements within Christian churches, which are creating new attitudes for young couples. Bethany has been instrumental in bringing more families forward to adopt by partnering with organizations such as Catalyst, Saddleback Church, Q Conference, Southern Baptist Denomination, and Christian Alliance for Orphans.

"The figures Bethany released show strong improvement as we confront the global orphan crisis, but the need still remains as there are still an incredible number of orphaned children who wait for their 'forever family'," said Bill Blacquiere, president and CEO at Bethany Christian Services. "It is our vision that every child has a loving family, so we are working to find new families and identify supportive local communities. We all must contribute to take measurable and immediate action in order to find more families who can provide loving homes."

Bethany has been at the forefront of partnering with church leaders to support foster care, adoption, and orphan care programs within their ministries. Most recently, the Southern Baptist Convention announced a new Adoption Fund, which subsidizes the cost of adoption for pastors by $2,000. In addition, Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum focused heavily on orphans and adoption and other popular conferences, such as Catalyst, Together for Adoption, the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit and Adopting for Life, have put adoption at center stage.

SOURCE Bethany Christian Services

Organizations: Bethany Christian Services

Countries: United States of America, Haiti

Ethiopia and Back

Published by Xavier Pacheco at 23:08 under Adoption | Family

We know this has been a long time coming and we apologize for not posting sooner. We were not able to post while we were in Addis for several reasons, one of which was we just couldn’t get any time to sit in front of a computer long enough to write something out. Also, the internet connection we had was very poor. We hope the following post will give you some glimpse of our trip to Addis but it is all very difficult to put into words.

As always, we have treasured your prayers and encouragement. We are home now and there are four children in our home! This post is mainly about our trip. We’ll post later how the transition is going.

Leaving for Ethiopia

Anne: On November 28th I was already completely spent both emotionally and physically when we boarded a plane in Denver. We had just said goodbye to Zack and Jess and it was extremely difficult! We left them with very good friends and family arrived later. The flight was long and tiring but fortunately we managed to sleep for a good portion of the trip (even right through the stopover in Rome). A blessing on this trip was that we travelled with the director of the orphanage taking care of our children. He is an incredibly gentle man and he and his wife Hannah commit their lives to these children at the Sele Enat orphanage. Abebe had just visited the U.S to visit his children here and to raise money for equipment for a new medical center. We were thrilled to unexpectedly meet with him again in Washington DC.

Arrival in Addis Ababa

Anne: When we finally arrived in Ethiopia we had to get through immigration and customs which took over two hours. We claimed our four large heavy bags at baggage and walked out into the greeting area. We had been told to hang on to our stuff carefully and were pretty unsure about walking out into the sea of people outside the airport. Then, we saw a man with the biggest-sweetest smile holding a sign that read, “Anne Pacheco Ethiopian Guest House.” He led us to our van and lifted our heavy bags over his head onto the van and insisted it was safe for him to do this alone.

Xavier: The driver is Samuel Liben (Sammy), one of the kindest people we met in Ethiopia and one who has become a good friend and important part of our trip in Addis (more on that in a different post).

Initial Impressions of Addis Ababa

Anne: By the time we were in the van on our way through Addis Ababa it was after 10pm. We did not expect the poverty we saw that night. I guess I didn’t think we would see it so soon. Abebe rode with us part of the way then we drove for what seemed like a long time. Even at that hour there were adults and children along the street. There was trash, stray dogs and many donkeys. The guest house seemed out of place. Inside a high wall with barbed wire along the top was a welcoming house.

Xavier: That’s concertina wire, the sort you find used in the military and in prisons. Anyway, after a quick meal with another couple staying at the guest house, we tried to sleep. Unfortunately, dogs could be heard barking throughout the night so between the jet lag and noise, sleep was really difficult. We really wanted to be rested knowing that the next day we’d be meeting Yemi and Abe.

Meeting Yemeserach and Abenezer

Xavier: The following morning we were awakened by roosters and the cryer. The roosters started just after 2:30am and the chanting at the mosque began around 4:30am. We enjoyed breakfast with the other two couples staying at the guest house. Then we waited for the representative from the agency to escort us to the orphanage. When Miten arrived my anxiety level went up several levels and continued increasing as we drove to the orphanage. While driving we got a good look at what most of Addis looks like. We passed store fronts and homes made of cardboard, corrugated metal, left-over lumber and other materials. We saw “street people” sitting and selling whatever they could. It was not uncommon to see people minus limbs and moms with their children begging on the streets. The level of poverty was pretty shocking.

As we continued driving, I was thinking about how we should approach the children when we met them. I knew exactly when we were approaching the orphanage because I had seen its location in pictures. Then I saw the sign, also seen in pictures. The driver honked for the orphanage guard to open the gate. It was raining so none of the children were playing outside as we had observed in pictures. We were greeted with hugs by some of the workers who were incredibly friendly and loving. By “hugs” I mean all-out embraces and kisses. We were led from the courtyard to a small office. As Anne and I waited a nanny went to get the children. At this point, I cannot begin to describe my feelings and my level of anxiety. Were we going to have to win these two children over somehow? Would the meeting be awkward? Had they been anticipating us as much as we had them?

Anne: On the ride over we asked Mitin, if the children knew we were coming and she affirmed that they did and that they were excited. As we waited, I did not know what to do, should we stand or sit? I felt so out of place, uncomfortable and unprepared. Then X said, “There they are”, with a cracked voice and we saw them through the window holding hands with the nanny approaching us. As they entered the room, they immediately went into our arms. Abenezer went into my arms and Yemeserach onto X’s lap and we received hugs and kisses from them. I held Abe and cried; I couldn’t believe this was real.

Xavier: I was moved by the affection shown towards us. Yemi returned my kiss and took my hand. She examined my hand and my ring and then straightened the hair on my arms. After spending some time with them they took our hands and led us outside and to their classroom. We met their teacher, a beautiful and caring woman and were greeted by about 15-20 children.

Playing and Eating with the Orphans

Xavier: We spent the rest of the morning at the orphanage playing with the children. We took balloons, those long ones you make shapes with. I had spent hours learning from YouTube how to make various animals and other things but the children were thrilled to just have the balloons. They just wanted to make noise by rubbing their hands against them.

Anne: Actually, it was complete chaos. Balloons were popping; scraps of balloons were on the floor with the babies; the children were swarming around Xavier, reaching out for another balloon and he couldn’t keep up. Xavier was trying to make balloon shapes but the kids just wanted long ones that they could hit each other with and make noise.The teacher and workers were laughing and doing their best to establish order. Yemi and Abe kept yelling, mom! dad! The hard part was the toddlers calling Xavier daddy in Amharic and trying to get his attention.

Xavier: Yemi snatched the camera and started shooting photos. Anne and I apologized for the disturbance we caused but the workers waved it off and continued to enjoy the event.

Anne: I was doing my best to memorize the faces and names of waiting children and referrals. One of the administrators started blowing balloons for Xavier so that he could play with the kids. Everyone was having a great time.

Soon it was lunch time and we were expected to stay and join them. We were both surprised by the huge plate of food for each child. The four year olds had about 3 cups of rice on their plate with sauce and cabbage. We were served rice with a red meat sauce. There actually wasn’t any meat in it, just a fatty red sauce and Injera.

Xavier: Ethiopians will feed you with their hands as a form of affection. Both Yemi and Abe fed us and though we had no idea where their hands had been, we did not dare decline their show of affection. It was actually quite endearing. They continued to feed us like this during our visit at various times.

Xavier: We took tons of pictures and talked to the workers for quite a long time. We were so impressed at the love and commitment the orphanage workers had for these children. At about 1:30 we went back to the guest house to rest. It was a wonderful beginning.

The Week in Brief (by Xavier)

There is so much that happened during the week that it’s going to take several posts to get through it all. Although the main purpose of our visit to Ethiopia was to get Yemi and Abe, so much more transpired.

We stayed at the Ethiopia Guest House where accommodations were quite nice despite loss of power and the water pump going out several times throughout the week. There were two other families staying at the house, also there to get their children. It was wonderful getting to know these families and their children and I believe we established some lasting friendships.

We made two more trips to the Sele Enat orphanage to finish taking pictures and learn about waiting and referred children. On Tuesday, after we visited Sele Enat we hired a driver to take us to Entoto which is the highest place in Addis and the location of the oldestOrthodox Church. We went with another couple who were staying at another guest house but were with our agency and whom we’ve gotten to know in training. On Thursday Anne visited the care center with Yemi and Abe. The care center is where babies and toddlers are kept. I went to Korah, a community of Lepers and one of the poorest places in the world (more on this in a later post). That evening, we enjoyed dinner with some friends of ours who are working on a Bible translation project with Wycliffe. After dinner we enjoyed a special moment as we celebrated communion together.Finally on Friday, I got some last minute shopping done, including 40kilos of Ethiopian coffee which is absolutely the best! Then, later that evening we were treated to a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony hosted by the guest house staff.

Many of the highlights of this trip will need separate posts. Let me just say in brief that the Ethiopian people are extraordinarily beautiful and some of the kindest people I have ever known. We were particularly taken by their love for children. It was such a contrast to the west where children are often viewed as a nuisance. I was amused by how the guest house guards and staff would play with our children at every opportunity.

Needless to say, we were dismayed at the vivid poverty in Addis. Our decision not to take Zack and Jessie was confirmed by the constant images of disease, hunger and hardship beyond anything we had ever seen. I am certain that Jessica in particular would not have been ready to see many of these images. The worst I had seen was in my visit to Korah, a village established about 75 years ago for lepers and where the Alert Hospital was built by Dr. Ross. I will be posting more about this experience.

Trip Home

We were anxious to get home to our children in the U.S. I have to say that Anne and I are particularly proud of how well Zack and Jess have dealt with all this. We missed them terribly and it was very frustrating not being able to communicate with them continually. One really gets a sense at how dependant we are on “good” technology. Anyway, Zack and Jess really have been great with all of this. While much focus has been on Yemi and Abe these past months, Zack and Jess have not responded negatively but rather have joined in our excitement. The union of these children has been wonderful, and while we know there will be many challenges to overcome, we know we will all grow from it.

About Yemi and Abe

They are both beautiful children and we are grateful that overall they are healthy. Yemi, whose name is Yemeserach meaning “good news” is very-sweet. She loves babies and wants to be a helper. A few times she was really observing and copying her mom. She quickly bonded with me and does not hesitate to express her affection. She will, without hesitation, grab my hand, play with my hair (or lack thereof) and cling to me. Of course I enjoy this greatly. Abe, whose name is Abenezer meaning “God make us wide”, is cute as all get go and is full of energy. He is quite smart (clever) and can capture an audience quite easily. Abe is a happy boy and is quickly drawn to things mechanical or electronic-like cameras, flashlights and just about anything with buttons as the Ethiopian flight attendants will attest to. Both children are strong and very athletic and have great hand-eye coordination. Abe can do perfect running cart-wheels and Yemi can catch a football while in a running pattern like nothing else.

As it is with adoptions, there are various physical and behavioral issues to deal with and we are discovering them. We remember that these kids were first left without a home and put into an orphanage. They spent time there, made friends, established habits only to be pulled from that to be brought into a totally different environment with people they don’t know. They are thrown into an entirely different culture with people who do strange things, eat different foods and speak a language they don’t understand. Furthermore, we know next to nothing about their history prior to the orphanage. Combine all of this with the fact that Zack and Jessica now have two other siblings in the home who are demanding mom and dad’s attention and are suddenly taking up space in the house. Any notion of personal ownership is thrown out the window (which I consider to be a good thing by the way). The Pacheco home is going to become a home where grace abounds. There will be trials, no doubt and from that will come great things for all of us – God’s grace is so totally sufficient!

Last entry: It’s 5:00 am Monday morning. I heard someone stirring upstairs and found Yemi messing with a loose tooth. She yanked it out and smiled at me. I kissed her and sent her back to bed with a washcloth -- tough kids.

Persons: Abebe Bayou, Hana Berhanu

Organizations: Sele Enat Mahiber, Ethiopia

Child tracking system launched

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 21, 2009

Child tracking system launched

Staff Reporter

Pilot project to be initiated in six districts and it will have comprehensive database

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

SAFETY NET: Samuel Paul, Chairman, Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore (left), Nina Nayak, Vice-President, Indian Council for Child Welfare (second from right), and Anna Feuchtwang, CEO, EveryChild (right), launching ‘Child Tracking System’, in Bangalore on Friday.

Bangalore: To provide a comprehensive child safety net and track the movements and status of all children aged below 18, EveryChild, a non-governmental organisation based in U.K., in association with Child Rights Trust and Soft Net Interactive, has launched a “Child Tracking System”.

In the first phase, a pilot project would be implemented in six districts of Karnataka.

The system, which was inaugurated by chairman of Public Affairs Centre Samuel Paul at the Jawahar Bal Bhavan on Friday, had been designed and developed to track the movement and status of children in all villages of the six districts by creating a comprehensive database.

The database would cover everything beginning right from birth registration, immunisation, school enrolment to information on migration of children, missing and run away children, status of orphan children in villages, panchayats, taluks and districts.

A new technology, “Talkative Neil”, has been specially designed for the tracking system, which would enable government, panchayats, child protection agencies and child rights groups to prevent, rescue and protect children from separation and violence.

Giving details of the system, Executive Director of Child Rights Trust Vasudev Sharma said the pilot project would cover the districts of Belgaum, Bellary, Bagalkot, Raichur, Koratagere and Bangalore.

Pointing out that the system would strictly follow the codes of data protection, accessibility and confidentiality, he said the data created would be analysed and reports would be generated for different stakeholders based on it.

The overall analysis of the situation of children would enable child protection agencies and government departments such as Social Welfare and Women and Child Development to chalk out programmes and policies ensuring protection of children and their rights, he said.

The State Government’s Department of Women and Child Development has initiated a similar initiative to track the beneficiaries of Bhagyalakshmi insurance scheme for every girl child born in poor families.

Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive Officer of EveryChild, said the launch of the system was the first step towards making the “invisible and nowhere” children visible in child protection frameworks.

Vice-president of Indian Council for Child Welfare Nina Nayak, Samuel Paul and Shyam Kedare from Soft Net Interactive spoke.

Organizations: Every Child, UK

Persons: Nina Nayak

Countries: India

Besøg af Dinkinesh Hadgu

Etiopien Nyhedsarkiv

18-08-2009

Besøg af Dinkinesh Hadgu

I forbindelse med eskorteringen af et barn, har vi den fornøjelse at få besøg af vores kontaktperson Dinkinesh Hadgu (Dinkai) fra d. 7. til den 10. september. Vi glæder os til at se hende igen og tale om samarbejdet med de forskellige børnehjem i Etiopien.

Dinkai kommer kun på kort visit, da hun skal nå hjem og fejre det etiopiske nytår den 11. september.

Tilbage

Organizations: Danadopt (Danish Society for International child care)

Persons: Dinkinesh Hadgu

Couple defrauded but not deterred

July 19, 2010

Couple defrauded but not deterred

Attempted adoption from Uganda went bad, but parents now have three kids

JOHN HULT
jhult@argusleader.com

A Sioux Falls couple who waited patiently for more than a year to bring their adopted children home say they got scammed, and are looking to the courts to help salve their broken hearts.

Cori and Chris Schmaus said they contracted with an Indianapolis company, Americans For African Adoptions, in early 2008 to adopt two Ugandan children whose mother supposedly gave them up after giving birth to them as part of quintuplets.

The Schmauses received photos, birth records and letters about the children, named Sowali and Fatina Bangi. Having paid $11,500 in initial fees, the couple began sending the agency $400 a month for the children's care.

Each month, they were assured the adoption paperwork was near completion. It wasn't. The Schmauses said there never was any legitimate paperwork.

Last October, they found out from a New Mexico couple trying to adopt the other two surviving quints that the Bangi children had lived with their mother since birth. The New Mexico couple flew to Kampala, Uganda, met the mother and learned that she never had agreed to give up her children.

Since then, the Schmauses learned that a Ugandan named Joseph Kagimu reportedly staged photos, forged documents and collected money for dozens of children such as the Bangis, then used the information to collect money from unsuspecting Western parents through the Indianapolis agency.

As of last October, the Schmauses had paid $16,800 to Americans for African Adoptions. Two weeks ago, they sued the agency in Minnehaha County, alleging that its director, Cheryl Carter-Shotts, was negligent because she failed to catch on to the scheme. A handful of others, including the New Mexico couple and another in Michigan, have filed or plan to file similar lawsuits as well.

Carter-Shotts claims Kagimu scammed her as well as the families.

"The most upsetting part for me was that I was emotionally attached to these children," Chris Schmaus said. "These were our children. It was like losing a child when we found out what was going on over there."

New opportunities

The Schmauses always had wanted to adopt. Cori Schmaus' family had adopted kids, and Chris Schmaus had worked with foster children at McCrossan Boys Ranch.

After hearing about Africa from missionaries at their Sioux Falls church, they decided to try for an international adoption. But international adoptions can be expensive. The average cost to adopt one child from most agencies is more than $20,000, Cori Schmaus said.

Still, when she came across Americans for African Adoptions and spoke with Carter-Shotts about the smaller upfront costs, she was sold. Carter-Shotts has a strong reputation. Her agency, founded in 1986, is widely credited as the first to facilitate adoptions from Ethiopia.

According to an Indiana court records search, the agency never has been successfully sued.

Carter-Shotts said Kagimu sent her a newspaper article about a woman in a Ugandan village who had given birth to quintuplets, four who survived. Carter-Shotts had met Kagimu 18 years ago, and said the children needed homes.

Uganda's strict rules for international adoptions had been loosened, she was told, and Kagimu wanted to begin working with her. He sent her documents that supposedly proved that the mother had relinquished her parental rights and sent photos from what supposedly was an orphanage.

Even on four visits to Uganda in 18 months, Carter-Shotts said everything seemed to be in order, though each time she went, she was told Kagimu needed more time.

Even so, Carter-Shotts was sure the children were being cared for. The Schmauses were sending money, other families were sending money for the other children in Kagimu's Kampala orphanage, and Carter-Shotts would pass on the money to him.

Growing suspicions

Back in Sioux Falls, things seemed to be taking too long, Cori Schmaus said. She wasn't the only one who felt that way, either. Don and Angie Guest of Michigan were working with Carter-Shotts on a Ugandan adoption, too, and met the Schmauses through an Internet message board.

The Guests were trying to adopt a 5-year-old girl named Michelle. About five months after signing their contract, they got a letter from a woman purporting to be Michelle's mother. The letter thanked them for sending payments to help her daughter but she asked the Guests to send money to her.

"We had a lot of trust in our adoption agency, so we didn't know what to think," Don Guest said.

Carter-Shotts told the Guests it probably was a hoax, perhaps an aunt who took the photos and sent the letter to scam them.

As the months passed, the Guests became more suspicious. "We were making our foster care payments, but we weren't getting any updates on how our case was progressing," Don Guest said.

Scam revealed

The New Mexico couple trying to adopt the other half of the surviving quintuplets flew to Uganda in October to confront Kagimu. They told the Schmauses and Guests the quintuplets still were living with their mother. When the New Mexico couple showed up unannounced at Kagimu's orphanage, the children weren't there.

They found the woman who wrote the letter to the Guests. She was telling the truth, too. They'd corroborated the stories with other couples who had flown to Uganda out of frustration.

Carter-Shotts looked into Kagimu's activities as families began to demand their money back. She hired lawyers in Kampala and learned the same thing the families did - Kagimu had been passing along fake birth and death certificates, and the children weren't staying where she thought they were.

"Through another family friend, we learned that there were foster homes, but they were being moved around," Carter-Shotts said. "It seemed they were being moved in when I was coming and moved out when I left."

The Guests and Schmauses said they haven't been repaid the fees they sent to the agency. Carter-Shotts insisted she has paid back the Guests in part but can't refund all the money and that some initial fees were understood to be non-refundable. Besides, she said, the fraud destroyed her business.

"Joseph took all the money. We don't have any income coming in," she said.

Who is responsible?

The Schmauses said Carter-Shotts should have figured out the scam.

"I don't think she was very business-savvy," Cori Schmaus said.

Guest doubts he'll see a refund, either, suspecting Carter-Shotts used the money to pay for day-to-day operations.

"I felt like if I let it go, she would win," he said. "I think Cheryl has been in business too long not to have known what was going on."

Carter-Shotts hasn't responded to the lawsuit in Minnehaha County, but her lawyers sent Guest a letter claiming that Michigan isn't the proper venue for the dispute. Carter-Shotts she thinks Kagimu is in jail. Calls to the Ugandan Embassy in Kampala and in Washington, D.C., were not returned.

Happy ending

The Guests still hope to adopt one of the children they'd learned about through Carter-Shotts. Michelle's mother decided to keep her daughter, but the Guests plan to fly back to Uganda this week to plead for guardianship of an 8-year-old girl.

As for the Schmauses, a website called Rainbow Kids connected them to 6-year-old Amanuel, 4-year-old Capital and 1-year-old Eyrusalem - three siblings from Ethiopia.

Their mother died in November, so the Schmauses flew to Ethiopia a month ago to adopt all three. Family members lent them the adoption fees, they said.

"These kids saved us," Chris Schmaus said of the Ethiopian children. "I didn't think I could trust anybody else."

Reach reporter John Hult at 331-2301.

Countries: United States of America, Uganda

Persons: Joseph Kagimu

Organizations: Americans for African Adoptions, Inc. (AFAA)

Adopting a Young Teen

Adopting a Young Teen

Amy Eldridge of LWB shares her insights

March 01,2010 / Amy Eldridge

Editor's Note: Although Amy addressed the concept of adopting an older child from China, the reality for these children is true across all countries. As the adoptive mom of two older children, I can share that the rewards are well worth it! -Martha Osborne

I've been asked a lot recently how I feel about the growing number of adoption pleas we see for kids who are almost turning 14 and aging out of the international adoption process. Some people have written me that they feel it is wrong to make a child start over at age 13 or 14, having to learn a new language and not really understanding what it means to live in a family. Many have expressed concern that the kids will be leaving the friends they have had their whole lives, while of course others spread the news far and wide that a child is about ready to age out, wanting to help them find a permanent home.

After working with teens in China for the last 7 years, I advocate for older child adoption for many reasons. While it is impossible to make sweeping generalizations since every orphanage is different, here are some of my reasons for believing every child, regardless of age, deserves a chance at a family to love them:

1) Many people do not realize the deep and ingrained stigma that an orphaned child often faces in Chinese society (and many other cultures). Orphans are often felt to be unlucky or even "cursed," and so they often have many strikes against them when it comes time to go to school or find a job.

There are many different levels of schools in China; many orphaned children are only able to attend the lowest level schools, as parents who are paying higher fees for the better schools don't want their children to have to attend with "unlucky orphans". Education is so important in Chinese society, and parents often push their children to try harder and work longer on their homework. Orphaned children rarely have anyone pushing them or encouraging them, and so we frequently work with young teens who only have rudimentary educations and who have trouble believing their lives will ever be better. The few dozen children in orphanages whom we have been honored to sponsor for college are the exception. To actually make it to university as an orphaned child is a true achievement. And even after graduating, jobs are often very difficult to come by due to businesses again not wanting to employ people who might bring bad luck to the company. Many of you might remember the young lady we helped earn an accounting degree in college a few years ago. She was unable to find a job in her hometown because of her orphan status. She was finally hired by the local government when no private company would agree to hire her.

2) Some people might ask how anyone would know you were an orphan after you left the institution. Couldn't you just keep it quiet? There are several factors that make it hard to ever lose your "orphan" status. The first is your hukou, the formal registration status that every individual in China has. Your hukou is family-based in your home city, and orphaned children often have a "group" hukou that clearly identifies them as not having a family. In addition, in the past it was very common for orphanages to use "created" surnames for the children in their care. For example, many orphanages used the last name of "Fu," which directly implies an orphan, or else they used the first syllable of the town or district, such as Shan or Mei. These "created" surnames often immediately identify a child as not having a real family. Because of this, and knowing the trouble that orphaned children often have assimilating into Chinese society, the government has recently been giving children more common last names, such as Li or Chang.

3) Almost everything in Chinese society revolves around the family, and great reverence is giving to one's ancestors and lineage. During major holidays, if at all possible, you return to your family. For orphaned children who age out of the social welfare system, they often find life very difficult with no family ties, and they frequently live on the margins of society.

4) Many people worry that the older children being adopted don't really want to leave their home country. At least in the orphanages where we work, the children are always asked, and in many cases, they have to pass a provincial interview before they can be registered for adoption. Many provinces require the child to sign papers that they want to be adopted. As a mom of teens myself, I really admire the kids who find the courage to overcome their fears in order to have a chance at a family, a real education, and a fresh start, but it does raise the question of whether a 12 or 13 year old should be left on their own to make such a life-impacting decision.

I wouldn't allow my 13 year old to decide their entire future on their own, and soadoptive parents need to understand the great fear and cold feet that can come on adoption day. We need to remember that there are often cases where the older kids in orphanages who have already aged out of adoption will tell the younger children scary stories about foreign parents, since they were unable to have the same opportunity. Aunties will often tell a child that they can never do anything wrong or they will be returned. There is indeed deep pressure put on children who agree to adoption at an older age to be good, and it is understandable why there is so much anxiety, fear, and tears on adoption day since very few aunties or children really have a clear understanding of what life will be like for a child outside of China.

One mom told me how incredibly hard it was to see her new daughter crying on the phone to her orphanage a few days post-adoption. She said it was easy to think, "Am I really doing the right thing taking her away from all she has known?" Many older kids have told me how scared they were to even consider adoption, but the desire for a family is something that many of them carry deeply in their hearts.

5) Another question that is frequently asked is why are we hearing about so many kids about ready to age out now when there were so few over the last ten years? After speaking with dozens of orphanage directors, it is clear that the majority of them truly believed that Westerners only wanted babies to adopt, and I think for many years that was a fair assumption, since many families put as young as possible on their home studies. Many of us know people who even requested that they wanted a 3-5 year old child and yet were referred a baby. Even in 2007 and 2008, when LWB was conducting provincial trainings on special needs adoptions, the audience, filled with aunties and directors, would shake their heads as if they couldn't believe us when we said people were willing to adopt children who were 11, 12, and 13. Many orphanages would start out by agreeing to submit paperwork on one or two older orphaned children, and then as they saw those children be adopted, they would agree to send more files. The CCAA also started new initiatives, matching agencies with orphanages to see if families could be found for the older children. It has been a slow and steady process for orphanages to realize that older children most definitely can find families through the adoption process. It has been wonderful for us at LWB to see the older children in the orphanages where we have worked for five years or longer finally get a chance at a permanent home.

How do you feel about older child adoption? Have you ever considered it or have you personally adopted a child older than 10? LWB has several volunteers who have adopted teens who are more than willing to discuss both pre- and post-adoption issues with families. You can always contact us at info@lwbmail.com for more information!

Amy Eldridge is the Executive Director of Love Without Boundaries and the mom to seven wonderful kids (2 from China). LWB has launched a new blog this month, located at: http://www.lwbcommunity.org/

Readers Comments (23 Comments) View All Comments

My advice to anyone considering the adoption of a teenager would be: (1) do NOT adopt out of birth order. I never thought this would be a problem, but after many years, it turned out to be a bigger problem than anticipated; (2) From what I have seen, the most successful teen adoptions are by parents who have already raised bio teens to adulthood. You have experience with teen issues, and your new child is the youngest in the home and gets to be "the baby," which is what they need.- Marie

We just got our lid from china we are adopting a 8yr old and 13 year old anyone who can give me help and information on what to expect would be GREAT!! How long does it take for conformation letter the 13 year old turns 14 Sept2,2010?- Dawn

I have adopted children, 6 of them teens - 4 of those adopted when they already hit the teens. It´s challenging, but it can work. Being upfront and frank about what family is and the obligations and committments required from both sides to make it work really helps. Speaking their language, living in their country, and knowing their culture also really helped and gained their confidence in me. And I am totally supportive of single parent adoptions - I am a single parent.- Anonymous

What a great article!!! We adopted our daughter when she was almost 13. It has been two years and she is an incredible blessing. She is definitely a typical teenager, but we think that given all she has been through that it is amazing she is so normal!!! We are looking to do it again, and yes -- older children again. God Bless you for spreading the word about how special it can be to adopt an older child!- Lisa

Amy, thank you so much for this article! We have been home 4 months with our 14 year old son AND 2 year old daughter from China. This was our 4th adoption process and adding an older child can be very challenging, but we are all learning together and are seeing amazing positive changes in ALL of us! I am homeschooling for the first time, and our son would have faced most if not all the challenges you addressed if left in China.- Connie in OK

We adopted a 12 year old girl from China in July 2009 and previously a 4 year old girl from China (11 now) and a 4 year old boy from Russia (13 now). Our oldest 2 are 10 days apart. Was is harder as a teen than a 4 year old - yes but we would do it again in a heartbeat. Our daughter fits in perfectly with our other two children. She is a typical 13 year old now - moody, talks back, hates homework, talks too much on the phone, but is loving, caring, funny, a great big sister and our duaghter.- Barbara

Laurie in California: We adopted a 9 year old from Taiwan 1 1/2 years ago. Within 3 months she was speaking English well enough to get her point across. Another 3 months went by and the senteneces were coming with only the little words (it, him/her confusion) missing or backwards. Now after 1 1/2 years, she is up to a 2nd grade reading level and has no trouble communitcating! During the first 3 months she was home, we just played charades a lot!- Kaye

Older adoption? Yes!!! We have been home with our now 15 year old Daughter from China one year. Older children have a clear understanding of family and the future or lack of. So for our daughter works very hard to a part of all aspects of her new life. She once said she is unlucky but now says I am very lucky.- Anonymous

If you adopt an older child from foster care, you can get to know them before you make a decision. Why is no one talking about the 125,000 children waiting here?-Terri

I have adopted 3 teen girls from Russia in the last 4 years. They have had a few adjustment problems, but wanted a family and so we are now that. If I could afford it and had the room I would have papers all over the world to adopt older children, they are a gratifying age (even when they are not that cooperative and act unlovingly!) and I would not change anything. Do wish I could have gotten my other boy from Russia, but someone came in and took him after I had signed for him. Unforgetable-MamaBev

We adopted 10 and 12 year old girls from Haiti 8 years ago, and are starting the process for a 9 year old boy in China right now. Our girls have done great-but it was tough academically for them, and the late teen years were hard for one of them. But when I think about what their futures might have looked like, I am SO GLAD we did it.- Joan

We adopted 3 teenagers (siblings).4 years ago. We have also adopted 3 other toddlers. The toddlers have done great, the teenagers have done terrible. I would never recommend teenage adoption to anyone, and we are experienced parents. (We also have 5 biological older children.) The people that I have talked to that adopted teenagers say the same thing.- Anonymous

To the woman wanting more programs for singles: If you are a single woman willing to adopt older children there are many programs! Older kids are available to singles in Bulgaria, the Philippines and other countries.- Megan

Amy, thank you for writing this. I have been a social worker in international adoption and what I have found is that it comes down to abuse. If the child was cared for and not abused in the orphanage, then they usually adjust well to a family.- Anonymous

Our very close friends adopted a 12 year old from China. She was strong willed (in a positive way), remains bi-lingual at age 22, and is a fantastic human being. Truly exceptional as a person and as a daughter.- Jaime P

We adopted a 9-year-old girl in 1998. Our daughter will turn 21 this year and as been a JOY to parent. She dreamed of a mother more than anything in the world. Yes, she missed her friends, but also reconnected with some of them through the internet after they were adopted, too. It's an unfortunate "secret" that there are wonderful teens just waiting for a family.- Martha

I adopted a 13 year old girl from Russia in 2004 and a 10 year old son from Kazakhstan in 2007. My kids are wonderful. I am a big advocate for older child adoption. You can read more about us on my website, the Crab Chronicles.- Dee Thompson

When I read articles such as this, it makes me wish that more programs would open their doors to single parents. Just think of the possibilities.- Anonymous

I am considering a five year old girl who does not speak english. Do kids suffer much frustration at first at not knowing the language? Do they seem to pick up english quickly? I would love to hear other's experiences. Thank you.- Laurie in California

great article. I've been advocating for older kids as well, and this is such an informative article. thank you- karin

I really loved this article. You answered some of the questions we have been talking about. We have 7 children, one adopted from China. Our son was a "special needs" six yr old when we brought him home. We have just decided to start our second adoption for a 10-12 yr old. We have discussed the pros and cons over and over, and just feel it is the right choice for our family. We do believe all children need a secure forever family to call their own.- Heather

Excellent article, and I am also an advocate for older child adoption. However, it is not for the faint of heart! I adopted a 10-year-old from China who is now almost 20. Sometimes the issues associated with institutionalization take years to surface. The later teen years can be extremely difficult. Even at that, every child deserves a home and family.- Marie

We have 7 children adopted from Kazakhstan and Latvia, including a daughter who came home at age 11; she is 14 now, and, I think, very happy to be here. I am willing to talk with families considering siblings sets (we adopted a sib. set of 5), unrelated children (2 from Kaz.), and older children (though my experience only includes up to 11 yr.'s old).- Jacqueline Smith

Countries: China

Organizations: Love without Boundaries