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IV
109TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. RES. 578
Concerning the Government of Romania’s ban on intercountry adoptions
and the welfare of orphaned or abandoned children in Romania.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 18, 2005
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr.
PITTS, Mr. PENCE, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mrs. JO
ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire,
and Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
RESOLUTION
Concerning the Government of Romania’s ban on intercountry
adoptions and the welfare of orphaned or abandoned
children in Romania.
Whereas following the execution of Romanian President
Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, it was discovered that more
than 100,000 underfed, neglected children throughout
Romania were living in hundreds of squalid and inhumane
institutions;
Whereas United States citizens responded to the dire situation
of these children with an outpouring of compassion
and assistance to improve conditions in those institutions
and to provide for the needs of abandoned children in Romania;
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•HRES 578 IH
Whereas, between 1990 and 2004, United States citizens
adopted more than 8,200 Romanian children, with a
similar response from Western Europe;
Whereas the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported
in March 2005 that more than 9,000 children a
year are abandoned in Romania’s maternity wards or pediatric
hospitals and that child abandonment in Romania
in ‘‘2003 and 2004 was no different from that occurring
10, 20, or 30 years ago’’;
Whereas there are approximately 37,000 orphaned or abandoned
children in Romania today living in state institutions,
an additional 49,000 living in temporary arrangements,
such as foster care, and an unknown number of
children living on the streets and in maternity and pediatric
hospitals;
Whereas, on December 28, 1994, Romania ratified the
Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation
in Respect of Intercountry Adoption which recognizes
that ‘‘intercountry adoption may offer the advantage
of a permanent family to a child for whom a suitable
family cannot be found in his or her State of origin’’;
Whereas intercountry adoption offers the hope of a permanent
family for children who are orphaned or abandoned
by their biological parents;
Whereas UNICEF’s official position on intercountry adoption,
in pertinent part, states: ‘‘For children who cannot
be raised by their own families, an appropriate alternative
family environment should be sought in preference
to institutional care, which should be used only as a last
resort and as a temporary measure. Inter-country adoption
is one of a range of care options which may be open
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•HRES 578 IH
to children, and for individual children who cannot be
placed in a permanent family setting in their countries of
origin, it may indeed be the best solution. In each case,
the best interests of the individual child must be the
guiding principle in making a decision regarding adoption.’’;
Whereas unsubstantiated allegations have been made about
the fate of children adopted from Romania and the qualifications
and motives of those who adopt internationally;
Whereas in June 2001, the Romanian Adoption Committee
imposed a moratorium on intercountry adoption, but continued
to accept new intercountry adoption applications
and allowed many such applications to be processed
under an exception for extraordinary circumstances;
Whereas on June 21, 2004, the Parliament of Romania enacted
Law 272/2004 on ‘‘the protection and promotion of
the rights of the child,’’ which creates new requirements
for declaring a child legally available for adoption;
Whereas on June 21, 2004, the Parliament of Romania enacted
Law 273/2004 on adoption, which prohibits intercountry
adoption except by a child’s biological grandparent
or grandparents;
Whereas there is no European Union law or regulation restricting
intercountry adoptions to biological grandparents
or requiring that restrictive laws be passed as a
prerequisite for accession to the European Union;
Whereas the number of Romanian children adopted domestically
is far less than the number abandoned and has declined
further since enactment of Law 272/2004 and 273/
2004 due to new, overly burdensome requirements for
adoption;
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•HRES 578 IH
Whereas prior to enactment of Law 273/2004, 211 intercountry
adoption cases were pending with the Government
of Romania in which children had been matched
with adoptive parents in the United States, and approximately
1,500 cases were pending in which children had
been matched with prospective parents in Western Europe;
and
Whereas Romanian children, and all children, deserve to be
raised in permanent families: Now, therefore, be it
1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
2 (1) supports the desire of the Government of
3 Romania to improve the standard of care and well4
being of children in Romania;
5 (2) urges the Government of Romania to com6
plete the processing of the intercountry adoption
7 cases which were pending when Law 273/2004 was
8 enacted;
9 (3) urges the Government of Romania to amend
10 its child welfare and adoption laws to decrease bar11
riers to adoption, both domestically and inter12
country, including by allowing intercountry adoption
13 by persons other than biological grandparents;
14 (4) urges the Secretary of State and the Ad15
ministrator of the United States Agency for Inter16
national Development to work collaboratively with
17 the Government of Romania to achieve these ends;
18 and
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•HRES 578 IH
1 (5) requests that the European Union and its
2 member States not impede the Government of Ro3
mania’s efforts to place orphaned or abandoned chil4
dren in permanent homes in a manner that is con5
sistent with Romania’s obligations under the Hague
6 Convention on Protection of Children and Co-oper7
ation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.
Æ
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Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. The world first learned, in 1989, that
100,000 underfed, neglected children were living in hundreds of
squalid and inhumane institutions throughout Romania. As a matter
of fact, about 4 weeks after the fall of the Ceausescu regime,
having been there several times when he was the dictator, I visited,
along with Dorothy Taft on our staff, one of those orphanages
and saw in one place 60 young babies who were left there as orphans
who could not be turned even because there was such a
shortage of people to attend to them.
However, the good news is that between 1990 and 2004, more
than 8,000 of these children found permanent families in the
United States; thousands of others joined families in Western Europe
and elsewhere.
Sadly, Romania’s child-abandonment rate has not changed significantly
in 30 years. Today, approximately 80,000 children still
live either in institutions or in non-permanent settings such as
‘‘foster care.’’
Hopefully, a time will come when child abandonment in Romania
is just a painful memory, and hopefully the country will someday
have the capacity to help all of the children in need, but that day
has not yet come, and today there is great need for adoption, both
foreign and domestic. But despite this need and the positive outcomes
of most adoptions, outrageous and unsubstantiated allegations
have been made about the fate of adopted children and the
qualifications and motives of those who adopt internationally.
Baroness Emma Nicholson, a member of the European Parliament
who recently served as the rapporteur for Romania’s accession
to the European Union, equates intercountry adoption with
child trafficking for pedophiles and slavery rings. She believes that
it is ‘‘totally false’’ to assume that, for a child, a foreign adoptive
family is better than the family which cannot care for him or her.
Earlier this month, she publicly equated pro-adoption advocates
with organized criminals. Rather than focusing on the best interests
of the child, Romanian policymakers caved in to Lady Nicholson
by banning intercountry adoption in an effort to secure Romania’s
EU accession.
I would note, parenthetically, that as the author of the three
trafficking laws for the United States, the Trafficking Victims Protection
Act of 2000, 2003, and 2005, I and Members of this Subcommittee
take absolutely no back seat when it comes to trafficking.
Adoption is not trafficking.
When the ban was enacted by the Romanian Parliament, I would
point out, there were approximately 200 cases pending in which
children had been matched with adoptive parents in the United
States; approximately 1,000 more had been matched with parents
in Western Europe, Israel, or Australia. These cases will be denied
if the Romanian Government applies the ban retroactively.
Each of these so-called ‘‘pipeline cases’’ involves a prospective
family who has proven their good faith by waiting for years for
these children. Many cases involve older children, Roma children,
and children with special needs who will not be domestically adopted
in Romania. In at least three cases, children with severe medical
needs are already in the United States on medical visas and
living with their prospective adoptive parents. Each was abandoned
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at birth and was legally adoptable until the new anti-adoption law
took effect in Romania. If returned to Romania, they will live in institutions
and will not receive the medical care that they need.
Passage of H. Res. 578 will put the Congress on record as, one,
supporting the Romanian Government’s desire to improve the
standard of care and the well-being of children—they state that
that is their desire; urging the Government of Romania to complete
the processing of the intercountry adoption cases which were pending
when the ban was enacted; urging the government to decrease
barriers to adoption, both domestically and intercountry; urging the
State Department and USAID to work with Romania to achieve
these ends; and requesting that the EU and its member states not
impede Romania’s efforts to place orphaned or abandoned children
in permanent homes.
H. Res. 578 is premised on the belief that all children deserve
to be raised in a permanent family. The Romanian Government’s
current laws and policies do not reflect this principle, and I strongly
urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Smith on H. Res. 578 follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE
IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE
ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
H.RES. 578
I introduced H.Res. 578 to express my deepest disappointment that the Romanian
Government has instituted a virtual ban on intercountry adoptions. This ban has
serious implications for the welfare and well-being of orphaned or abandoned children
in Romania. Last September, I chaired a hearing of the Commission on Security
and Cooperation in Europe which explored these issues in depth. H.Res. 578
has 24 co-sponsors and, on February 14, it was reported favorably by the Subcommittee
on Europe and Emerging Threats.
The world first learned in 1989 that 100,000 underfed, neglected children were
living in hundreds of squalid and inhumane institutions throughout Romania. Between
1990 and 2004, more than 8,000 of these children found permanent families
in the United States; thousands of others joined families in Western Europe and
elsewhere.
Sadly, Romania’s child abandonment rate hasn’t changed significantly in 30 years.
Today, approximately 80,000 children still live either in institutions or in non-permanent
settings such as ‘‘foster care.’’
Hopefully, a time will come when child abandonment in Romania is just a painful
memory. And hopefully, the country will someday have the capacity to help all the
children in need. But that day has not yet come and today there is a great need
for adoption—both foreign and domestic. But despite this need, and the positive outcomes
of most adoptions, outrageous and unsubstantiated allegations have been
made about the fate of adopted children and the qualifications and motives of those
who adopt internationally. Baroness Emma Nicholson, a Member of the European
Parliament who until recently served as rapporteur for Romania’s accession to the
European Union, equates intercountry adoption with child trafficking for pedophiles
and slavery rings. She believes that it is ‘‘totally false’’ to assume that for a child,
a foreign adoptive family is better than the family which can not care for him. Earlier
this month she publicly equated pro-adoption advocates with organized criminals.
Rather than focusing on the best interests of the child, Romanian policy makers
caved in to Nicholson by banning intercountry adoption in an effort to secure
Romania’s EU accession.
When the ban was enacted there were approximately 200 cases pending in which
children had been matched with adoptive parents in the United States; approximately
a thousand more had been matched with parents in Western Europe, Israel
or Australia. These cases will be denied if the Romanian Government applies the
ban retroactively.
Each of these pipeline cases involves a prospective family who has proven their
good faith by waiting for years for these children. Many cases involve older children,
Roma children, and children with special medical needs who will not be domestically
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adopted in Romania. In at least 3 cases, children with severe medical needs are already
in the U.S. on medical visas and living with their prospective adoptive parents.
Each was abandoned at birth and were legally adoptable until the new adoption
law took effect. If returned to Romania they will live in institutions and will
not receive the medical care they need.
Passage of H. Res. 578 will put the Congress on record
• supporting the Romanian Government’s desire to improve the standard of
care and well-being of children;
• urging the Government to complete the processing of the intercountry adoption
cases which were pending when the ban was enacted;
• urging the Government to decrease barriers to adoption, both domestically
and intercountry;
• urging the State Department and USAID to work with Romania to achieve
these ends; and
• requesting that the EU and its member States not impede Romania’s efforts
to place orphaned or abandoned children in permanent homes.
H.Res. 578 is premised on the belief that all children deserve to be raised in permanent
families. The Romanian Government’s current laws and policies do not reflect
this principle. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. Would anyone else like to be heard
on this resolution?
[No response.]
Mr. SMITH OF NEW JERSEY. Are there any amendments to it?
[No response.]
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