GUATEMALA
Adoption Alert
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
Update on Casa Quivira and Semillas de Amor Cases
February 5, 2009
Casa Quivira
According to our records, about 14 of the original 46 children at CQ still have cases pending. For six of these cases, the Attorney General’s Office (PGN) has identified irregularities. All six will have to be processed as abandonment cases; however, the Guatemalan government has agreed cases will be processed as transition cases and do not have to wait for the new procedures to drafted and implemented.
Semillas de Amor
The Embassy has obtained agreement from GOG officials that children whose adoptions have been completed, and who already have U.S. visas, should be allowed to leave the country. However, both the MP and PGN must complete their investigation and processing and then the Judge must lift to order for the children to stay at Semillas. Simply having the completed adoption and issued a visa will not automatically allow the child to leave Guatemala. Twelve more cases were released by the MP to PGN in January. According to the MP only five cases of the original 54 cases have irregularities; these likely will have to be processed as abandonments under Guatemala’s new laws.
http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/guatemala.html
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CAMBODIA
Adoption Notice
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
February 13, 2009
On December 21, 2001 the processing of adoption petitions for Cambodia was suspended. This decision was based on numerous concerns related to fraud in Cambodia, as well as the lack of sufficient local legal frameworks and other safeguards to protect the children’s best interests. Due to continued concerns, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) remains unable to approve any form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, filed on behalf of a child to be adopted from Cambodia. The USCIS suspension remains in effect for all I-600 forms that have been filed. For more information on the USCIS suspension please see the following link:
http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/UpdateStatusCambodianAdopt_11feb09.pdf.
Based on the existing issues of fraud and irregularity in Cambodia, the Department of State (DOS) has reconfirmed the suspension of adoptions under the Hague process in Cambodia. It has been determined that at this time Cambodia is not meeting its obligations under The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. For these reasons the DOS remains unable to issue the required Hague Certificate or Hague Custody Declaration for any form I-800, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention country. The Department of State will continue to monitor the situation in Cambodia and will provide updates as soon as they are available.
http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/cambodia.html
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BRAZIL
Adoption Notice
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
February 13, 2009
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL PARENTS WISHING TO ADOPT IN BRAZIL:
We are working very closely with the Brazilian government to establish how the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention, which entered into force for the U.S. in 2008, will affect future adoptions in Brazil. At the moment, parents should expect a lengthy process because there is currently no U.S. Hague-accredited adoption service provider working in Brazil. If you are not an immediate relative qualified to adopt via the Brazilian national adoption system, it is unlikely you will be permitted to adopt in Brazil for the foreseeable future. The Brazilian government has not yet passed adoption-related legislation, which may change the criteria by which U.S. adoption service providers are evaluated. Nor has Brazil re-opened the accreditation process for foreign service providers which would allow U.S. agencies to operate in Brazil. They are currently undertaking a review of all foreign service providers working in Brazil which may affect future evaluation criteria as well. These steps will likely take a year or more to be resolved. Prospective adoptive parents should also be aware that children available for international adoption in Brazil are generally over 5 years of age, sibling pairs, or have special needs.
http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/brazil.html
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KYRGYZSTAN
Adoption Alert
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
February 13, 2009
The U.S. Department of State does not recommend that U.S. citizens consider adoption from Kyrgyzstan at this time. Currently, no adoption cases are being processed, including at least sixty-five adoption cases by U.S. citizens already in progress. In addition, the Kyrgyz government is considering significant changes to its adoption regulations.
The Kyrgyz Government has formed an adoption commission that includes officials from the Vice Prime Minister’s office, the Ministries of Education, Social Protection and Labor, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, and Justice, as well as the General Prosecutor’s office. This commission is responsible for drafting new adoption policy and legislation, with special emphasis on clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the different agencies involved. The commission will recommend whether the Kyrgyz Republic should join the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. The commission plans to report to Parliament by March 20; the Parliament will then choose what action it will take on these proposals. The Kyrgyz government does not intend to process any adoption cases, new or pending, until the adoption commission issues its report and Parliament has taken action on its recommendations.
Although the new legislation likely will not affect existing cases of children already matched with adoptive parents, it will allow the Ministry of Education authority to resume processing these adoption dossiers. New adoption cases would be subject to any new requirements established by Parliament.
The U.S. Embassy continues to monitor the situation and will provide clarification as soon as it is received.
http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/kyrgyzstan.html
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LESOTHO
Adoption Alert
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
February 12, 2009
Government of Lesotho
The Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho has lifted the suspension on intercountry adoptions for four countries: the U.S., Sweden, The Netherlands and Canada. The Government of Lesotho (GOL) plans to designate only one adoption agency per country which will be responsible for coordinating all adoptions, assisting in monitoring the progress of adopted children and providing follow-up reports to the Department of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health has designated Americans for African Adoptions, Inc. (AFAA) to coordinate intercountry adoptions for the U.S. The Department of Social Welfare is forming an adoption committee to liaise with the adoption agency and prospective adoptive parents to ensure adherence to the adoption process. There has been no change in GOL adoption laws, policies or procedures. However, the GOL requires any case that was in process at the time of the suspension to be reinstated. Any cases that were processed during the suspension are invalid and will require amendment of adoption documents by the High Court.
The U.S. Embassy in Lesotho and the Office of Children’s Issues will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further information on adoption.state.gov as it becomes available.
http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/lesotho.html
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GEORGIA
Adoption Notice
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
February 5, 2009
The U.S. Department of State does not recommend that U.S. citizens begin new adoption cases from Georgia at this time because of changes in the country’s intercountry adoption process. The Georgian Government has recently transferred responsibility for adoptions from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Health is currently in the process of developing procedures both to refer children to prospective adopting parents and to review and process adoption cases to completion.
According to local experts, no new international adoption cases are being processed at this time.
The U.S. Embassy continues to monitor the situation and will provide updated information as soon as it is received.
http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/georgia.html
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