PEAR is a 501(c)(3)

Dear Members, Friends and Supporters,

PEAR is pleased to announce that the IRS has officially determined us to be a 501(c)(3) Public Charity. Donations made to PEAR between March 14, 2008, the date of our incorporation in Pennsylvania, and into the future are tax deductible.

Please consider making your tax deductible donation to PEAR by December 31, 2008 in order to include it in your 2008 tax return.

Donations can be made through our website via PayPal or by check. See our website http://www.pear-now.org/ for details.

Warmest Regards,

Gina Pollock
President
PEAR
http://www.pear-now.org/
Make a Difference - Join PEAR Now!

BE the change you want to see in the world. - Gandhi

DOS Notice on Ukraine

Adoption Notice

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 5, 2008

New Adoption Regulations in Effect

On October 8, 2008 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved Resolution #905, introducing new regulations for adoptions and the protection of the rights of adopted children. This Resolution cancels the previous adoption Resolution #1377. The new regulations went into effect on December 1, 2008.

The Resolution sets regulations for the registration of abandoned children at the local, regional and central levels. It also describes adoption proceedings for both domestic and intercountry adoptions. Some of these changes will affect the intercountry adoption process. These changes are described in more detail below and in the updated country specific information on adoption from Ukraine. We have also revised the list of documents that should be submitted to the SDAPRC for registration to reflect all of the changes.

Adoption Home Study

Resolution #905 introduces more specific requirements for the adoption home study. The home study should include the following items: home address, living conditions (number of bedrooms, living space and conditions for the adopted child), biographic information of the parents, household members (number of persons residing in the same household and their relation to the adoptive parent, number of biological children, if any); adoptive parents’ approach towards adoption. The home study must also include the recommendations regarding the number, age and health condition of the children that can be adopted by the prospective adoptive parents. The important thing to remember is that the conclusion should clearly state that it is the agency/social worker’s recommendation for this family to adopt this particular child or children, not just the family’s own preference.

Refusal to Register Adoption Dossiers

According to this Resolution the SDAPRC will now have the right to refuse to register your dossier if, at the time of the dossier’s submission to the SDAPRC, the central database of Ukrainian children available for intercountry adoptions will not contain any children complying with the recommendation in your home study. Given the statistics published by the SDAPRC and available on our website at: http://kyiv.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_notice_0119_eng.html, there are currently no healthy children (or children with minor, correctable health problems) under three and very few under six years old. Therefore, if you are recommended for a healthy child or a child with minor/correctable health problems under six years of age, the SDAPRC is very likely to refuse even to accept and register your dossier.

Adoptive Parent’s Commitment to Register the Child and Provide Annual Reports to the Embassy or Consulate of Ukraine

This document must be prepared in duplicate and should include the following commitments:

•to register the adopted child with the respective Consulate or Embassy of Ukraine (indicating the name and full address of the Consulate/Embassy);
•to provide the adopted child with the opportunity to keep their Ukrainian citizenship until 18 years old;
•to submit annual reports on the adopted child to the Consulate or Embassy of Ukraine at least once a year for the first three years after the adoption and once every three years afterwards, until the child’s 18th birthday;
•to provide an opportunity to the representatives of the Consulate/Embassy of Ukraine to communicate with the adopted child;
•to inform the Consulate/Embassy of Ukraine about any change of address of the adopted child.
Marriage Certificate

The SDAPRC will now require two notarized copies of marriage certificate, instead of one.

Proof of income

W-2 forms for the most recent six months or tax returns for the last calendar year, certified by the issuing authority or notarized.

Ownership/Rental Documents

Your adoption dossier must now include a notarized copy of the document confirming the ownership or rental rights of the adoptive parents for their house or apartment, indicating its total and living area as well as the number of bedrooms.

Other Requirements and Notes

The SDAPRC will not accept any notarized statements in place of W-2 forms or other proof of income; neither will they accept notarized statements/affidavits instead of the documents confirming the property rights.

On the date of submission of your documents to the SDAPRC they should remain valid for at least six months. Documents are valid for 12 months from the date of issuance or notarization, except for the I-171H form, which is valid for 18 months.

Priority for Adoptions

The SDAPRC will give priority for submission of documents and scheduling appointments to the following adoptive parents:

•biological relatives of the adopted child;
•those who are applying for adoption of biological siblings of their previously adopted children;
•adoptive parents applying for adoption of the children suffering from one of the health problems posted on our website at: http://kyiv.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html These children are also not subject to one-year registration term at the central database for intercountry adoptions.

Maximum Number of Appointments with the SDAPRC

As of December 1, 2008 the SDAPRC will allow only three appointments to each adoptive family to look at the children’s files. If you have not chosen any children after the third appointment, your adoption dossier will be returned to you immediately. (Currently, the SDAPRC also limits the number of adoption referrals issued to each family to two referrals.) You need to submit a notarized statement to request a second appointment with your dossier to the SDAPRC and then they officially have ten business days to respond with the date of your second/third appointment.

Please note this information is provided as a general guidance only; all questions involving interpretation of specific Ukrainian adoption laws should be addressed to foreign legal counsel or your adoption service provider.

Source: http://adoption.state.gov/news/ukraine.html

DOS Notice on Sierra Leone: Nov 28, 2008

Sierra Leone
Adoption Notice

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ October 28, 2008

U.S. Embassy Offers Orphan First Program

Due to the high rate of adoption fraud in Sierra Leone, the U.S. Embassy in Dakar is offering prospective adopting parents the opportunity for a preliminary, unofficial review of a child's orphan status. Under the "Orphan First" pilot program, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in conjunction with the Department of State (DOS), will determine whether or not a child meets the definition of orphan prior to the adoptive parents completing adoption proceedings at the parents' request. It is hoped that this program will prevent situations where U.S. citizens find that they have adopted a child from abroad but the child is not able to immigrate to the U.S. because the child does not meet the definition of orphan under section 101(b)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

*Note: The formal, final determination of whether or not your child meets the definition of orphan still cannot be made until after you have a legal obligation to your child.

Prospective adoptive parents who would like to take advantage of this offer, should fax (011-221- 822-5903) or email (consulardakar@state.gov ) the following documents, if available and applicable, to the U.S. Consul when they request this unofficial review:

1. Completed I-604
2. A copy of the child's official intake form completed at the time the child was brought to the orphanage. The intake form should indicate the circumstances under which the child was brought to the orphanage and any actions taken to confirm the facts.
3. A copy of the child's birth certificate.
4. A copy of a death certificate for any parent who has died.

If the child has one sole or surviving parent, a copy of the statement the biological parent made at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs irrevocably relinquishing parental rights.

If a parent has abandoned a child or disappeared, copies of the police report, the report by Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs detailing efforts to locate the parent and severing parental ties of the missing parent, and/or a court order making the child a ward of the state.

After reviewing the documents, the U.S. Consul will inform you whether the child you hope to adopt is an orphan if all of the documents are authentic, whether the child is not an orphan, or whether it is likely that a field investigation would be required in order to confirm orphan status.
The U.S. Embassy in Freetown is responsible for field investigations. Due to workload constraints, field investigations are not conducted until the U.S. Consul in Dakar receives a copy of a court order from the High Court of Sierra Leone granting either a full and final adoption (IR3) or leave to adopt (IR4) and evidence of orphan status. Field investigations can take between 3 and 6 months, depending on workload and the availability of witnesses to confirm evidence of orphan status.

With addition questions, contact the U.S. Embassy in Dakar or the Office of Children’s Issues.

Source: http://adoption.state.gov/news/sierra%20leone.html

PEAR's Fall Newsletter

Greetings to all of our members, followers, and curious folks wondering what we are up to.

Fall Membership Drive

Our Fall Membership Drive officially commenced on November 20, 2008. An e-blitz to over 400 online and offline adoption information and support groups was undertaken in an effort to make the adoption community aware of the missions and current projects of PEAR and to increase our membership. PEAR has great ideas and lots of work to do but we need the help of dedicated members to get the work done. Please read about our projects below and if you are not yet a member, consider joining us. If you are a member, please consider helping out in one or more of our projects or just drop a line in our members only group and let us know what you would like to see PEAR do to help make adoption practices ethical. For more information on the Membership Drive, please contact Pam Veazie at PharmGirl13@indy.rr.com.

Adoption Agency Licensure, Regulation, and Oversight Project

PEAR is commencing a study on the licensing, regulation and oversight of adoption agencies. The purpose of this study will be to better educate prospective adoptive parents, expectant mothers and the general public on the role of adoption agencies, to ensure best practices in adoption, to find appropriate avenues for resolving conflicts among agencies and clients, and to establish the groundwork for a model system that adequately protects the entire triad. The first phase of the study will explore the current laws and regulations governing adoption agencies. PEAR is working with a Pennsylvania Law School to establish a pro bono research opportunity to help us complete this phase by April 30, 2009.

The second phase will explore current systems for resolving conflict, making formal complaints and overseeing the work of adoption agencies. The final phase will analyze the efficacy of the current system, and propose improvements that will better protect the adoption triad. For further information on this project, please contact Gina Pollock: rmprhp @ yahoo.com.

Post Adoption Services Project

PEAR is pleased to announce the creation of a Post-Adoption Service Project. The first phase of this project will be an Observational Survey of Adoptive Parents on Success, Satisfaction and Types of Post-Adoption Services. To date, there has been no comprehensive survey of this nature ever conducted by any other group. This project has three main goals: to identify Post-Adoption support that PEAR can provide to fill in the gaps that currently exist, to lay the groundwork for a joint clinical, randomized study with a larger, well-established adoptive parent organization, and to demonstrate PEAR's commitment as an organization dedicated to wholly supporting adoptive parents. Our hope is that this project will lead PEAR to work with other organizations to provide a comprehensive “healing roadmap” for adopted children and their families. For further information on this this project, please contact Pamela Veazie: PharmGirl13 @ indy.rr.com

Call to Action Vietnam

Last November, PEAR launched the Call to Action: Vietnam in response to increasing concerns within the adoption community over the ethical problems surrounding adoptions from Vietnam. Although we were officially barred from the JCICS Summit on Vietnam, we were permitted to comment on their proposed Standards of Practice. While JCICS incorporated many of our comments into the proposal, there many issues left unaddressed, or inadequately addressed, such as fees, paper trails, relinquishment/abandonment, and other issues surrounding ethical practices. A copy of our comments can be downloaded at our website http://www.pear-now.org/.

Throughout the following year, PEAR has offered support and resources to families with children adopted from Vietnam who are facing the difficult realization that their adoptions may have been corrupted. We have also continued to monitor the situation and have offered our perspective to our government officials in Washington and Hanoi. For further information on Call to Action: Vietnam, please contact Karen Moline or Margaret Weeks at reform @ pear-now.org

Hague Issues

PEAR has been monitoring the transition to the Hague Process for the past year. We have submitted official comments on the Hague regulations regarding the adoption process and I800 which can be downloaded at our website: http://www.pear-now.org/. We also provided feedback and comments to the COA, Colorado DHS and DOS on applicant and accredited agencies and approved persons throughout the accreditation process. We continue to monitor agencies and approve persons, the applicant process, and complaints against Hague accredited agencies.

In addition to the accreditation and I800 issues, PEAR encouraged the USCIS to properly interpret the federal regulations regarding the grandfathering of transition cases and allow the renewals of I600a approvals. As a result of our efforts and the efforts of numerous adoption advocacy groups and adoptive and prospective adoptive parents, the USCIS changed its position in October to officially permit the continued renewal of I600a's in transition cases.

For additional Information on our Hague related activities, please contact us at reform@pear-now.org

Adoptee Access to Records

PEAR fully supports the right of all adoptees to full and complete access to their birth information. Over the past year, we have written to numerous state legislatures and adoption groups concerning our position and encouraged them to support initiatives and legislation in support of open access. For further information on PEAR's work in support of Adoptee Access to Records, please contact us at reform@pear-now.org

Adoptive Parents Bill of Rights and Prospective Adoptive Parents Bill of Rights

In response to a request at the Ethics and Accountability Conference last fall for a written Bill of Right for Adoptive Parents and Prospective Adoptive Parents, PEAR has been busy drafting and refining a version that respects the rights of adoptive parents, families of origin and adoptees and ensures best practices in adoption and post adoption services. Our committees are currently polishing the final drafts, which we hope to release in early January 2009. For further information on these projects, please contact Gina Pollock at reform@pear-now.org

Nonprofit Status and Corporate Issues

In March of 2008, PEAR became a non profit corporation organized under Pennsylvania law. We completed our 1023 application for 501(c)(3) status which was filed in July of 2008 and are currently awaiting our determination letter. Until we receive a favorable determination from the IRS, donations to PEAR are not tax deductible. However, your financial support is still needed to complete our projects and keep our organization viable! Copies of our corporate documents are available upon request by writing to us at reform @ pear-now.org

In the Spotlight

Tidbits of information, resources and articles worth pursuing in the fight for ethical adoptions:

So, sue me! For far too long adoptive and prospective adoptive families injured by unethical practices remained silent believing they had no power to fight the adoption industry. However, a trend over the past two years shows that families have begun to speak up and demand justice. In October of 2006, a civil RICO case was filed against Waiting Angels Adoption Agency in Michigan. Since that time, numerous adoptive and prospective adoptive parents have sought each other out through online adoption support groups, pooled their resources and banded together to seek justice against agencies engaging in unethical and illegal acts. To date, civil RICO complaints have been filed against Waiting Angels, Adoption International Program (AIP/Orson Moses), Project Oz, and Main Street Adoption Services. Further information on these law suits can be found at the website for Fixel Law Offices fixellawoffices.com. Remember, each of these cases began by families sharing stories and reaching out in online adoption groups. Use your voice, you would be surprised at the power we have when we join forces!

The Lie We Love. A recent article written by EJ Graff and published in Foreign Policy, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/, has generated a lot of discussion in adoption groups in the US and abroad. PEAR highly recommends that prospective and adoptive parents read Ms. Graff's article and visit the Brandeis University Schuster Institute website for more information on corruption in international adoption. Prospective adoptive parents should be sure to check out the interactive map available on the website before selecting a country program.

DOS Updated Adoption Site. It's been a long time coming, but the US Department of State has finally updated and revamped its information on international adoption from both Hague and non-Hague countries. Please take some time to peruse the site, especially if you are just starting the process of adoption. http://www.blogger.com/www.adoption.state.gov

Make a Difference - Join PEAR Now!

Gina Pollock
President
Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform
http://www.pear-now.org/
526 N President Ave
Lancaster PA 17603
reform@pear-now.org

BE the change you want to see in the world. - Gandhi

UPDATE: Call to Action Vietnam - USCIS/DOS Statements

Adoptions from Vietnam to the United States Will Not Resume Without a New Bilateral Agreement - Action Taken to Establish Safeguards that Protect Children and Families

WASHINGTON – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State (DOS) issued a joint statement with the government of Vietnam announcing that the processing of new adoption cases will not resume until both countries sign a new bilateral agreement.

The governments of the United States and Vietnam are taking this action jointly because both governments recognize the complexity of issues relating to intercountry adoptions and the importance of developing a transparent adoption system that protects all parties. The United States continues to strongly support the Vietnamese government's efforts to establish an appropriate child adoption system with sound safeguards and protections for children and families. Until a new bilateral agreement is reached, USCIS and DOS have concluded it is in the best interest of children and families to not process any post-Sept. 1, 2008 adoption cases. This action does not affect cases where the prospective adoptive parents were matched with a child before Sept. 1, 2008, the date the previous bilateral agreement expired.

USCIS and DOS will continue to process Vietnamese intercountry adoption cases where the child was matched with the prospective adoptive family before Sept. 1, 2008. Prospective adoptive parents, who may need clarification of the status of their case, may verify whether their adoption petition qualifies as a pre-Sept. 1 case by e-mailing the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi at: hanoiadoptions@state.gov. The Embassy strongly advises prospective adoptive parents not to travel to Vietnam until they have received notification from the Embassy that their case is ready for final processing and travel is appropriate.

The United States government is committed to supporting Vietnam in its efforts to establish practices necessary to appropriately process intercountry adoptions. We have therefore expressed our willingness to begin negotiations on a new bilateral agreement with the government of Vietnam that addresses the deficiencies in their current system. We cannot predict when a new bilateral adoption agreement with adequate safeguards for all parties will be concluded.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=fa81be340e10d110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f3beaca797e63110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/4dqxzo

The joint statement between the United States and Vietnam is available in the RelatedLinks section of the USCIS webpage.

Additional information on international adoptions is available online at www.travel.state.gov, or in the Adoptions section of the USCIS website.

Additional printed FAQ available at the USCIS website: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=a805be340e10d110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f3beaca797e63110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/3vw9aw