International Adoption Status in Crimea

Given recent events in Ukraine, many parents are understandably concerned about the status of their adoptions from children in the Crimea region of the country.  According to Ambassador Susan Jacobs, the United States Embassy in Kiev is working directly with a number of parents whose adoptions have been affected by this volatile situation.  The Embassy is also working directly with the Ukrainian government to determine how these political changes will impact in-process adoptions.  Because Ukraine is not a signatory to the Convention, the Hague Process does not apply to Ukrainian adoptions.

The Department of State has not yet issued an update on Ukrainian adoptions as it relates to Crimea.  In an email to PEAR, Ambassador Jacobs stated that they will "continue to update as we learn more about how the cases will proceed."  The latest updates on adoptions in Ukraine can be found at http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_info.php?country-select=ukraine.  

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Update on Intercountry Adoptions in Guatemala

Joint USCIS-State Delegation to Guatemala

During the week of May 13, 2013, Special Advisor for Children's Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs traveled with USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas to Guatemala for meetings with Guatemalan government officials of agencies directly involved in adoptions, including the Procuraduría General de la Nación (PGN) and the Guatemalan National Council on Adoption (CNA). They also met with members of the Supreme Court, the Ministerio Publico (MP), the Ministry of Social Welfare, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).  Their visit provided an important opportunity to meet recently-appointed Guatemalan officials and emphasize that the timely and transparent resolution of all the remaining pending transition adoption cases in the best interests of the children remains a top priority for the United States.

The meetings were also an opportunity to review the progress on completion of these remaining cases following recent administrative and personnel changes in the Government of Guatemala. In the last several months, the Guatemalan government has accelerated its completion of cases, and fewer than 100 pending transition adoption cases are awaiting resolution as of the date of this notice.  Since January 1, 2012, 28 cases have moved to CNA's Acuerdo process, and nine cases have concluded with the immigration of the adopted children to the United States with their U.S. citizen parent(s).  Fourteen cases have concluded with the child's reunification with a biological family member in Guatemala.

Officials at the PGN, which has the authority to complete the investigations in the pending cases, report having 52 cases in various stages of investigation.  The PGN has received renewed funding for its investigators, allowing them to continue their work with a goal of completing these investigations within two months.  PGN will then send any cases that cannot continue to completion under the notarial procedures to the Guatemalan courts for either adoptability decrees or family reunification.  According to the Guatemalan Supreme Court, there currently are no backlogs at the courts, so that legal process should proceed without delays.  The cases with court decrees will go to the CNA for completion of the adoptions through the Acuerdo process. 

The USCIS and Consular staff of the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City are in constant communication with the Guatemalan officials responsible for adoption procedures.  U.S. Embassy staff monitor and promote Guatemalan progress in resolving the remaining cases by attending the semi-weekly meetings of the technical group where these authorities work through the cases. Prospective adoptive parents may contact USCIS directly at Guatemala.adoptions@dhs.gov, and the Immigrant Visa Unit of the Consular Section directly at AdoptGuatemala@state.gov, in order to inquire about the status of individual adoption cases.

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=guatemala_11

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Ambassador Jacobs Travels to Guatemala with Sen. Mary Landrieu

Special Advisor for Children's Issues Travels to Guatemala

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
July 2, 2012

Special Advisor for Children’s Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs is visiting Guatemala from July 1-3 as part of a Congressional Delegation led by Senator Mary Landrieu. The delegation, which includes officials from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is meeting with Guatemalan officials to discuss progress in resolving the remaining intercountry adoption transition cases.

While U.S. citizens have adopted thousands of Guatemalan orphans in the past, Guatemala announced in 2008 that it would not accept any new adoption cases. Processing of transition cases slowed dramatically in 2010. The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Office of Children’s Issues and the U.S. Embassy are working with the Guatemalan authorities to resolve the remaining cases. This is Senator Mary Landrieu’s fourth congressional delegation visit to Guatemala since April 2010.

For more information about children’s issues, please visit: ChildrensIssues.state.gov

For updates on Special Advisor Jacobs’ trip, follow her on Twitter: @ChildrensIssues

For press inquiries please contact CAPRESSREQUESTS@state.gov or (202) 647-1488.

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Ambassador Susan Jacobs to Discuss Intercountry Adoption in Colombia

Special Advisor for International Children's Issues Travels to Colombia
Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

February 22, 2012

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Special Advisor for International Children’s Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs is traveling to Bogota, Colombia, February 22-24, 2012 for meetings with The Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF) to discuss intercountry adoption and international parental child abduction issues. They will also discuss areas of collaboration with other countries in the region.

For more information about children’s issues, visit ChildrensIssues.state.gov

For updates on Special Advisor Susan Jacobs’ trip, follow her on Twitter: @ChildrensIssues

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Special Advisor for International Children's Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs to Travel to The Hague

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

November 15, 2011

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Special Advisor for International Children’s Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs will travel to The Hague November 17 – 18 for meetings on intercountry adoption and international parental child abduction.

While in The Hague, Ambassador Jacobs will lead meetings with foreign representatives from Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Switzerland to discuss ways to further promote The Hague Adoption and Abduction Conventions and assist signatory countries to meet their responsibilities under the conventions.

For press inquiries please contact CAPRESSREQUESTS@state.gov or (202) 647-1488.

For updates from Ambassador Susan Jacobs, follow her on twitter: @ChildrensIssues.

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Nepal: Children for sale (Al Jazeera)

Nepal: Children for sale (Al Jazeera)

With weak law enforcement, can foreigners adopting children from Nepal be sure that they are really orphans?

Video:

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/101east/2011/09/2011920125119853524.html

Orphaned, abandoned or trafficked? That is the question facing foreigners who wish to adopt Nepali children.

International adoption services have provided a lucrative business to poverty-stricken Nepal. But in 2007, Nepal stopped adoptions for two years as it investigated claims of child trafficking.

After adoptions resumed, law enforcement remained weak.

By the end of 2010, many countries including the US, stopped granting visas to children from Nepal. This was in response to unscrupulous agents falsifying children's status as orphans so they could be adopted overseas.

Today, loopholes remain in Nepal's adoption processes and the government has been slow to formulate new policies, creating more problems for children in orphanages.

101 East investigates the scam behind an industry borne from the desire to love a child.

Al Jazeera -- 101 East

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Special Advisor for Children’s Issues to Visit Haiti this Week

DOS/OCI Press release
June 21, 2011

Special Advisor for Children’s Issues, Ambassador Susan Jacobs, will visit Haiti June 22 – 24 to discuss how the United States can support Haiti in its efforts to join the Hague Adoption Convention.

The visit to Haiti will mark the second round of meetings hosted by the Governments of France and Canada that began in Montreal in December 2010. The United States, together with other countries and international and non-governmental organizations, support Haiti’s efforts to initiate adoption reform consistent with the Hague Adoption Convention.

For more information about intercountry adoption, please visit: adoption.state.gov

For press inquiries please contact CAPRESSREQUESTS@state.gov or (202) 647-1488.

For updates on Special Advisor Susan Jacobs’ trip, follow her on twitter: http://twitter.com/childrensissues

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

UPDATE: Kyrgyzstan Moratorium

Radio Free Europe reported on May 7, 2011 that the Kyrg government has lifted the moratorium on intercountry adoptions which has been in effect since February 2009:
http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyzstan_lifts_ban_on_international_adoptions/24094372.html

The lifting of the ban comes on the heels of an official US visit to Kyrgystan by DOS Special Advisor on Children's Issues, Ambassador Susan Jacobs, on February 14, 2011. The purpose of Ambassador Jacob's visit was to advocate for intercountry adoptions and the processing of the 65 cases in process prior to the moratorium. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/02/156030.htm

The US DOS has not yet confirmed the lifting of the moratorium, please refer to the adoption.state.gov website for updates and confirmation. PEAR will post any DOS public announcements as they are made.

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Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

New DOS Appointment in Office of Children's Issues

MEDIA NOTE
Tuesday, May 25

Secretary Clinton Designates Special Advisor for International Children’s Issues

Secretary Clinton is pleased to announce the appointment of Ambassador Susan S. Jacobs as Special Advisor to the Office of Children’s Issues. A long time child advocate, Secretary Clinton has created the new foreign policy position to address intercountry adoption and international parental child abduction. In her work on these important issues, Ambassador Jacobs will actively engage with foreign government officials to protect the welfare and interests of children.

Ambassador Jacobs most recently served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. A former United States Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, she also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Issues in the State Department's Bureau of Legislative Affairs. Her distinguished Foreign Service career has also included tours in Caracas, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Bucharest, and San Salvador.

Ambassador Jacobs graduated from the University of Michigan and later studied at Georgetown University Law School and the George Washington University. She has received numerous awards, including the Department of State's Meritorious Honor Award, its Superior Honor Award, and the Community Achievement Award in New Delhi.

The Office of Children’s Issues in the State Department provides services to parents, children, and families in intercountry adoption and international family abductions. It serves as the U.S. Central Authority for both the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

For more information about the Office of Children’s Issues at the State Department, please visit:
www.adoption.state.gov
www.travel.state.gov/childabduction

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/