Media: Ethiopia revokes licences of nine charitable organizations

http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=120802


APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
Ethiopia revoked the license of nine orphanages (charity organizations) who they claim to be involved in ‘illegal’ activities of child rights abuse, APA learns here on Wednesday.
The nine charity organizations have been working to adopt children for the past few years to Europe and America.
However, the office, which is in charge of registering charity organizations at the Ethiopian Ministry of Justice refused to give details as to what kind of illegal activities the organizations were involved with regards to child rights abuse.
Child trafficking is high in Ethiopia where a good number of children are reported to be adopted illegally annually.
The decision to revoke the license of the nine organizations was made while the government was undertaking re-registration of charity organizations and other NGOs that are operating in Ethiopia.

PEAR is attempting to identify which orphanages have closed. We will update the blog as information comes in.









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

Adoptee Voice: Journee Bradshaw

The below poem was written by Journee Bradshaw. Journee was adopted from Ethiopia and is attempting to come to terms with the circumstances of her adoption.Her story was highlighted in the ABC Australia news story Fly Away Home http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2834100.htm

We are honored to reprint Journee's poem:

It is Everything ~ Journee Bradshaw

"Hold your head up", they say.
I walk with my head down.
How can I make my way in this world?
I don't want to be here.
They know the truth.
I am not an orphan,
I don't need a family.
I already have a family.
Everything I tried explaining to them
They didn't care and wouldn't listen.
You can't fight what another person says.
I walk away but I know I am not the only one feeling like this.
I miss my family,
I miss everything,
I miss Ethiopia.
For you it might be a third world country
But for me it's my home.
For you it might be a poor place
But for me it is everything.

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

UPDATE: DOS Adoption Notice on Cambodia

Adoption Notice

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

---

March 2010

On December 3, 2009, new legislation on intercountry adoption was signed into law in Cambodia. The new law seeks to create a country-wide comprehensive child welfare system and an intercountry adoption process in compliance with the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention (the Convention) to which Cambodia is a party. This is an important first step in Cambodia's expressed commitment to reform its child welfare system and meet its treaty obligations under the Convention. In order to be able to establish necessary regulations and standard procedures to implement the new Law on Intercountry Adoption, the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation has announced a temporary suspension of the receipt of all new intercountry adoption dossiers until March 2011. This will not adversely affect any U.S cases since no new cases have been submitted in the last several years.

At this time, it is not possible to estimate when adoptions will resume between the United States and Cambodia. In order to implement the new law in full, Cambodia will first need to establish the necessary government structures to support it, draft and finalize prakas (Ministerial orders/regulations), and determine and fill staffing and training needs. Issues related to transparency in fees, procedural safeguards, determination of a child's eligibility for intercountry adoption, criminal penalties and the creation of a strategy to formalize and strengthen the domestic adoption system will all need to be addressed effectively.

The United States continues to support Cambodia's desire to create a child welfare system and an intercountry adoption process that fulfills its obligations under the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention and welcomes Cambodia’s efforts to fully implement the new law on intercountry adoption.

Updated information will be provided on www.adoption.state.gov as it becomes available.

http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/cambodia.html

Cross posted on http://pearadoptioninfo-cambodia.blogspot.com/


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

Ethiopia: Gelgela Orphange

This past weekend, PEAR was forwarded a letter from the US Embassy in Addis to US Adoption Service Providers. We understand that some, but not all agencies have informed their clients of the letter and new USE scrutiny of cases involving the Gelgela Orphanage. We believe it is important for adopting and adoptive families to have this information so we have chosen to reprint the letter here:

Dear adoption agencies,

Recently, the U.S. Embassy has implemented several changes to the adoption visa process, including conducting significant additional review of each case and field investigations. In light of our findings, and recent serious allegations and news reports involving Ethiopian adoptions, we will require additional time to process each case from any agency in which the child was processed through Gelgela orphanage.

Effective immediately, the Embassy will require 8 weeks' processing time for each adoption visa case in which the child was processed through Gelgela orphanage. This means that families will not receive an immigrant visa appointment until 8 weeks after the complete case file is submitted to the Embassy. We will not accept incomplete case files in these cases under any circumstances. It is the agency's responsibility to plan family travel accordingly. Cases that have already been submitted will continue to be processed as previously scheduled.

For cases already scheduled (for which the Embassy already has the case file), those parents should expect potentially lengthy delays in the processing of cases involving children from Gelgela orphanage.

Sincerely,

Adoption Unit
U.S. Embassy
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

PEAR put a call out to various organizations and individuals requesting a list of agencies that refer children from Gelgela. The European NGO, ACT (Against Child Trafficking - http://againstchildtrafficking.org/), provided us with the following list which they compiled from public records:

United States:

Bethany (partners with FTIA ) ***
Christian World Adoption
America World Adoption

Canada:
CAFAC *

Belgium:
Ray of Hope

Netherlands:
Wereldkinderen**

Germany:
Eltern fur Afrika

*PEAR has unconfirmed information that Choices in Canada runs their program as a partner with CAFAC - families currently using Choices are advised to consult with them concerning this.

**Please note that Werelderkinderen closed their Ethiopia program due to inconsistencies and unreliability of background information provided about Ethiopian children. http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/netherlands-freezes-adoption-process-ethiopia EDITED NOTE 3/23/2010 1:56 pm EST: Netherlands agencies Stichting Afrika and Vereniging Wereldkinderen will resume Ethiopian Adoptions per press release of Febriuary 18, 2010 see: http://english.justitie.nl/currenttopics/pressreleases/archives-2010/100218no-reconsideration-of-adoptions-from-ethiopia.aspx?cp=35&cs=1578 for details.

***According to Keith Wallace of FTIA, FTIA has never worked with not placed children from Gelgela

If you are a PAP working with one of the above agencies and you have not been notified about the USE process, please contact your agency for clarification on the orphanage used and any applicability the above notice has to your case. US adoptive parents who have completed an adoption of a child from Gelgela Orphanage and have concerns about the veracity of their child's history should contact the USE in Addis Ababa at: ConsAdoptionAddis@state.gov


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

UPDATE: Hague Accredited Agencies

The following agencies received Hague accreditation between October 1, 2009 and March 1, 2010:


Adoption Alliance
2121 S. Oneida Street #420
Denver, CO 80224
Accredited 02/04/2010 to 02/04/2014

Adoption Hope International
284 Shoreward Drive
Myrtle Beach, SC 29579
Accredited 10/20/2009 to 10/29/2013

Catholic Charities North Dakota
5201 Bishops Boulevard, Suite B
Fargo, ND 58104-7605
Accredited 1/15/2010 to 1/15/2014

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago
721 N. LaSalle
Chicago, IL 6061
Accredited 1/15/2010to 1/15/2014

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge
1900 S. Acadian Thruway
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Accredited 1/15/2010 to 1/15/2014

Catholic Social Services of Fall River
1600 Bay Street
Fall River, MA 02724
Accredited 1/7/2010 to 1/7/2014

Child Adoption Associates, Inc.
200 Swanton Street, #635
Winchester, MA 01890
Accredited 2/24/2010 to 2/4/2014

Children's House International
P.O. Box 1829
Ferndale, WA 98248
Accredited 11/24/2009 to 11/24/2013

Chrysalis House
7395 N. Palm Bluffs, Suite 106
Fresno, CA 93711
Accredited 12/1/2009 to 2/1/2013

Euroasian Adoption Consultants of Illinois
949D Plum Grove
Schaumburg, IL 60173
Accredited 10/7/2009 to 10/7/2013

HOPE Adoption & Family Services International, Inc.
5850 Omaha Avenue North
Oak Park Heights, MN 55082
Accredited 10/20/2009 to 10/20/2013

International Families, Inc.
5 Thomas Circle, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Accredited 1/15/2010 to 1/15/2014

Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri
8631 Delmar Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63124
Accredited 11/24/2009 to 11/24/2013

Lutheran Social Services of New York
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1244
New York, NY 10115
Accredited 2/16/2010 to 2/16/2014

Resources for Life
59 349 Olomana Road
Kameula, HI 96743
Accredited 2/9/2010 to 2/9/2014

The Farm, Inc. / TF1 Family Services, Inc.
217 Southeast 4th Street
Topeka, KS 66603
Accredited 1/14/2010 to 1/14/2014

The Lutheran Service Society of New York
6680 Main Street
Williamsville, NY 14221
Accredited 11/17/2009 to 11/17/2013

Tree of Life Adoption Center
5816 SE Powell Boulevard, Ste. A
Portland, OR 97206
Accredited 1/15/2010 to 1/15/2014

The following provider received Hague approval:

MLJ Adoptions, Inc.
5650 W. 86th Street 134-310
Indianapolis, IN 46278
Approved 11/24/2009 to 11/24/2013


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