MEDIA: Russia, US Reach Accord on Adoption Deal

Russia, US reach accord on adoption deal

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW – Russia and the United States have reached a new bilateral accord on adoptions and expect to sign it within two months, a senior Russian official said Wednesday.

Russia had demanded such an accord after a 7-year-old Russian boy was sent back to Moscow last month — alone on a one-way flight — by his adoptive American mother in Tennessee, creating an uproar in Russia. American adoption officials also were horrified at the drastic action taken by the mother and angry about its possible repercussions.

Russian officials say they want more control over U.S. adoptions of Russian children and the living conditions those children face in the United States.

"We have reached agreement on all principal issues and have seen willingness to sign such an agreement," children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov told reporters after U.S. and Russian officials met to discuss the pact.

The draft agreement is expected to be approved on Friday, and the deal should be signed within the next two months, he said.

The return to Russia of Artyom Savelyev, who is now 8, caused some officials to demand a freeze on foreign adoptions. Russia's parliament, however, defeated a motion Friday to suspend adoptions to the United States.

Astakhov confirmed on Wednesday that adoptions to the U.S. have not been "legally suspended" but said they are "effectively suspended" as Russian courts will not rule on adoption cases as long as there is uncertainly about the children's safety in that country.

Under Russian law, only a presidential act or legislation passed by the parliament can freeze foreign adoptions.

The new deal will make it obligatory for adoption agencies as well as adoptive parents to report on their child's health and living conditions, and to "open the door" for social workers to check the facts reported, Astakhov said.

Savelyev's adoptive mother refused to allow a social worker into the house less than a month before the boy was dispatched back to Russia — a visit that could have prevented the boy's misfortunes.

Russia also has accepted a U.S. proposal to allow adoptions only through U.S.-accredited agencies, the ombudsman said. These agencies work in compliance with the Hague Adoption Convention, to which Russia, however, is not a signatory yet.

"This will be an extra guarantee that random people and random organizations will not be involved in such an important and delicate matter as adoption of Russian children in the United States," Astakhov said.

Some 1,800 Russian children were adopted in the United States last year, according to Russian officials. Some 3,000 U.S. families are estimated to be in various stages of adopting children now from Russia.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100512/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_us_adoptions

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MEDIA: Guatemala - Foreign Adoptions are Back

GUATEMALA
Foreign Adoptions Are Back – Along with the Doubts
By Danilo Valladares

GUATEMALA CITY, May 10, 2010 (IPS) - The reopening of international adoptions in Guatemala in June might not only mean the chance of a better life for many children, but may also spell a return to corruption, fraud and the theft of babies, human rights groups warn.

A number of organisations expressed concern after the National Adoption Council, the central adoption authority established in 2008, announced in March that a pilot programme for the resumption of adoptions abroad would go into effect in June, under stricter oversight.

According to the Council, the situation was studied by experts from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which approved the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption in 1993.

Nevertheless, human rights groups are worried.

"We are against the reopening of international adoptions now because the same structure of organised crime that generated a major international market to which the country exported between 5,000 and 6,000 children a year is still in place," the head of the Survivors Foundation, Norma Cruz, told IPS.

In 2008, the National Adoption Council suspended foreign adoptions, which were mainly to couples in the United States, to shut down a thriving business that profited lawyers, judges and doctors.

Until the suspension of foreign adoptions, Guatemala was the fourth country in the world in terms of the number of children placed in adoption, after Russia, China and South Korea, according to UNICEF. But in proportion to the population, it was the global leader.

Adoptions were suspended in compliance with the new adoption law in effect since 2007, which created the National Adoption Council and banned "undue benefits, material or otherwise, to accrue to the persons, institutions and authorities involved in the adoption process."

It also put a priority on placing children with Guatemalan families and established that "the poverty or extreme poverty of parents is not sufficient reason to put a child up for adoption."

According to United Nations figures, half of the population of this Central American country of 13 million people is living in poverty, and 17 percent in extreme poverty.

Activists say that behind the booming adoption market in Guatemala was a "mafia" of lawyers, notaries public, "jaladoras" or baby brokers who entice poor young women into placing their children in adoption, so-called "casas de engorde" or "fattening houses" where the expectant mothers’ pregnancy and birth-related expenses were covered, officials in civil registers, pediatricians, adoption homes and foster families.

In order to generate confidence in the new adoption process, "the state should give signs that it is prepared to dismantle the child trafficking networks…which remain intact," Cruz said.

The activist cited the case of Alma Valle, a lawyer who was released on bail on Apr. 23, after she was deported from the United States and arrested in Guatemala for her alleged participation in arranging illegal adoptions.

Valle "was released after paying 150,000 quetzals (18,000 dollars) in bail. In just one quarter of 2008 she negotiated the adoption of 150 children. But since she is the wife of an army colonel and has links to the governing party, she was set free," Cruz complained.

The National Adoption Council reports that 214 children, including disabled children and youngsters over the age of seven, are currently available for adoption.

Since November, couples from Austria, Denmark, France, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States have expressed an interest in adopting Guatemalan children.

The executive director of the Social Movement for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, Felipe García, told IPS the country should not "race" to reopen foreign adoptions, but should first offer a decent life to the children here in Guatemala.

He said a priority has not yet been put on domestic adoptions. Nor have the cases of more than 27,000 children removed from the country under "irregular" circumstances before 2008 been resolved.

The numerous mothers who are demanding the return of children who were stolen from them should be given compensation, García added.

"The Guatemalan state should show a willingness to come up with the necessary mechanisms for children to stay in Guatemala and not have to be adopted by foreigners," he said.

García also said the state was still "under the thumb" of organised crime groups dedicated to illegal adoptions.

Before the new law went into effect, the illegal foreign adoptions of 4,000 to 5,000 Guatemalan children a year generated some 200 million dollars in annual earnings.

Adoptions, which generally took only a year, cost the prospective families between 25,000 and 50,000 dollars, according to human rights groups.

Byron Alvarado, executive secretary of the National Commission on Children and Adolescents, which includes representatives of both the government and civil society, said the National Adoption Council should be better established before adoptions are reopened, because "it has only been functioning for two years."

"Guatemalans don't even know yet what the role of the Adoption Council is," he told IPS.

In his view, international adoption should be a last resort.

But Nidia Aguilar, director of Defence of the Rights of the Child in the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, told IPS that foreign adoptions should be reopened because there are hundreds of youngsters in children's homes who are waiting for a family of their own.

She said there are much bigger hurdles now to prevent illegal adoptions, and that if any do happen, the cases should be reported to the authorities

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51378

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MEDIA: Russia declines to stop American adoptions

Associated Press
Friday, MAy 7, 2010

MOSCOW – Russia's parliament on Friday defeated a motion that would have prevented Americans from adopting Russian children.

The motion was put forward in reaction to the case of Artyom Savelyev, an 8-year-old Russian boy sent back to Moscow alone last month by his adoptive mother in Tennessee. The mother claimed the boy was violent and that the orphanage had lied about his condition. Russian physicians said they found no mental issues with the boy.

Savelyev' return led to calls for more control over foreign adoptions and a freeze on all adoptions to Americans until the United States signed a bilateral agreement allowing Russia to better monitor and control adoptions.

A motion to freeze all adoptions to the U.S. pending the signing of such an agreement fell 98 votes short Friday in the State Duma, the lower house.

After a month of conflicting signals, Education Minister Andrei Fursenko confirmed earlier this week that Russia had not suspended U.S. adoptions, which he said required legislation to be passed by parliament or a presidential act.

The dominant Kremlin-friendly party, United Russia, voted against Friday's motion, saying it did not make sense given Americans' willingness to discuss an agreement.

"If an agreement is not signed, we will be the first to submit a freeze bill to parliament," deputy Natalya Karpova said.

Some 1,800 Russian children were adopted in the United States last year, according to the Russian Education and Science Ministry.

U.S. citizens have adopted nearly 50,000 Russian children since the early 1990s, the ministry's Alina Levitskaya told the State Duma on Friday.

Published:
Boston Herald: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/europe/view.bg?articleid=1253145&srvc=rss
Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100507/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_us_adoptions_2

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DOS Adoption Alert Russia Update

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

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May 5, 2010

There has been no official suspension in adoptions of Russian orphans by American parents. However, in some parts of Russia, we are aware that adoptions are being slowed down or delayed. The United States and Russia held their first round of talks on adoption issues in Moscow on April 29. The discussions focused on the U.S. and Russian concerns regarding protecting the welfare and rights of children being adopted internationally. The talks were productive and an expert-level working group will travel to Moscow for further discussions on an adoption agreement on May 12, 2010. Russia provided us with a draft agreement on May 1. We are studying this draft in preparation for the upcoming meetings.

If you have completed an adoption in Russia and have an immigrant visa appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow:
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is continuing to schedule and issue immigrant visas for adopted children using normal processing procedures. Contact the Embassy at MoscowConsularR@state.gov to schedule an appointment. Please also stay in close touch with your adoption service provider.

If you have a court appointment to finalize your child’s adoption in Russia:
Many adoption cases are continuing to move forward in the courts. We have heard of cases in which a court appointment has been postponed. If your court appointment is postponed by the court, please provide this information to us by email at RussiaAdoption@state.gov and MoscowConsularR@state.gov. Neither the Department of State nor the U.S. Embassy have the authority to intervene with the Russian courts on any individual case and cannot provide a letter for use in the courts. Adoption service providers and/or legal representatives in Russia may be able to make inquiries about your case on your behalf with Russian courts.

If you do not yet have a court date to finalize an adoption in Russia, but are in the process of adopting from Russia:
Please stay in close contact with your adoption service provider, and check the adoption.state.gov website regularly for current information about intercountry adoption from Russia.

The Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues has established a special e-mail box for inquiries or comments about adoptions from Russia. Prospective adoptive parents and others with concerns about adoptions from Russia may send their questions to RussiaAdoption@state.gov. Prospective adoptive parents may also provide complete contact information for themselves, including full address, phone number, and e-mail information, the name of their adoption service provider (if available) and details about the child they are planning to adopt.

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UPDATE: DOS Adoption Alert Nepal

Adoption Alert

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

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Caution About Pursuing Adoption in Nepal

May 4, 2010

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu was closed on May 3 and will be closed on May 4 and 5 due to a nationwide strike. The closure may continue thereafter, depending on whether the strike continues and what the situation warrants. The Consular Section has scheduled back-up appointment dates as follows: If you are scheduled for an immigrant visa interview on Tuesday, May 4^th, please come for your immigrant visa interview on Friday, May 14 at 13:00. If you are scheduled to pick up your immigrant visa and travel packet on Thursday, May 6^th, and the Embassy is closed, please come to pick up your immigrant visa on Thursday, May 13^th at 14:00. For additional information regarding consular services, please carefully read the full announcement that is posted on the Embassy’s website at: http://nepal.usembassy.gov/pr-04-30-2010.html.

Please continue to monitor the Embassy website for updated information.

The U.S. Department of State strongly discourages prospective adoptive parents from choosing adoption in Nepal because of grave concerns about the reliability of Nepal’s adoption system and the accuracy of the information in children’s official files. The Department also strongly discourages adoption service providers from accepting new applications for adoption from Nepal until reforms are made, and asks them to be vigilant about possible unethical or illegal activities under the current adoption system.

The Hague Conference on Private International Law recently released a report on its Intercountry Adoption Technical Assistance Program, based on a visit by a delegate from the Hague Conference’s Permanent Bureau to Nepal in November 2009, available at (http://www.hcch.net/upload/wop/nepal_rpt09.pdf). This report is the result of an independent analysis of Nepal’s intercountry adoption system under the new Terms and Conditions put in place in 2008. The report details a number of weaknesses in Nepal’s adoption system, including ongoing concern about the falsification of documents, improper financial gain, and lack of a child protection system.

Although the U.S. Embassy in Nepal has only seen a handful of adoption cases since the new Terms and Conditions went into effect, we share many of the concerns outlined in the Hague report. As a case in point, in one of the first cases processed by the Government of Nepal after the revision of the Terms and Conditions, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu found that the adopted child was not a true orphan and that the birth parents were actively searching for the child.

We encourage parents who have filed an application with the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) in Nepal, but have not yet been matched with a child or received an Adoption Decree issued by the Government of Nepal, to consider a change of countries. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) allow one change of country to be made in connection with one’s I-600A application without fee. A request to change countries should be made in writing to the USCIS Field Office where the I-600A was originally filed. More information about how to request a change of country can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov (Any subsequent request for a change of country would require a fee.).

Hague-accredited U.S. adoption services providers, and adoption service providers that may apply for Hague accreditation in the future are reminded that their actions in facilitating and/or processing adoptions in any country (whether Hague or non-Hague) will be evaluated during the Hague accreditation or accreditation renewal processes in accordance with the accreditation regulations (22 CFR Part 96), including whether, among other things, the provider has established and rigorously followed ethical adoption practices and operates in the best interest of prospective adoptive children.

Prospective adoptive parents who currently have active files at the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and who may already have an approved I-600 (Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative) from a USCIS Domestic Field Office may experience significant difficulties and delays. When an I-600 is adjudicated by USCIS in the United States , consular officers must then conduct an I-604 investigation once the approved petition reaches the Embassy in Nepal to verify the child’s orphan status prior to immigrant visa processing. Depending upon the circumstances of a case, this investigation may take up to several months to complete, even if the I-600 petition is already approved. We generally rely upon the host government’s diligence to protect the safety and interests of their own children through careful administration of their national adoption process and use the I-604 investigation to confirm that this process has been followed. Because the Nepali adoption process is questionable, it can be very difficult to satisfy the requirements of the I-604 investigation. When we cannot do so, we must return the case to USCIS with a recommendation that the I-600 approval be revoked.

Both DOS and USCIS recognize that it would be preferable for the I-604 investigations to be completed earlier in the process. However, under current procedures, the U.S. Embassy cannot begin the I-604 investigation until the prospective adoptive parents have a signed Adoption Decree issued by the Government of Nepal, and the Government of Nepal will not issue an Adoption Decree until the prospective adoptive parents are in Nepal. Thus, prospective adoptive parents are currently faced with the need to either make two trips to Nepal or to spend an extended period in-country while awaiting the results of the I-604 investigation. DOS and USCIS are currently in discussion about possible ways to revise the procedures under U.S. Government control to mitigate this problem.

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu continues to meet with officials within the Government of Nepal and with other foreign missions concerning the current status of adoptions in Nepal. The February 25, 2010 joint statement issued by the International Adoption Working Group (an ad hoc group of Embassies in Nepal who have an interest in intercountry adoption issues) http://nepal.usembassy.gov/pr-2-24-2010.html.

Adoptive parents may contact the Embassy at adoptionsnepal@state.gov if they have questions about the status of their case.

Please continue to monitor http://adoption.state.gov for updated information as it becomes available.

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