September 2, 2010. Government Alerts and Updates on the Bulletin Page. We will be endeavoring to update the Government Bulletin page every Thursday and summarizing any new bulletins posted during the week, including links to the DOS posts. This week the Department of State has posted alerts (the more serious category) on Nepal and Rwanda. New updates were posted on Ethiopia and Liberia. The appropriate information and links can be found by clicking here.

September 1, 2010. Contemplating Adoption: Documentary Series and New Book. P.O.V., a documentary series on PBS is screening a series of films on adoption. Wo Ai Ni Mommy, which focuses on the adoption of an older child from China, is on public television stations this week (check local listings). Off and Running recounts the story of a girl adopted by a lesbian family in Brooklyn who searches for her birth parents. In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee, which ends the series, tells the story of an adoptee's investigation into her Korean life before her U.S. adoption. NPR host Scott Simon has written Baby We Were Meant for Each Other. This book is both an account of Simon and his wife's adoption of two daughters from China and a refreshing rejoinder to anti-adoption preachings.

August 31, 2010. Rwanda Closed to International Adoption. The government of Rwanda has announced that effective today, August 31, 2010, the Ministry of Gender and Family Protection is suspending all new applications for international adoption. MGFP states that it is taking this step as part of Rwanda's accession to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Any adoption application received by MGFP prior to today will be processed. More Information.

August 30, 2010. Webinar on Haitian Children with Humanitarian Parole. We are delighted to announce that the Center for Adoption Policy is working with The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, in collaboration with the ABA Family Law Section and Section of Litigation, and the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, on a free webinar entitled "HOW ATTORNEYS AND STATE COURT JUDGES CAN AID IN FINALIZING ADOPTIONS FOR HAITIAN CHILDREN NOW IN THE U.S." to be held on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 from 2:00 to 3:30 P.M. Eastern Time. Please RSVP at: http://www.abanet.org/child/webinarform.shtml to be provided with a Microsoft Live Meeting website link and other information. Teleconference Call in Number: 1-866-903-6197, Passcode: 1532057. Further information, including Webinar faculty, will be posted at: http://new.abanet.org/child/Pages/Haiti.aspx

August 18, 2010. China Announces New Adoption Program and Places New Responsibilities on Agencies. The China Center for Adoption Affairs has announced the creation of a "Special Focus" adoption category, to begin on September 1. In keeping with CCAA's emphasis on placing waiting children (children with identified special needs or older children), Special Focus children are waiting children who have been on the shared list for more than two months. To expedite the search for families: 1) Adoption service providers will be able have Special Focus children uniquely assigned to them; 2) prospective adoptive parents will have six months (rather than three) to complete their dossiers and 3) PAPs adopting a Special Focus child may adopt a second child at the same time or in the same year and the second child may be a non-special needs child, waiting child or another Special Focus child. CCAA has in the past heavily discouraged concurrent adoptions. CCAA has also charged ASPs to take the time to find the right family for these children and to make sure the families are prepared for their new child or children. More Information.

August 12, 2010. Russian boy Returned to Russia Sent Back to Orphanage. News reports state that Artyom Savelyev, the eight year old boy who was adopted by Tennessee woman Torry Hansen and then put on a plane to Russia, is back in a Russian orphanage awaiting another adoptive placement. The information on the new placement comes from Larry Crain, an attorney for WACAP (World Association for Children and Parents), the adoption agency which originally placed Artyom with his U.S. adoptive mother. Negotiations between the United States and Russia on an agreement relating to international adoption between the two countries remain on track. More Information.

August 12, 2010. Travel Warning to Russia. The Department of State issued a travel warning on August 10, 2010 to U.S. citizens planning to go to the Russian Federation. A state of emergency has been declared in Moscow, Vladimir, Ryazan, Voronezh, Novgorod, the Republic of Mordovia, and the Republic of Marii-El. Air travel has also been affected. The continuing wildfires has posed such a severe risk that DOS has authorized the departure of families of diplomats as well as non-critical employees from the U.S. embassy in Moscow. Any potential adoptive families planning travels to Russia at this time should consult the travel advisory by clicking here.

August 10, 2010. Who Will Be Hurt Most by State and Local Budget Cuts? Our newspapers are filled with reports of massive cuts by state and local governments. As the New York Times recently reported, a Georgia county shut down its entire bus system while street lights are being turned off in Colorado Springs. As usual, it will be the children who suffer the most. Some cuts are blatant, such as the fact that schools were closed 17 Fridays throughout Hawaii last year. Some are more subtle, for example, the garaging of a local bookmobile. But the public sector is permeated by children's losses: fewer day care centers, fewer teachers, fewer social workers and care workers, worse foster care and adoption services. It is the children in care who have the least and will pay the biggest price.

August 9, 2010. U.S. Government Suspends Adoptions of Abandoned Children in Nepal. The Department of State and U.S. CIS announced on Friday, August 6, 2010, that effective immediately the U.S. government would not process any new adoptions from Nepal which arose through abandonments. The approximately 80 in-process cases may continue but DOS/CIS warns that they are subject to heightened scruitiny. DOS' explanation for this decision is that: "a review of recently process cases established a disturbing pattern indicating that available documentation cannot be relied upon to make determinations that a child reported qualifies as an orphan under U.S. immigration law." Other countries which have previously closed adoptions from Nepal include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdon. More Information.

July 15, 2010. Adoption Disruption. Disruption and dissolution of adoptions is a traumatic topic in the adoption community. Nationally the estimates for domestic adoption disruption run from 15 percent to 25 percent. We believe, based on anecdotal evidence, that the disruption and dissolution rate for internationally adopted children is significantly lower. Still we hope that all adoptive parents who feel that they are in a situation which is beyond their control will remember that there are people who will help, resources that are available to them and that they can always contact us at adoptionpolicy.org.

July 14, 2010. The Taraz Ten. Taraz is a district of Kazakhstan where ten children are basically being held hostage by local judges who disapprove of international adoption. These children were in the process of being adopted by U.S., German and other families. The families have fulfilled all the Kazakh requirements as well as all the adoption requirements of their home countries. The families have bonded with their children - one particular U.S. family has been in Kazakhstan since December 14, in order not to leave the boy they consider their son. We recognize the right of an independent judiciary, here and in Kazakhstan. However, we urge the Department of State to continue to work toward a diplomatic solution which will allow these children to come home. More Information.

July 13, 2010. Documents for Haitian Children with Humanitarian Parole. USCIS and the Department of Health and Human Services have now sent out the letters they have drafted to each individual sponsor/family of a Haitian child with humanitarian parole. These letters are vital for families in their quest to adopt their child/ren and obtain their child/ren's citizenship. We first want to thank again the many U.S. government officials who have worked so hard to help get these documents completed and distributed. We also want to urge any sponsor family of a Haitian child/ren with humanitarian parole who has not received these letters to contact their adoption service provider. Such sponsor families should also be free to contact us at adoptionpolicy.org.

July 12, 2010. Six Months Later. Today marks the six month anniversary of the devastating Haitian earthquake. The ledger has some pluses: the unprecedented U.S. effort to aid earthquake victims in the initial period after the quake, the outpouring of financial support from American families and of course, the humanitarian parole program which brought over 1000 children who in the process of being adopted by U.S. parents to this country. But the situation, as Deborah Sontag's article in the New York Times makes clear, remains bleak: "Only 28,000 of the 1.5 million Haitians displaced by the earthquake have moved into new homes, and the Port-au-Prince area remains a tableau of life in the ruins." Yet Haiti has faded into the shadows as new crises take front-stage. The challenge will be for all of us to keep our focus on helping Haiti while dealing with newer challenges. More Information.

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