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May 8, 2008. The View from the United Nations. When asked about intercountry adoption to France from Africa, Annette Rehrl, a spokeswoman from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said, "Children are not abandoned in Africa. They may lose a father or mother or both, but they are never left on their own. They stay with the extended family. Who can say that they'd have a better life in France? That idea comes from European arrogance. We should stop thinking we can tell Africans what's best for them." As happens so often, this U.N. official is fighting a straw foe. We do not advocate taking children away from relatives (or other people) in their birth country who can assume the legal, moral and emotional role of parent. But we do believe that many children have neither birth parents nor relatives who can parent them. In such cases children should be given the opportunity to have permanent, loving parents, wherever they may be found. The real arrogance lies in thinking that children born in Africa are entitled to less than children born in Europe or the United States. More Information.
May 7, 2008. Delay in Processing of Guatemala Transition Cases. The newly appointed Solicitor General of Guatemala (the "Procuradoría General de la Nación" or "PGN") informed the U.S. embassy on April 29 that its office intends to review all adoption cases that have been filed with the PGN, whether or not they were previously approved by the PGN under the prior leadership. According to U.S. sources, the PGN further stated that some cases will also require birth mother interviews. According to Prensa Libre, a Guatemalan newspaper, all intercountry adoptions from Guatemala to the U.S. will be suspended for a month. Whatever the extent of this review, we hope that these grandfathered transition cases will be processed as quickly as possible, for the good of the children involved. More Information.
May 6, 2008. China Referrals for May. The China Center for Adoption Affairs has sent out referrals to potential adoptive parents whose dossiers were logged in with the CCAA between January 10 and January 12, 2006. As these numbers demonstrate, the wait for PAPs continues to grow with each passing month. The ages in this referral batch were mixed, with some children being in the six to seven month range, quite a number between nine and twelve months and others in the two to three year age range. This group of PAPs should be able to travel to adopt their children before the Olympics. We still do not have any definite information on whether there will be adoption travel during the Olympics which begin on August 8.
May 5, 2008. What is Happening to Unparented Children in Guatemala? New Intercountry Adoption from Guatemala to the United States ended at the end of the last year (other than for grandfathered cases). At the present time Guatemalan authorities have the responsibility of creating a new regime for Intercountry Adoption which will meet the requirements of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption generally and as interpreted by the United States State Department. In the meantime we wonder how the unparented children of Guatemala are faring. Much child care was provided in independently funded "hogars" that drew significant financial support from the private adoption world which is now largely defunct. We also do not know what happens to babies whose birth parents are unable to take care of them. The key question is: are the children of Guatemala better off today than they were one year ago? We want to know.
May 1, 2008. Adoption from Foster Care. One very worthwhile alternative for potential adoptive parents hoping to form their family through adoption is adoption from foster care. Many cities have user friendly parent recruitment hotlines which guide PAPs through the requirements and steps in order to adopt children from foster care. One excellent program is created by New York City's Administration for Children's Servcies (ACS). You do not have to live in New York City to work with this program. More Information.
Center for Adoption Policy (CAP)
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