International Adoption Updates

( http://hopefororphans.com/Display.asp?Page=June2010#June10Article5 )


In light of the ever-changing world of international adoption, we want to highlight some of the recent changes and issues related to adoption in six countries in particular: Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Russia and Swaziland.

Ethiopia
The U.S. State Department issued a Notice on April 13, 2010, that The Federal First Instance Court of Ethiopia has issued an announcement that as of May 9, 2010, adoptive parents must now be present at the federal court hearing in order for the adoption to be approved. That means two trips must now be made instead of just one as before. This new ruling affects all pending and new adoption cases. For the complete statement, please click here.

Kazakhstan
The U.S. State Department issued an Alert on May 21, 2010 stating that on May 17th, the Kazakhstan Government has instructed its Embassy and Consulate General not to accept any new intercountry adoption dossiers until Kazakhstan becomes compliant with the Hague Adoption Convention, which it hopes to be by September 2010. For more information, please click here.

Kyrgyzstan
The U.S. State Department issued an Alert on April 28, 2010 discussing the ongoing investigations of corruption and fraud which caused the Kyrgyz government to stop processing all inter-country adoptions in October 2008, including at least 65 adoptions by American families that were already in process when the halt was announced. Recently, the Kyrgyz Parliament passed a bill that, if signed by the president, will affect international adoptions, though its actual impact is unclear. For more information, please click here.

Nepal
The U.S. State Department issued an Alert on May 26, 2010, strongly discouraging prospective adoptive parents from pursuing adoption of Nepalese children due to what it calls “grave concerns” about the adoption system in Nepal. It even goes so far as to encourage families that are already in the process (but who have not yet been matched with a child) to consider pursuing adoption from a different country instead. For more information, please click here.

Russia
The U.S. State Department issued a notice on June 18, 2010, announcing that an American interagency team had been involved in meetings in Washington, DC in mid-June for a third round of meetings an adoption agreement. The discussions were reported to be productive and positive, with the hopes that inter-country adoptions between Russia and the United States will continue in the future with proper safeguards in place. For more information, please click here.

Swaziland
The U.S. State Department issued an Alert on March 1, 2010 stating that the government of Swaziland had informed the U.S. embassy in February that it is reviewing its adoption procedures and will cease processing inter-country adoptions until the review is completed. Cases that were already with the High Court at that time will be allowed to continue. For more information, please click here.

Please check out the countries we currently have programs in (www.mljadoptions.com )
Bulgaria, Congo, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ukraine - all are currently open!