Announcing Ethica’s Ethiopia Transparency Survey

In the interest of advancing transparency in adoptions in Ethiopia, Ethica has invited all U.S. agencies with Ethiopia international adoption programs to provide information about their Ethiopia program by taking part in a brief survey. Agency responses will be posted and participating Adoption Service Providers will be acknowledged on Ethica’s website. All agencies known by Ethica to have licensed Ethiopia …

“Choose a different country” — Dawn Davenport

“Choose a different country” — Dawn Davenport I urge potential adoptive parents to be extremely cautious before choosing Nepal as a country from which to adopt. Adoptions from Nepal are highly unstable now. The Nepali government has said each agency may only process 10 adoptions per year. Children that have already been referred but not adopted are not grandfathered in …

Two articles in the Nepali Times

Two viewpoints on suspending adoptions from Nepal: Looking for a home A suspension on inter-country adoption will give the government time to work on strict adoption legislation MALLIKA ARYAL FROM ISSUE #490 (19 FEB 2010 – 25 FEB 2010) The Nepal Government suspended inter-country adoption in 2007 following evidence that Nepali ‘orphanages’ were selling children for thousands of dollars to …

UPDATE: Haiti Teleconference

Today PEAR took part in the first hour of a teleconference with USCIS International Operations Division, DHS, DOS and other government agencies to discuss the ongoing process of bringing children into the US on Humanitarian Parole visas. The primary discussion was effect that resumption of commercial flights will have on getting HP children to the US. Once commercial flights resume …

STUDY: Assessment of Child Protection Needs in Post-Earthquake Haiti

The New England Journal of Medicine published the following on February 17, 2010http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMp1001820 Protecting the Children of HaitiSatchit Balsari, M.D., M.P.H., Jay Lemery, M.D., Timothy P. Williams,M.S.W., M.Sc., and Brett D. Nelson, M.D., M.P.H., D.T.M.&H Haiti has long had difficulty in protecting its children from harm. The earthquake that struck the country on January 12 destroyed much of the capital, …

UPDATE: DOS Notice – Nepal

Nepal Adoption Notice U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATEBureau of Consular AffairsOffice of Children’s Issues February 17, 2010 The Hague Conference on Private International Law has recently released a report on its Intercountry Adoption Technical Assistance Program, based on a visit by the Hague delegate to Nepal in November 2010 (http://www.hcch.net/upload/wop/nepal_rpt09.pdf). This report is based on an independent analysis of Nepal’s inter-country …

UPDATE: DOS Notice – Uganda

Uganda Adoption Notice U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATEBureau of Consular AffairsOffice of Children’s Issues Status of Adoptions from Uganda February 17, 2010 Contrary to rumors that have been circulating, the U.S. Embassy in Kampala has NOT ceased processing adoption cases, but legal complications in Uganda have arisen that are likely to cause significant delays in the processing of most adoption cases. …

Nepal Adoption Notice — U.S. State Department

Nepal Adoption Notice — U.S. State Department http://adoption.state.gov/news/nepal.html U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATEBureau of Consular AffairsOffice of Children’s Issues ________________________________ February 17, 2010 The Hague Conference on Private International Law has recently released a report on its Intercountry Adoption Technical Assistance Program, based on a visit by the Hague delegate to Nepal in November 2010(http://www.hcch.net/upload/wop/nepal_rpt09.pdf). This report is based on an …

MEDIA: Ethiopia Adoption in Spotlight Again

Last night CBS ran a story on an adoption from Ethiopia through CWA entitled: Child: US Adoption Agency Bought Me – CBS News Investigates Serious Questions about the Legitimacy of Some Ethiopian AdoptionsThe video can be seen here:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/15/cbsnews_investigates/main6210911.shtml CWA’s statement concerning CBS February 15 broadcast can be read here:http://www.cwa.org/cbsnews-response.htm PEAR understands that CBS is formulating a rebuttal to the CWA …

Nepalese Child Trafficking Abuses Adoption Process (LexisNexis)

Rule of Law 2/9/2010 8:32:35 AM EST Nepalese Child Trafficking Abuses Adoption Process: http://law.lexisnexis.com/webcenters/RuleofLawResourceCenter/Issues-Spotlight/Rule-of-Law/Nepalese-Child-Trafficking-Abuses-Adoption-Process Posted by Rule of Law Resource Center Staff Three years ago, Nepal temporarily suspended international adoptions because children were fraudulently identified as orphans and placed for adoption abroad without parental consent. Although adoptions resumed under new rules, The Hague Conference on Private International Law has recommended …