Families Across Borders | law, policy, news and views
Intercountry Adoption Developments in the US
The US State Department has released its Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption for Fiscal Year 2012, showing that visas were issued for a total of 8668 children, down from a total of 9,319 for FY 2011. The most frequently represented countries of origin are China (2,967 children), Ethiopia (1,568), Russia (748), South Korea (627), Ukraine (395), [...]
Russia Bans US Adoptions
The unfolding drama surrounding intercountry adoption in Russia is the biggest international family law story of the year, with events now posing a crisis for many US families whose adoptions had already been approved. The State Department posts updates on their web page at www.adoption.state.gov, including an alert on December 28 announcing that President Vladimir Putin had signed [...]
New CIS Adoption Policy Guidance
A new Policy Memorandum from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) offers “Guidance for Determining if an Adoption is Valid for Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Purposes” (PM-602-0070.1) (Nov. 6, 2012).
Hague Developments
Among other news from the Hague Conference this month: An informal “expert group” met on October 8-9, 2012 in The Hague and adopted recommendations regarding the financial aspects of intercountry adoption. The group endorsed and recommended some revisions to a “Discussion Paper on the Financial Aspects of Intercountry Adoption” prepared by the Permanent Bureau and available [...]
Two more countries join the Child Protection Convention
Last week, Russia and Lesotho joined the Hague Child Protection Convention, bringing the total number of Contracting States to 38 once it enters into force in those countries in 2013. Lesotho also deposited its instruments of ratification for the Intercountry Adoption Convention (bringing the total number of Contracting States to 89) and the Abduction Convention [...]
Fiji Makes 88 for Adoption Convention
Fiji is now the 88th Contracting State for the Hague Adoption Convention, which will come into force there on August 1, 2012.
Infant Abductions Investigated in Spain
An inquiry has begun in Spain into allegations of infant snatching beginning during the Franco regime in the 1950s and continuing into the 1990s. Children were alleged to have been given or sold for adoption; at least 1500 claims have been made with some cases confirmed by DNA testing after children were grown. See Raphael Minder, “Spain [...]
Adoption Convention Updates
With the accessions in March of Montenegro and Rwanda, the number of Contracting States to the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention has reached a total of 87. For details, see the Hague Conference web site at www.hcch.net. Information from the U.S. State Department indicates that the governments in Laos, Bhutan, Cambodia and Senegal have recently announced suspension of intercountry [...]
Adoptions from Vietnam Still on Hold
Although the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention came into force in Vietnam on February 1, 2012, US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US State Department have announced that they will not resume processing of intercountry adoptions there until Vietnam has a fully Hague-compliant adoption system in place. See the Adoption Alert posted on the State [...]
Intercountry Adoption Numbers Drop Again
The U.S. State Department’s Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption (for Fiscal Year 2011) shows a total of 9,320 incoming intercountry adoptions and 73 outgoing intercountry adoptions. The countries of origin from which the largest numbers of children came to the United States were China (2589), Ethiopia (1727), Russia (970), South Korea (736) and Ukraine (632). These [...]
