Vietnam deposited its instruments of ratification for the 1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention on November 1, 2011. The Convention will come into force for Vietnam on February 1, 2012. The announcement from the Hague Conference is here; a notice from the U.S.
Questions on Adoptions from China
The New York Times has reported on an emerging adoption scandal in China’s Hunan province. See Sharon LaFraniere ”Chinese Officials Seized and Sold Babies, Parents Say” (Aug. 4, 2011) and John Leland, “For Adoptive Parents, Questions Without Answers” (Sept. 16, 2011).
New Bilateral Adoption Agreement for Russia and the US
After more than a year of negotiations, the United States and Russia signed a bilateral agreement to strengthen procedural safeguards in adoptions on July 13, 2011. The new framework “will largely eliminate independent adoptions from Russia” and will improve post-adoption reporting and monitoring. There was this announcement from the State Department which links to a series of
Haiti signs the Adoption Convention
Haiti signed the 1993 Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention on March 2, 2011, signalling “its wish and intention to reform its child protection system, as well as its intercountry adoption system, which is an essential starting point for ratification of the Convention.” The announcement from the Hague Conference is here.
State Department Releases 2010 Adoption Report
The State Department has released its annual adoption report for Fiscal Year 2010. The report shows a total of 11,059 incoming intercountry adoptions, based on the number of visas issued in both Hague and non-Hague cases. This compares with a total of 12,753 in fiscal year 2009, and 22,990 at the high point in fiscal year 2004. There were 43 outgoing Hague adoption cases during the fiscal year, primarily from Florida (27).
More Developments in International Surrogacy
International recognition of the parent-child relationship established after a surrogate pregnancy remains a complex problem for a number of European countries. This post on conflictoflaws.net reports on a new Instruction regarding registration of foreign births by surrogacy in Spain. Another post reported on a
New International Adoption Legislation
On November 30, President Obama signed the International Adoption Simplification Act (S. 1376), which makes a number of amendments to federal immigration law to restore immunization and sibling age exemptions for children adopted under the Hague Adoption Convention.
Congress Watch: Pending Legislation
As the U.S.
U.S. Suspends Some Adoptions from Nepal
After issuing warnings earlier this year, the U.S.
Concerns with Post-Earthquake Adoptions
In an article following up the airlift of 1150 children to the United States after the earthquake in Haiti last winter, Ginger Thompson reports in the New York Times that their adoptions “were expedited regardless of whether children were in peril, and without the screening required to make sure they had not been improperly separated from their relatives or placed in homes that could not adequately care for them.” The story, After Haiti Quake, the Chaos of U.S.