John Kerry and the fight for less broken hearts in Adoption

Some of you may have heard about HAGUE accredited agencies and countries vs. non-HAGUE. The difference is ethics, corruption and transparency. Adoption sometimes can be a difficult journey with the amount of money one invests in the process, there are governments that take advantage of the emotional highs and lows one faces and the money one sacrifices to create their family. Laws like HAGUE and the one that John Kerry and some other Senators are working with help families to get the child they are promised instead of traveling to country and finding the same child was taken by another family or said child never existed. In these countries there is no one to contact to let them know the lies this experience was based on as the government is the obstacle. These families then return home childless and having spent all the money associated with the adoption process. Hopefully with these types of laws in place, it will reduce the wait time one has to wait to get their referall and eliminate the length of time children are without these families. Legislative Update: Universal Accreditation Introduced Two identical bills were recently introduced, one in the House, one in the Senate, to amend the Intercountry Adoption Act, expanding the requirement for accreditation for all US adoption agencies offering intercountry adoption services. Both versions have been introduced and are now in Committee. The full text of the amendments can be found here (they are identical): House version: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr6027/text Senate version: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s3331/text The following is the press release from the Senate: June 22, 1012 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN) along with Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced legislation to elevate and standardize adoption services across the globe to safeguard against corruption and fraudulent adoptions. After years of conflicting, country-by-country standards for Adoption Service Providers (ASPs), the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012 will for the first time universalize the accreditation process for all ASPs. The legislation would elevate standards, requiring all ASPs to comply with current, stronger requirements upheld for ASPs working with Hague countries. The new accreditation standard would help safeguard against corruption and fraud in the adoption process. “The safety of children across the globe should be our number one concern in the adoption process and this commonsense reform will help us get them placed into safe and loving homes. Piecemeal, conflicting adoption standards have made far too many cracks and chasms in the system that left room for corruption, deception, and often outright fraudulent adoptions. I’m grateful to our Ranking Member Dick Lugar and Senators Landrieu and Inhofe for partnering with me in this effort to elevate and put in place universal adoption standards that make kids the priority,” said U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. “The United States adopts more children from overseas than any other nation. Many of these children have serious medical conditions, often requiring significant and costly medical attention, yet, regardless, Americans open their hearts and homes to them. This legislation establishes uniform standards that would provide American families with certainty that they are working with an accredited American adoption service provider, regardless of the country they are adopting from. I am pleased to be joined by Senators Mary Landrieu and Jim Inhofe, two of the Senate’s leaders in this field, as well the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry,” said U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee. “Mandatory accreditation will ensure that the adoption process between the U.S. and other countries is lawful and safe for an adopted child and respectful of the families involved. Additionally, I hope that this bill will prompt the U.S. Department of State to consider financially supporting the accrediting entities to relieve part of the financial burden on smaller agencies and to ensure a robust accreditation process,” said U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA). “Standardizing the accreditation process for international adoptions will provide additional protections for both the child and the adopting family. The patchwork of adoption standards that currently exist have resulted in a situation that is not optimal for protecting the international children being offered for adoption. It has also resulted in fraud and corruption that has devastated loving American families who are willing to make many sacrifices to adopt internationally. This legislation is the right approach to fix the problems that currently exist,” said U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption. The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (IAA) specified that accreditation or approval is required in order to provide adoption services in cases subject to the Hague Convention with limited exceptions. The IAA defines the parameters of accreditation for the organizations providing services to prospective adoptive parents and charges the Department of State with responsibility of the accreditation process. The Kerry-Lugar bill would apply the accreditation requirement universally to all ASPs – those operating in both Hague and non-Hague countries. http://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/release/kerry-lugar-bill-would-help-prevent-corrupt-fraudulent-adoptions-abroad

Blogger Hiatus

My apologies for not having posted in some time...there is not much to report. As you remember, we submitted our dossier for translation and approval from the ICBF on 3/23/12 which should have arrived in country on 3/30/2012... In the mean time, a Colombian native wrote an article about the ICBF being a child trafficking ring and a big thanks to the lovely Secret Service agents who decided to enjoy themselves in some extracurricular activities... Needless to say no bueno for those trying to adopt from there... For those that do not know, the ICBF is similar to DCYF in that it is a government agency that determines if the parents are not suitable or if the children are legally abandoned. In response to this article the ICBF is reviewing all cases to ensure the children are definitely abandoned and that there is no next of kin who wants to parent them. We are not sure how long this is going to take... Our social worker informed us that our translation to approval should be 3-5 months, she was hoping for the sooner but with these challenges arising it seems that we may be waiting until the end of August. Once this happens then we go onto the wait list for a sibling pair newborn to 7. We are still hoping for our December wish but we will see what happens! Matthew and I are focusing on controlling what we can and leave the rest up to those we have trusted to bring these babies to us! On another note, through one of our adoption conferences we heard of a language book and CD created by an adoptive mom. Check it out, there are multiple languages and you can buy it on Amazon. "Simple Spanish for Adoptive Families" by Amy Kendall...we want our children to retain their native language and yes they will learn English as well but what a great way to relate to them and make them feel accepted then by learning some key phrases yourself. This might by part of the Yankee swap this year, of course with a bottle of wine! :) Cheers!