CA Department of Justice announced that FBI will not be processing non-criminal justice purpose fingerprints submissions received from states from April 28 through May 3, 2010. During this time frame the FBI will only process fingerprint submissions from the Census Bureau. The FBI expects to be returning responses, within routine time frame, after approximately two weeks.

The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act 2009, is now in House Committee. This bill’s purpose is to make permanent the extension of the 1997 Adoption Credit originally introduced by Bill Clinton. For the tax year 2009, adoptive parents may claim up to $12,150 in tax credits to offset qualifying adoption expenses. The current Adoption Credit expansion will expire in December 2010. We encourage you to contact your representative and your senators and ask them to support and vote in favor of bill H.R. 213 in the House and bill S.2816 in the Senate.

Adoption Alert from the Department of State:  Nepal

March 05, 2010

Caution About Pursuing an Adoption in Nepal

The U.S. Department of State strongly discourages prospective adoptive parents from choosing Nepal as a country from which to adopt due to grave concerns about the reliability of Nepal’s adoption system and the accuracy of the information in children’s official files.  The Department also strongly discourages adoption service providers from accepting new applications for adoption from Nepal until reforms are made, and to be vigilant about operating in an ethical manner under the current adoption system.

The Hague Conference on Private International Law recently released a report on its Intercountry Adoption Technical Assistance Program, based on a visit by a delegate from the Hague Conference’s Permanent Bureau to Nepal in November 2009 (http://www.hcch.net/upload/wop/nepal_rpt09.pdf). This report is the result of an independent analysis of Nepal’s intercountry adoption system under the new Terms and Conditions put in place in 2008. The report details a number of weaknesses in Nepal’s current adoption system, including the falsification of documents, improper financial gain, and lack of a child protection system.

Based on our own observations and experience with adoption cases in Nepal, the U.S. Department of State shares many of the concerns outlined in the Hague report. In one of the first cases processed by the Government of Nepal after the revision of the Terms and Conditions, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu found that the adopted child was not a true orphan and that her birth parents were actively searching for her.

We encourage parents who have filed an application with the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) in Nepal, but have not yet been matched with a child or received an Adoption Decree issued by the Government of Nepal, to consider a change of countries. The Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), allow one change of country to be made in connection with one’s I-600A application without fee.  A request to change countries should be made in writing to the USCIS Field Office where the I-600A was originally filed.  (Any subsequent request for a change of country would require a fee.)

Hague-accredited U.S. adoption services providers, and adoption service providers that may apply for Hague accreditation in the future, are reminded that their actions in facilitating and/or processing adoptions in any country (whether Hague or non-Hague) will be evaluated during the Hague accreditation or accreditation renewal processes, in accordance with the accreditation regulations (22 CFR Part 96), including whether, among other things, the provider has established and rigorously followed ethical adoption practices and operates in the best interest of prospective adoptive children.

Prospective adoptive parents who currently have active files at the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and who may already have an approved I-600 Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative from a USCIS domestic Field Office are reminded that consular officers are required by law to conduct an I-604 orphan investigation to verify the child’s orphan status in order to the issuance of an IR-3 or IR-4 immigrant visa.  Depending on the circumstances of a case, this investigation may take up to several months to complete, even if the I-600 Petition is already approved.  In every country, we rely on the host government’s diligence to protect the safety and interests of their own children through careful administration of their national adoption process.  In the absence of a reliably diligent partner, it can be very difficult to confirm that a child is truly an orphan.  Cases in which a child’s orphan status cannot be confirmed will be forwarded to USCIS for review and final determination. We strongly recommend that adoptive parents not travel to Nepal until the Embassy has confirmed that the I-604 has been completed.  Under current procedures, prospective adoptive parents may file their I-600 petition with USCIS in the United States, which then triggers the I-604 investigation in Nepal. Adoptive parents may contact the Embassy at adoptionsnepal@state.gov  should they have questions about the status of their case.

The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu continues to meet with officials within the Government of Nepal and with other foreign missions concerning the current status of adoptions in Nepal.  The joint statement issued by the International Adoption Working Group on February 25, 2010 may be found at http://nepal.usembassy.gov/pr-2-24-2010.html. Please continue to monitor adoption.state.gov for updated information as it becomes available.

Adoption Notice from the Department of State:  Ethiopia

March 5, 2010

Change in Processing Timeline for Adoption Cases

The Department of State shares families’ concerns about recent media reports alleging direct recruitment of children from birth parents by adoption service providers or their employees.  In response to these reports, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa has implemented some changes to adoption visa processing.  Adoptive parents should be aware that an I-604 (Determination on Child for Adoption, sometimes referred to as “orphan investigation”) must be completed in connection with every I-600 application.  Depending on the circumstances of the case, this investigation may take up to several weeks or even months to complete.  Therefore, adoptive parents should not plan to travel to Ethiopia until they have confirmed with their adoption agency that their visa interview appointment has been confirmed.

Adoption agencies submit case paperwork to the U.S. Embassy for review  before the Embassy schedules the immigrant visa appointment.  In some cases the I-604 determination could take several weeks or more from the time a case is submitted to the U.S. Embassy to the scheduling of a visa interview appointment.  We understand that in such cases this will result in a longer period before parents are able to bring their adopted children to the U.S.  However, this additional scrutiny is required to ensure that the adoption is legal under both U.S. and Ethiopian law.  The U.S. Embassy will work with adoptive parents and their adoption agency to ensure that each case is processed in the most expeditious manner possible in accordance laws and regulations.  Families should continue to work through their agency to schedule immigrant visa appointments and answer questions regarding pending cases.

If families have concerns about their adoption, we ask that they share this information with the Embassy, particularly if it involves possible fraud or misconduct specific to your child’s case.  The Embassy takes all allegations of fraud or misconduct seriously.

The best way to contact the Embassy is by email at ConsAdoptionAddis@state.gov.  Please include your name, your child’s name, your adoption agency, the date of the adoption (month and year), and, if possible, the immigrant visa case number for your child’s case (this number begins with the letters ADD followed several numbers and can be found on any document sent to you by the National Visa Center).  Please let us know if we have your permission to share concerns about your specific case with Ethiopian government officials.

We strongly encourage you to register any complaint that you may have about an adoption agency in the following ways:

• You may file a complaint with the state licensing authority where your adoption agency is licensed and conducts business.  The Child Welfare Information Gateway, which is maintained by the
  Department of Health and Human Services, provides such a list at the link below:  http:// www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/reslist/rl_dsp.cfm?rs_id=15&rate_chno=AZ-0008E
• You may also file a report with the state’s Better Business Bureau. Following is the link to the
  Better Business Bureau’s website where you may file a complaint on-line:  https://odr.bbb.org/ odrweb/public/getstarted.aspx
• If your agency is a Hague-accredited adoption service provider, you are encouraged to file a
  complaint on the Hague Complaint Registry located at the link below.  This information will be used by the accrediting entities to evaluate the agency in connection with the renewal of its
  accreditation status.  http://adoption.state.gov/hague/overview/complaints.html
• The U.S. Embassy continues to work with the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that appropriate safeguards exist to protect prospective adoptive children, their birth parents, and prospective adoptive parents.  Please continue to monitor adoption.state.gov