December 7, 2010

The Department of State continues to be concerned about reports highlighting adoption related fraud, malfeasance, and abuse in Ethiopia, and acknowledges the concerns expressed by families over the integrity of the adoption process.  The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa actively tracks all adoption visa cases, incorporating information provided by adoption agencies and the Government of Ethiopia, to ensure that the adoption process continues to operate transparently and ethically.

The Ethiopian government requires that adoptive parents must appear at the Ethiopian federal court hearing for their adoptive child in order for the adoption to be approved.  If there are two adoptive parents but only one parent can attend the hearing, special permission from the federal court must be obtained in advance,* and the attending parent must have a power of attorney from the other.  It generally takes three weeks or more after the court date for the adoption agency to obtain the documentation necessary for an immigrant visa application, including the adopted child’s birth certificate and Ethiopian passport.  Adoptive parents can expect to wait at least one month after the court hearing for a visa interview appointment.

Adoptive parents should be aware that in all adoption visa cases worldwide, an I-604 investigation must be completed in connection with every I-600 application.  Depending on the circumstances of the case, this investigation may take several weeks or even months to complete.  Additional information may be required to determine the facts surrounding a child’s relinquishment or abandonment and whether a child meets the definition of an orphan under U.S. immigration law.   The Embassy strongly recommends that adoptive parents who return to the U.S. after the court hearing not travel again to Ethiopia for the immigrant visa process until they have confirmed with their adoption agency that the Embassy has scheduled a visa interview.  Those who plan to stay in Ethiopia between the court hearing and interview should obtain Ethiopian visas in advance of travel, and ensure the validity of their visas to avoid immigration proceedings and/or significant fines.

* If only one parent meets the adoptive child before the court date, the child will qualify for an IR-4, not an IR-3 visa (which means that the child will not become a U.S. citizen upon entry to the United States and will have to be re-adopted in the United States).

The Embassy’s Adoptions Unit can be reached at consadoptionaddis@state.gov. Please continue to monitor http://adoption.state.gov/ for updated information.

On November 3, 2010, a proposed bill that would place a moratorium on intercountry adoptions from countries without bilateral agreements, including the United States passed a first reading in the Ukrainian parliament.  On December 7, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv learned the proposed moratorium bill has been scheduled for a second reading during the upcoming plenary session on December 16.  As the plenary session does have several important agenda items, this schedule may be subject to change depend­ing on the progress of each issue.

Additionally, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv was informed that a slight, but possibly important, change was made to the text for the second reading.  The bill originally stated, “intercountry adoptions will not be allowed for the citizens and permanent residents of the countries with which Ukraine does not have bilateral adoption agreements.” The change eliminates the word “bilateral,” which may allow the possibility of multilateral agreements, like the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, to take the place of bilateral agreements.

The Ukrainian State Department for Adoptions (SDA) has indicated that adoption processing will be conducted as usual until mandated by a change in legislation.

The Department of State cannot predict the outcome of the second reading. However, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv is active in encouraging its counterparts to consider the Hague Adoption Convention as the best means to address concerns in the adoption process and to safeguard cases in progress.  The Embassy is monitoring the situation closely.  Any prospective adoptive parents with cases currently open in Ukraine are encouraged to contact the U.S. Embassy Kyiv Adoption Unit.  The Embassy maintains a listserv to communicate with U.S. citizen prospective adoptive parents and will use this to send updates as information is available.

For all of our families that are currently with completed dossiers nothing will change.  For those preparing for their dossiers, there will be slightly different paperwork that will be completed. 

We will continue to work with the Frank Foundation CAI as we always have.  We share a common mission with Frank Foundation CAI that binds us closely together.  While receiving our accreditation will not directly impact you, it does strengthen our political position in Russia. I hope that you share our excitement with this achievement and know that this strengthens our ability to help you complete your goal of adopting a Russian child.

 Warm regards, 

Brent E. Yoder, LCSW

Executive Director

We have contacted the General Consul at the Kyrgyzstan embassy for an update on the adoption status in Kyrgyzstan.  She told us again that everything is prepared for adoptions to start again and that they do plan on continuing the program but that there was no date set for implimentation.  The 65 families that were suspended in the middle of their adoptions have not progressed regardless of political pressure applied by US authorities.  The Joint Council has initiated a new request for appeal to Kyrgyzstan authorities and for political pressure to finalize these 65 adoptions.

The bottom line is that we are still in a suspended state waiting for the Kyrgyzstan government to begin implimentation.  I am sorry that I do not have something more definitive to report.  We will keep monitoring the situation and let you know if there are any progress.  Again if anyone would like to switch to one of our other countries of Russia or Kazakhstan we will assist you without any additional agency fee.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Warm regards,

 Brent E. Yoder, LCSW

Executive Director

http://www.kusi.com/news/goodmorning/82394042.html

For more information, please contact Brent Yoder at (619) 294-7772.