August 2016

August 8, 2016. "Babies Without Borders" We are delighted to quote from this week's editorial in the Economist about International Adoption: "Babies Without Borders." We could not say it better ourselves: "Creating a fast, safe adoption system should not be costly. Indeed, it should be cheaper than keeping children in institutions. All it takes is political will, as can be seen from the success of schemes in Peru and Colombia. Public databases that match children with good, willing parents work well locally in some rich countries. (Pennsylvania's is praised, for example.) There is no reason why such systems should not be made international. Children need parents now, not next year." More Information

August 3, 2016. DOS Issues Alerts on Nicaragua, Haiti and Uganda. The Department of State has issued Adoption Alerts for three countries. On Nicaragua, DOS reports that the Nicaraguan authorities found no irregularities in their investigation into the country's international adoption process. Nicaraguan authorizes also announced changes in that country's IA procedures: from now on foreign prospective adoptive parents will not be able to foster their potential child until an abandonment decree has been issued.

Concerning Haiti, L'Institut du Bien-Etre Social et de Recherches (IBESR), the Haitian Central Authority, has furnished DOS with a list of cases which IBESR has or will provisionally match as transition cases. PAPs with Haitian cases should contact the DOS to see whether their cases qualify as transition cases under the pre-Hague I-600 orphan process.

Uganda PAPs should be aware that on July 27, the Ugandan High Court informed the U.S. Embassy in Kampala that it is planning to "recall" for reconsideration guardianship orders issued to non-Ugandans after June 2. DOS is seeking clarification as to the impace of this ruling on U.S. PAPs who are in the process of adopting from Uganda.