Romanian Govt Does Not Support Memo On Reopening International Adoption

"The current Government has not held a debate on the Memorandum and has, therefore, taken no decision. Acting Prime Minister Emil Boc believes present laws on international adoptions are in accordance with international legislation and European standards," a Government statement said.

ORA state secretary Bogdan Panait offered no comment on the Government's decision, pointing out that the document had been submitted only to ask for a point of view.

MEDIAFAX announced on Thursday that the Romanian Adoption Office had sent the Government a memorandum asking for the reopening of international adoptions, only in the case of the repeated failure of national adoption attempts.

The document initiated by ORA and acquired by MEDIAFAX states that, over the four years since the implementation of Law 273/2004 on the legal status of adoption, it was found that there are still certain classes of "hard to adopt" children, for whom the current legal framework does not allow for the identification of adequate and permanent care solutions. These classes include children older than six, children belonging to ethnic minorities, children with serious medical problems or groups of more than two siblings who cannot be reintegrated into their family and for whom Romanian foster families cannot be found, leaving them in the special protection system until they are 18, according to the document.

The decision to reopen international adoptions comes after campaigns to promote national adoptions, county-centered strategies to recruit potential foster parents and specialized training programs have not achieved significant changes as regards Romanian families' inclination to adopt children in these categories.

Consequently, one solution to guarantee the right to a family for these children could be enlarging the pool of people who are able to adopt Romanian children. This would be done by "creating a rigorous international adoption process, which would provide serious guarantees," to be used "only when the child's interest is served and under the strict control of the state's specialized bodies."

The document acquired by MEDIAFAX also states that the foster parent or family would be selected giving priority to the child's relatives and taking into account the need for certain continuity in the child's education, as well as his/her ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background.

In case the adopting parent or family is not a relative, the adoption would only be carried out by people residing in states which have signed the Hague Adoption Convention.

Panait said in a Thursday interview with MEDIAFAX that reopening international adoption would only be done in cooperation with certified authorities from other states, so as to avoid corruption.

Former ORA state secretary Theodora Bertzi told MEDIAFAX on Thursday that this measure should not be taken during a period of crisis, when impoverished families are considering abandoning their children.

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