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Email6/8/06, Testimony on Asian Adoptions As Delivered By Catherine Barry, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Overseas Citizens Services
Testimony on Asian Adoptions As Delivered By Catherine Barry, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Overseas Citizens Services, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Before the Subcommittee on East Asian And Pacific Affairs, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, June 8, 2006 (419 Dirksen Senate Office Building):
Chairman Murkowski, thank you very much for this opportunity to discuss the status of inter-country adoptions from Asia, as well as the Department of State efforts on behalf of American families who have decided to open their hearts and their homes to Asian children in need of permanent, loving families.
The Departments of State and Homeland Security are deeply committed to working with these families, as well as with the children's countries of origin, to ensure that inter-country adoptions occur under transparent conditions and with appropriate safeguards to protect the interests of birth parents, adoptive parents and, most importantly, the children themselves.
Last year alone, Americans adopted nearly 23,000 children from countries around the world. Over 10,000 of those children came from Asia. We encourage Asian nations to allow inter-country adoption as an option for children who otherwise would spend their childhood in orphanages and other non-permanent care.
Our work encouraging inter-country adoptions is inspired by the 1993 Convention on protection of children and cooperation and respect of inter-country adoption, which I will further refer to as the Hague Convention.
The Convention recognizes that the full and harmonious development of a child needs a family environment, quote, "an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding," end quote.
It also recognizes that inter-country adoption may offer the advantage of a permanent family to a child for whom a suitable family cannot be found in his or her state of origin.
As of today, 68 countries have ratified or acceded to the Hague Convention. Asia is well represented in this group. China, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand are all Hague countries.
Through discussions in cooperation with Asian governments, particularly those that have not ratified the Hague Convention, we seek to implement and enforce standards and protections to ensure that the children's best interests are always the primary consideration, and to combat baby-buying and selling.
Consular officers and other State Department officials abroad, as well as those of us here in Washington, meet regularly with country of origin officials to identify potential problems and coordinate solutions.
The past years have several milestones that I believe portend good things for the use of inter-country adoptions in Asia to help children in need.
On June 21, 2005, Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Maura Harty and Vietnamese justice minister, Uong Chu Luu, signed a bilateral adoption agreement that reaffirmed both countries' commitment to high standards and safeguards and allowed for the recommencement of adoptions from Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Department of International Adoptions has licensed nearly 20 U.S. adoption agencies to work in Vietnam. And, on January 25 of this year, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi issued the first orphan immigrant visa to a Vietnamese child since our embassy took over the responsibility for orphan visa cases from our consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City and the bilateral agreement entered into practical effect.
Over two dozen Vietnamese children have found permanent families with American citizen parents since January. And we believe that many more children will follow them in the coming months.
In another important and extremely positive development, the People's Republic of China, the largest country of origin of children adopted by Americans internationally, ratified the Hague Inter-Country Adoption Convention on September 16, 2005.
The Department of State and the American adoption community have long viewed China as a country of origin with clear uniform procedures that are transparent to adoptive parents and their representatives.
We also know that the Chinese government has strict measures to verify the identity and status of children available for adoption. China's Hague Convention ratification bolsters even further our level of confidence in China's commitment to equitable, legal and transparent adoption procedures that meet the best interests of children, nearly 8,000 of whom came to the United States last year.
At the other end of the confidence spectrum, unfortunately, is Cambodia, the only country for which the United States currently has an adoption suspension in effect.
The then-Immigration and Naturalization Service suspended adoptions from Cambodia in December 2001 due to very serious concerns about baby-selling and rampant document fraud, some of which led to criminal convictions in the United States.
Although a small number of so-called pipeline cases were allowed to continue to conclusion, the U.S. government suspension has, at present, essentially stopped adoptions from Cambodia to the United States.
The U.S. government remains engaged on this issue. U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli met in March with UNICEF officials to coordinate efforts to assist the Cambodian government in building its capacity to establish and/or regulate child welfare institutions.
A draft child welfare law, which UNICEF wrote and the United States supports, is under consideration. And we are hopeful that the critical legislation might be enacted by the end of the year.
The draft legislation would permit inter-country adoptions. The U.S. government, in partnership with UNICEF, stands ready to provide guidance to the Cambodian government in both establishing a child welfare system and enacting and implementing the pending legislation.
Let me briefly summarize our efforts to ratify the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption in 2007. We plan to complete our regulatory work this calendar year.
In February, we published the final rule regarding the standards of accreditation for adoption service providers and approved persons.
This summer, we will publish, for public comment, regulations modifying the consular role in immigrant visa processing in Hague cases, regulations governing the certification process for Hague adoptions to take place in the United States, and regulations establishing reporting duties for adoption service providers handling emigrating adoption cases.
In this matter, we are working closely with the Department of Homeland Security.
In the near-term, we hope to sign agreements with our potential accrediting entities. Once these agreements are ready, we can announce the application period for those interested in becoming accredited adoption service providers or approved persons.
Once we know the total number of applications, we will be able to provide a more accurate estimate of when we will be able to complete ratification of the treaty in 2007.
It is our goal, now and in the future, as the central authority for the operation of the Hague Convention, to support the generosity of American families to provide permanent homes to children in need throughout Asia and the rest of the world.
Thank you for your attention.
