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President Basescu at the European Commission, 22 April 2010

Sunday 5 April 2009

Why Bulgaria should learn from Malawi when it gets to children's rights

I strongly recommend the following article to anyone interested in children's rights and intercountry adoption. It analyses in an excellent way why Bulgaria should learn from Malawi: that it is the State's obligation to look after children, and not to expatriate them.

Madonna’s failed adoption attempt shows Bulgaria has a lot to learn from Malawi about upholding children’s rights


In 2009 - two years after having become a member of the European Union and thus fullfilling the EU human rights criteria - Bulgaria has decided to go back to their old practice: intercountry adoption as child protection.

Here a quote from the article about an intercountry adoption conference recently held in Bulgaria:

Five years later things seem to be going back to where they were before the ratification of the Hague convention and before the European Commission’s criticisms. On 19 March an international conference on intercountry adoptions took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. The conference was co-organised by the Ministry of Justice and the Association of accredited intercountry adoption agencies. There was very little information about the event, but apparently, children’s rights organisations were not present (and I am not even sure if the State Agency for Child Protection had any representatives - there was nothing about this conference on its website, which definitely means that none of its senior representatives has taken part in it). This must have left the field clear for the right type of discussion - unburdened by paraphernalia like children’s rights, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, or Bulgaria’s own Child Protection Act.

‘Brilliant’ results were reported at the conference - the number of intercountry adoptions is going up again. The information about the conference published by the English language weekly Sofia Echo shows a steep upward trend: “Compared to 2007 when there were 81 approvals from the Justice Minister for children’s adoptions, in 2008 there were 169.”** (By the way, the author of the article explains the official legislative position in Bulgaria that intercountry adoption should be a measure of last resort as a ‘patriotic concept’! If he ever bothers to read a relevant document on the rights of the child, he will be surprised to find out that international law in this area is premised on the same ‘patriotic concept’).


I also had been looking for information about that conference, and indeed it could not be found on the Bulgarian State Agency for Child Protection's website:

However, information on the conference was only available on the website of VESTA, where it is said that Bulgaria is 'Defrosting after ice age' (Bulgarian adoptions were as good as closed the last four years).

VESTA is the partner of one the biggest US agencies: HOLT International Children Services. They also facilitate All God's Children International, Three of Life and Gladney.

On Holt's Blog, in October 2008, the following can be read:

Wharfield and Smith also met with Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of Justice. The attorney and CEO of Holt’s Bulgarian partner agency, Vesta, is currently working with the Ministry of Justice to draft a new family code that will amend the law favorably for adoption practices, including children with special needs.


So, here we have a US Adoption Agency working on the new family code in Bulgaria!

BULGARIA's CHILDREN: FOR EXPORT ONLY

Country Fee HOLT:

Depending on the country, fees for adopting healthy or minor special needs children are as follows:

Bulgaria $16,000
China $11,360
Ethiopia $9,690*
Haiti
$8,690
India $9,190*
Korea $17,215
Nepal $12,000
Philippines $9,890
Thailand $9,190*
Vietnam $10,325

Friday 3 April 2009

MALAWI understands the intercountry adoption game

Congratulations for the Malawian judge who understood the risks and long term effects of celebrity adoptions.


NO MERCY FOR MADGE
By VIRGINIA WHEELER

Published: Today


POP queen MADONNA was "furious" today after a judge in Malawi sensationally denied her bid to adopt little MERCY.
Madonna was told she could not take the tot back with her to the US because the singer was not a permanent resident of Malawi.
Sources close to the star said she was "spitting blood" after the judge defied the Malawian government to deny the adoption.
But the judge launched a stinging attack on high profile celebrities flying in to poverty-stricken countries and adopting children.
The ruling said: “Put simply courts do make law by the process of precedence and Miss Madonna may not be the only international person interested in adopting the so-called poor children of Malawi.
“By removing the very safeguard that is supposed to protect our children the courts by their pronouncements could actively facilitate trafficking of children by some unscrupulous individuals who would take advantage of the weakness of the law of the land.
“Anyone could come to Malawi and quickly arrange an adoption that might have grave consequences on the very children that the law seeks to protect.
“Having considered this then, at the end of the day I must decline to grant the application for the adoption of the infant CJ.”

FULL ARTICLE HERE

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