PEAR Adoption Information - Cambodia

PEAR Website Announcement

2011-12-29T06:02:00.000-08:00

Our website will be down December 26 to January 6 for a redesign. Due to this, our web comments, membership forms and donate buttons will be inoperable.

Please direct your correspondence to the following board members:

Comments and requests for assistance:
Gina Pollock
Vice President Advocacy and NGO/Government Relations
rmprhp@yahoo.com

Membership Issues:
Shanna Wright
Secretary and Membership Chair
shanjwright@gmail.com

Donations and financial issues:
Margaret Weeks
Treasurer
meweek@aol.com

All other correspondence:
Kimberly Kennedy
President
kackennedy_2000@yahoo.com

Thank you for your continued patience and support!
Ethics, Transparency, Support~
What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

DOS Adoption Notice: Cambodia Update

2011-06-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

June 2011

Notice: Update of status of adoptions in Cambodia

The Office of Children's Issues wishes to provide a further update for American Citizens interested in intercountry adoptions with Cambodia. Although Cambodia is a party to the Hague Adoption Convention, they are still working to establish the necessary internal child welfare structures to function as a Hague partner.

The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation recently announced to all embassies with diplomatic and consular missions in Cambodia that the Cambodian Government has decided to delay the date that it will begin receiving adoption petitions until April 1, 2012. The delay provides additional time for Cambodia to implement all necessary prakas (regulations), add staff, and complete training necessary to meeting its obligations under the Hague Adoption Convention.

The Special Advisor for Children's Issues, Ambassador Susan Jacobs met with Cambodian officials in March 2011, and explained what protections must be in place from the U.S. perspective before we will be able to resume adoptions between our two countries. She also encouraged the Cambodian Government to finalize and implement procedures that will enable Cambodia to operate as a Hague Convention partner country.

The United States continues to support Cambodia's efforts to create a child welfare system and an intercountry adoption process that fulfills its obligations under the Hague Adoption Convention. We welcome Cambodia's efforts to fully implement its new law on intercountry adoption.

Updated information will be provided on www.adoption.state.gov as it becomes available.

http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=cambodia_2

Ethics, Transparency, Support~
What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

MEDIA: Voice of America - UNICEF Concern Prompts Cambodian Investigation of Orphanages

2011-03-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

UNICEF Concern Prompts Cambodian Investigation of Orphanages

Robert Carmichael March 23, 2011 Phnom Penh

The Cambodian government has begun investigating the country’s orphanages; just days after the United Nations Children's Fund expressed its concerns that nearly three out of four children in the country's orphanages have at least one living parent.

Earlier this week, UNICEF said most of the 12,000 children in Cambodia’s orphanages are, in fact, not orphans. Nearly three-quarters of them have one living parent, yet the number of children in care has more than doubled in five years.

UNICEF said the number of orphanage centers has nearly doubled, to 269 facilities in the same period.

Just 21 of those are run by the government. The rest are funded and run by foreign donors and faith-based organizations.

Full article: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/southeast/UNICEF-Concern-Prompts-Cambodian-Investigation-of-Orphanages-118493469.html

Ethics, Transparency, Support~
What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Media Coverage of US DOS Visit to Cambodia

2011-03-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

The following stories were published today concerning the visit by US Department of State officials to Cambodia

Voice of America: US Maintains Ban on Cambodian Adoptions

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh Friday, 18 March 2011

A US envoy for children’s issues declined to lift a ban on US adoptions from Cambodia Friday, despite the 2009 passage of an adoption law, officials said.

The US banned adoptions from Cambodia in 2001, after allegations that mothers were being paid to give up their children to adoption agencies.

Susan Jacobs, the US Ambassador for Children’s Issues, told Cambodian officials the country had made improvements in children’s protection.

But after her two-day fact-finding mission, the US Embassy said in a statement, “The United States has not set a date for resumption of inter-country adoption with Cambodia.”

Full Story: http://www.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/US-Maintains-Ban-on-Cambodian-Adoptions-118241639.html

DAP News: US Adoption Official Visits Cambodia

Friday, 18 March 2011 07:53 By Virak Va

Special Advisor for Children’s Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs visited Cambodia March 17-18 for fact finding meetings on inter-country adoptions, the statement from US embassy here on Friday.

It added: ambassador Jacobs met with Cambodian government officials and representatives from other embassies to discuss the state of implementation of prakas and level of compliance to the Hague convention on adoptions. The United States looks forward to working with the Cambodian government as it establishes a child welfare system and will review carefully the implementing regulations related to the new law on inter-country adoptions as they are issued.

“We recommend the Royal Government of Cambodia for their accomplishments to date in increasing protection for vulnerable children. The United States has not set a date for resumption of inter country adoption with Cambodia,” the statement said.

Full Story: http://www.dap-news.com/en/news/4075-us-adoption-official-visits-cambodia.html

Ethics, Transparency, Support~
What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Special Advisor for Children's Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs' Travel to Cambodia and Vietnam

2011-03-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

Media Note

Office of the Spokesman

Washington, DC

March 14, 2011

Special Advisor for Children’s Issues Ambassador Susan Jacobs will visit Cambodia and Vietnam March 16 – 23 for meetings on intercountry adoptions.

In Cambodia, she will meet with government officials and non-governmental adoption stakeholders to discuss how the United States can work together with the Cambodian government to further support Cambodia’s efforts to fully implement a new law on intercountry adoption. Adoption from Cambodia was suspended in 2001.

In Vietnam, Ambassador Jacobs will meet with government officials to discuss Vietnam’s stated goal of acceding to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The United States welcomes Vietnam’s strong efforts to create a child welfare system and an intercountry adoption process that will meet its obligations under the Convention. The processing of adoptions for Vietnam was suspended in 2008.

For more information about intercountry adoption in Cambodia and Vietnam, visit:
http://adoption.state.gov

For updates on Special Advisor Susan Jacobs’ trip, follow her on twitter: http://twitter.com/childrensissues

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/03/158333.htm

Ethics, Transparency, Support~
What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

New DOS Appointment in Office of Children's Issues

2010-06-04T11:15:00.001-07:00

MEDIA NOTE
Tuesday, May 25

Secretary Clinton Designates Special Advisor for International Children’s Issues

Secretary Clinton is pleased to announce the appointment of Ambassador Susan S. Jacobs as Special Advisor to the Office of Children’s Issues. A long time child advocate, Secretary Clinton has created the new foreign policy position to address intercountry adoption and international parental child abduction. In her work on these important issues, Ambassador Jacobs will actively engage with foreign government officials to protect the welfare and interests of children.

Ambassador Jacobs most recently served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. A former United States Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, she also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Issues in the State Department's Bureau of Legislative Affairs. Her distinguished Foreign Service career has also included tours in Caracas, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Bucharest, and San Salvador.

Ambassador Jacobs graduated from the University of Michigan and later studied at Georgetown University Law School and the George Washington University. She has received numerous awards, including the Department of State's Meritorious Honor Award, its Superior Honor Award, and the Community Achievement Award in New Delhi.

The Office of Children’s Issues in the State Department provides services to parents, children, and families in intercountry adoption and international family abductions. It serves as the U.S. Central Authority for both the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

For more information about the Office of Children’s Issues at the State Department, please visit:
www.adoption.state.gov
www.travel.state.gov/childabduction

Ethics, Transparency, Support~
What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Adoptee Voice: Camryn Mosley

2010-03-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Camryn Mosely recently completed an interview with Guam Family Magazine. The resulting article was published in November 2009 and is now available online at: http://issuu.com/guamfamilymagazine/docs/nov09issuehires

Camryn was adopted from Cambodia in December 1999. Her adoption adoption story was highlighted in the Washington Post and People magazine after it was discovered and reported that her history and documents had been falsified. Due to Camryn's bravery and the Mosley's persistence, the agency that arranged Camryn's adoption, Seattle International Adoptions was investigated and finally closed. It's owners, sisters Lauryn Galindo and Lynn Devin, pled guilty to numerous federal criminal charges.

Please take a moment to read Camryn's story.

Cross posted on PEAR's Main Blog

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

MEDIA: CAMBODIA plans to reopen the door to foreign adoptions by the end of March 2011

2010-03-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

The following article was reported at
http://khmernz.blogspot.com/2010/03/foreign-adoptions-by-2011.html

via CAAI News Media

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 15:05
Mom Kunthear and Irwin Loy

CAMBODIA plans to reopen the door to foreign adoptions by the end of March 2011, officials said Monday, meaning the Kingdom has one year to meet strict international guidelines put in place to prevent child trafficking.

The announcement comes after the National Assembly passed a law aimed at governing international adoptions last December. Observers say the law is crucial to ending the allegedly widespread practice of “baby-buying”, but some have raised questions about the government’s ability to enforce it.

At a workshop Monday, Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng said authorities want to finalise a system for foreign adoptions of Cambodian children by the end of March 2011.

“The government will start to receive adoption proposals from ... other countries who want to adopt Cambodian children,” Ith Sam Heng said.

“We have one year – 12 months – to implement and enforce the inter-country adoption law.”

Despite the proposed timeline, it remains to be seen whether the law will be stringent enough to ensure compliance with the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, which sets strict terms on who should be eligible for international adoptions and how those adoptions should be regulated.

Though Cambodia has ratified the convention, countries including the US, Australia, France and Canada have effectively placed moratoriums on adopting children from Cambodia, citing concerns about the Kingdom’s ability to comply with the guidelines.

Rights groups have long raised allegations that adoptions in Cambodia have fuelled child trafficking.

A 2002 briefing by rights group Licadho raised alarms over what it said were “clear patterns and networks” aimed at purchasing babies and young children for adoption. Licadho alleged that impoverished women were coerced into giving up their children and said that some orphanages and adoption facilitators profited from the exchanges, often with the help of corrupt local officials.

Problems persist despite the government’s attempt at reforms, said Licadho President Pung Chhiv Kek.

“The fact remains that illegal adoptions are still an issue,” said Pung Chhiv Kek, who wondered whether authorities will be equipped to enforce the Hague Convention – and whether other jurisdictions will determine that Cambodia has sufficiently met its obligations to lift their moratoriums.

“It is to be seen that this convention is strictly enforced,” Pung Chhiv Kek said, linking the issue to corruption. “Adoption will always remain a concern as long as birth certificates and other documents can be forged or purchased easily.”

Organisations that work with children have also expressed concern. In a briefing submitted to the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in December, the NGO Friends International urged countries to “refrain from lifting their respective moratorium until Cambodia fully complies with the requirements set forth by the Hague Convention”.

“Private orphanages continue to exist without proper monitoring in the country, and so does the commerce of children,” the NGO said in its briefing.

December’s law provides a framework for how children can be adopted, but authorities still must flesh out the tools that will allow its implementation.

Authorities have proposed capping the number of adoption agencies allowed to operate in the Kingdom and are debating whether to charge prospective parents a US$5,000 fee, Ith Sam Heng said Monday.

From 1998 until 2009, more than 3,500 orphan children were adopted by foreign parents, he said.

http://khmernz.blogspot.com/2010/03/foreign-adoptions-by-2011.html

UPDATE: DOS Adoption Notice

2010-03-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

Cambodia

Adoption Notice

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues

March 2010

On December 3, 2009, new legislation on intercountry adoption was signed into law in Cambodia. The new law seeks to create a country-wide comprehensive child welfare system and an intercountry adoption process in compliance with the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention (the Convention) to which Cambodia is a party. This is an important first step in Cambodia's expressed commitment to reform its child welfare system and meet its treaty obligations under the Convention. In order to be able to establish necessary regulations and standard procedures to implement the new Law on Intercountry Adoption, the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation has announced a temporary suspension of the receipt of all new intercountry adoption dossiers until March 2011. This will not adversely affect any U.S cases since no new cases have been submitted in the last several years.

At this time, it is not possible to estimate when adoptions will resume between the United States and Cambodia. In order to implement the new law in full, Cambodia will first need to establish the necessary government structures to support it, draft and finalize prakas (Ministerial orders/regulations), and determine and fill staffing and training needs. Issues related to transparency in fees, procedural safeguards, determination of a child's eligibility for intercountry adoption, criminal penalties and the creation of a strategy to formalize and strengthen the domestic adoption system will all need to be addressed effectively.

The United States continues to support Cambodia's desire to create a child welfare system and an intercountry adoption process that fulfills its obligations under the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention and welcomes Cambodia’s efforts to fully implement the new law on intercountry adoption.

Updated information will be provided on www.adoption.state.gov as it becomes available.

http://www.adoption.state.gov/news/cambodia.html

DOS Adoption Notice December 24, 2009

2010-02-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

Cambodia

Adoption Notice

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues

December 24, 2009

On December 3, 2009, a new law on intercountry adoption was signed by the King of the Government of Cambodia. The new law seeks to create a country-wide comprehensive child welfare system and an intercountry adoption process in compliance with the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention. This is an important first step in Cambodia's expressed commitment to reforming its child welfare system and in seeking to meet its treaty obligations under the Convention. Cambodia has indicated that the processing of all intercountry adoptions throughout the country will be suspended until the law is fully implemented and necessary procedures are in place.

At this time, it is not possible to estimate when Cambodia might resume processing intercountry adoptions or when adoptions will be able to resume between the United States and Cambodia. In order to implement the new law fully, Cambodia will first need to establish the necessary government structures to support it, draft and finalize prakas (Ministerial orders/regulations), and determine and fill staffing and training needs. Issues related to transparency in fees, procedural safeguards, determination of a child's eligibility for intercountry adoption, criminal penalties and the creation of a strategy to formalize and strengthen the domestic adoption system will all need to be effectively addressed.

The United States continues to support Cambodia's desire to create a child welfare system and an intercountry adoption process that fulfills its obligations under the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention and welcomes its efforts to fully implement the new law on intercountry adoption.

Updated information will be provided on www.adoption.state.gov as it becomes available.