July/August 2001Vol. 2, No. 4U.S. Studies Adoptions in Romania

A recent report examines the current status of adoptions in Romania. Entitled Report on Intercountry Adoption In Romania, the report was prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development by authors Michael W. Ambrose, an HHS administrator, and Anna Mary Coburn, an attorney in private practice.

Based on a review of documents and interviews with U.S. and Romanian government officials, the authors found the following:

Adoption fees above the costs of providing adoption services are not identified or explainable.
Determining the eligibility of children for adoption is negatively affected by a point system, which rewards adoption agencies and adoptive parents that donate to child welfare programs.
The point system is too complex and funds generated for child protection programs are not accounted for properly.
Domestic adoptions are inhibited.
The use of cash should be restricted.
Standards of practice for adoption agencies are being developed and should be supported.
A comprehensive child welfare information system may be developed and should be supported.
Regulation of the Romanian private foundations and the foreign private bodies is inadequate.

The report provides a detailed overview of Romanian adoption laws and procedures and compares them to intercountry adoption processes in China, Korea, and Colombia.

The authors also make five recommendations:

Improve the enforcement of the current laws and regulations applicable to private Romanian foundations and adoption agencies
Eliminate the current method of assigning points to agencies
Eliminate or identify cash contributions or financial contributions for an agency to provide child protection programs that are above the actual cost of adoption services
Encourage and improve domestic adoption
Encourage and improve self-regulation of adoption agencies.

A copy of the report is available online at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/index.htm

Related Items

A special 10-page section of Infectious Diseases in Children (http://www.idinchildren.com), January 2001 (14:1), focuses on medical issues in international adoption, including possible infections, immunization status, and medical history. To order a copy of the section, contact SLACK Incorporated, 6900 Grove Rd., Thorofare, NJ 08086-9447, (800) 257-8290 or (856) 848-1000, ext. 281 or 237.

Visit the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse for a resource list on U.S. agencies working in Romania at: http://www.calib.com/naic/pubs/ir_dsp.cfm?cntryID=5. (Note: this resource is no longer available; however, you may search for information at http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/country_resource_lists.cfm.)