The Downturn in International Adoption

In 2004, U.S. citizens adopted 22,991 children who had been born abroad, an all-time high. In the eight years since, such adoptions have fallen off sharply, with only 9,319 in 2011. According to Tom Difilipo, Executive Director of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS), JCICS is predicting that the numbers will be 8,200 in 2012 and 7,000 in 2013. What accounts for this downturn? What’s happening in the sending countries? What might the future be for intercountry adoption?

What’s Behind the Numbers?

Ethiopia has seen rapid changes in recent years, jumping from 731 adoptions to the U.S. in 2006 to a high of 2,511 in 2010, then falling to 1,732 in 2011. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, “The country lacks infrastructure and personnel to regulate a process that usually begins deep in the countryside,” and adoption agencies fund the orphanages they process adoptions from. In 2009 and 2010, U.S. embassy investigations found instances of adoptees with inaccurate paperwork and orphanage recruitment of children for adoption via financial incentives for birth families. Ethiopia responded by increasing oversight and, in March of 2011, announced an intentional slowdown, reviewing five rather than 50 cases a day. By October 2011, the country had closed about two dozen orphanages. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, however, the rate of processing new cases returned to its previous level this past August, so numbers may begin rising.

Adoptions from Russia reached a high of 5,862 in 2004 and fell to 962 in 2011. The slowdown for Russia began in 2005, by which time several Russian children had died at the hands of U.S. adoptive parents. Since then, Russia has tightened restrictions for prospective parents, and there have been periods of slowdown and shutdown. Domestic adoption has also increased. Although there have been five rocky years for Russian adoptions, the process may become more stable. On July 28, 2012, Vladimir Putin signed into law a new bilateral adoption agreement with the U.S., one designed to provide additional safeguards. U.S. Ambassador Jacobs reports that the State Department is sending a team to Russia to work on implementing the agreement; she expects numbers to begin to increase.

South Korea, which has played a significant role in international adoption, has also seen decreasing numbers, perhaps due to an increase in domestic adoptions. In 2011, the Korean government announced its intention to end international adoption by the end of 2012. As this issue went to press, a State Department team was headed to Korea to discuss with the government whether there is still a need that international adoption can fill for Korean children. Ambassador Jacobs suggests the possibility of an increase in special-needs adoptions.

The Hague Adoption Convention, completed in 1993, was designed to apply safeguards to international adoption, making the process more transparent and free of corruption. The U.S. became a full member in 2008. The Convention did not affect the process in some countries, like China, which already had a Hague-compliant process in place, or non-member countries, like Russia and Ethiopia, but its rules led to slowdowns or shutdowns in other countries. The Hague requires a central authority, with oversight into the ethics of adoption, that many countries were unable to establish. Additionally, according to a new documentary entitled STUCK, a 2010 Hague Commission Report revealed that the Hague has not eradicated corruption. In the film, Senator Mary Landrieu, one of the Hague’s biggest proponents in the U.S., expressed regret at the Convention’s effects.

Guatemala, which sent 4,726 children to U.S. families in 2007, ratified and became a full member to the Convention without having a Hague-compliant process in place. Adoptions had been processed through private children’s homes or lawyers’ offices rather than a central authority. Allegations of corruption and birthmother coercion had become frequent by the time the country shut down international adoption in 2008, with roughly 3,000 U.S. adoption cases in process. There are still 150-200 pending cases. Talks with Guatemala have continued, though, in recent years, they have mainly focused on wrapping up all of the pipeline cases.

Prospects for the Future

In 2004, the top-three countries (China, Russia, and Guatemala) sent 16,164 children, accounting for 70 percent of all international adoptions to the U.S. In 2011, the top-three countries (China, Ethiopia, and Russia) sent just 5,281 children, 57 percent of the total. While a handful of countries still send the majority of children, a new pattern may be emerging; we may be moving into an era in which overall numbers are smaller but more countries are playing a role.

While Africa accounted for only five percent of all (worldwide) international adoptions in 2003, that percentage had increased to 22 percent by 2009. Lesotho recently joined the Hague, and South Africa has authorized two U.S. adoption service providers (ASPs) to start accepting applications. Other African countries that are seeing an increase are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire. Ambassador Jacobs stressed that all of these countries will start small, and that is a good thing. The numbers are not as important, she said, as completing every adoption properly.

It seems likely that several other countries will reopen. Adoption from Vietnam to the U.S. ended in late 2008, when a bilateral agreement expired. Amid suspicions of corruption, the agreement was not renewed. Now that the country has joined the Hague, however, adoptions may resume. Cambodia, where international adoption was banned in 2009, in response to proven corruption, has joined the Hague and is working to reopen. Kazakhstan joined the Hague and began authorizing agencies, though adoptions remained suspended at press time.

The demographics of the children who join U.S. families are changing, as special-needs adoptions increase. In China, where more than 50 percent of adoptions have already shifted to Waiting Children, more families are adopting boys, older children, and children with medical needs, including many with minor or correctable needs.

Ambassador Jacobs highlighted two Office of Children’s Issues initiatives that should improve international adoption. A new process for non-Hague countries, called Pre-Adoption Immigration Review (PAIR), means that our State Department will investigate orphan status and identify potential problems as soon as a petition is received, not at the end of the process. PAIR should be of great benefit in Ethiopia. The Universal Accreditation Act, which is expected to pass after the election, will mandate that all ASPs meet Hague standards.

While the history of international adoption has involved cases of corruption, the vast majority of stories are about the creation of loving families. Numbers may never again reach 2004 levels, but there is still hope for the many children in orphanages around the world, who deserve to grow up in families.

Elisa Rosman, Ph.D., is a consultant on early childhood and adoption issues. She is a mother of four, including three children adopted from China.

Original article can be found here - http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=2387

Family traditions are all of the special things that families do together on a regular basis- whether it’s daily (always eating dinner together), weekly (Friday night movies and popcorn), monthly (taking our kids on “date nights,” or “super-noches” as we call them), or yearly (driving around to look at Christmas lights). In our hectic lives, routine customs create special memories of our family having a great time together, that your kids will remember and probably pass on to their family.

When we took the many hours of parenting classes required to adopt our two sons, they emphasized the importance of family traditions as a way to strengthen family bonds, teach our new children our family values, and give our kids a sense of identity and security within our family: “The Smith Familyalways makes pancakes on Sunday mornings” or “The Lin Family plays football together every Thanksgiving” or “The Morales Family always makes a birthday sign for the birthday child.” In reality, not only adoptive families will benefit from creating special family traditions- all families will enjoy family rituals and become stronger as they incorporate them into their lives.

Traditions do not have to be complex, time-consuming, or cost a lot of money. When asked, kids can help to come up with new family traditions, and then you can work together to make it a ritual, and share the knowledge and experience. If you’d like to get more examples, check out The Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays and Every Day by Meg Cox, or I Love You Rituals by Becky Bailey (these are more songs, fingerplays, daily rituals). Both of these books come highly recommended by Attachment Parenting and adoption professionals.

Here are some of our winter family traditions. Please adapt, repeat, or share with your family, and build your own family culture!:) Leave your favorite WINTER family traditions in the comments or on facebook. Then check back in the spring for more seasonal family traditions!

One favorite family tradition we’ve had is to visit the Science and Industry Museum (in Chicago) for their annual exhibit of “Christmas Tree Around the World.” If you’ve never been, it is incredible!! There are also exhibits on Chanukkah, Diwali, Chinese New Year, and Ramadan, and more, with live performances of songs and dances, and facts about how each country celebrates these winter holidays. This is one of my most favorite traditions! We always take pictures in front of the trees that are significant to my family: Mexico, China, Ireland, Slovenia. We frequently visit this after Thanksgiving when it first opens, and it really feels like the Christmas season has started.

A new tradition this year: caroling at our friends’ houses. We learned a couple of songs and attempted to surprise our friends one evening. My kids liked it so much that we repeated it on two other nights (after getting requests from kids at school!).

Every single night, we snuggle and read books on the couch. Every single night, throughout the year. During the winter we read about all of the winter holidays, stories about snow, the gingerbread man, and other seasonal books:). When it’s 80 degrees out and humid, this helps us get into the Christmas spirit!

Every year we attempt to make lots of Christmas gifts. From ornaments, to boxes, to tshirts, to soap- I try to find little projects that the kids can do without much help.

Watching Christmas movies! We have movie night every Friday, so during the winter we sometimes pick Christmas movies. Our must-see favorites are White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Charlie Brown’s Christmas

Every year our kids participate in “Breakfast in Bethlehem,” a living Nativity scene. The kids can dress up as an angel, as Mary and Joseph, as a shepherd, or any farm animal- and then as they read the story of the first Christmas, the characters come on stage. Here’s sweet Maya as angel last year.

We usually make pancakes on the weekends, but during the winter we change up the designs. These are supposed to be reindeer!? I am not the most creative, but the kids LOVE it. By the way, these M&Ms melted when I flipped the pancakes over!

We always, always make gingerbread cookies with Grandma, to the point where my kids don’t think we can make them at our own house:). When they were little, they made silly green hats with my mom- and this has now turned into the tradition. “We have to make the hats with the cookies!”

Every year in my parents’ local newspaper, they publish the most lit-up houses in the area, with a map and guide. These are SO over the top, and outrageously decorated, with coordinating music and moving figures- the kids go crazy, we blast Christmas music, and the adults just end up laughing the whole time. I need to get a picture of this one house that has a huge train set that the kids can get out and control- I’m thinking our house will never make the list, which is why it’s fun to see others’ hard work.

We always visit Santa! In line for this visit on Christmas Eve night, I asked my kids what they wanted for Christmas. Maya looked around, saw a wreath, and said “a bow.” Perfect, I thought. It finally was our turn, and Santa asked her the same question, but misunderstood her answer. “A boat?” Her eye lit up, “Yes! A boat!!” I imagine Santa had a hard time with all of his obligations that night to come up with a boat, but somehow he did! The same visit, Ricky asked for a gingerbread house with a slide. Whew! I’m not sure how Santa made one that evening out of graham crackers and candy, but he must have finished around midnight with a lot of help from his elves! You can see why these visits are so crucial, though I suggest going before the 24th.

Christmas Eve the kids leave out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph, and try to go to sleep. We always sleep at my mom and dad’s house in a big sleepover that ends quite early in the morning. The rule is: no one can go downstairs until the coffee is on, faces are washed, dogs are walked, and the adults are all awake. 

Excitedly waiting at the top of the stairs!! Hurry up grown-ups!!!!

After opening presents (though sometimes presents wait until other aunts/uncles/cousins can make it to my parents’ house!:) we go to mass. Don’t they look so angelic?? 

We have lots of parties with family in the weekends before and after, and sometimes even a visit from Santa. Playing with cousins and huge meals are favorite traditions in our family (like many other families!).

When in Mexico, we celebrate Las Posadas, a re-enactment of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. It ends in a big party: delicious food, songs, a piñata, and luces de bengala (sparklers).

If there’s snow, we love to go sledding and have hot chocolate.

Every year since Vivi was born, we walk around downtown Chicago checking out the decorations in Marshall Fields (sigh, now Macy’s), watching the ice skaters, visiting the Christkindl market, and staying warm with hot cocoa and lots of layers!

It’s our family tradition every New Year’s Eve to play lots of board games. This game is similar to Bingo, but is called “Lotería.”

Here is our family’s typical New Year’s Eve fare: tapas and finger foods that we like to call “goodies” (we have the same family tradition for Christmas Eve!). With music blasting, the kids run around playing and dancing, and are able to eat “on the run.” The adults relax with somerompope or sangría, and get ready for the countdown. We usually head to the downtown for a bit to see the carnival-like atmosphere (and sometimes they have an early countdown for kids!). Then we come home for the final house. In true Mexican tradition, we eat 12 grapes at the chimes of midnight, for good luck and prosperity in the new year (technically we also need to wear red underwear!).

Ethiopian Christmas is just a little bit later, on January 7th. Ganna, as it is called in Amharic, is a time when families gather for church and then a celebratory meal. We like to go out for Ethiopian food!

January 6th, we have Reyes Magos, the Feast of the Epiphany. In Mexico, there is a tradition of buying special bread this day and having a party with friends. As you choose your piece of bread, everyone waits to see if you got the niño Jesus (baby Jesus) in your slice- if you did, you must have a party with tamales on February 2nd, El Dia de la Candelaria.

Finally, we have Chinese New Year (which varies from year to year, celebrated somewhere near January or February). We usually go to several parties, parades and/or restaurants with other adoptive families and with Chinese friends. A couple of times the Chinese Consulate has had a wonderful party with games and food for the kids. We always follow the traditions of getting haircuts, doing a huge spring cleaning of our house, and eating some looooong noodles for a long life:).

So many family traditions!!! Just writing this post is getting me excited for the upcoming months:). What are rituals or customs that you follow during the winter months? Please share your ideas here!

http://kidworldcitizen.org/2012/12/09/importance-of-family-traditions-and-a-look-at-ours-winter/#more-3338

Each year, more children join families through adoption. Pediatricians have an important role in assisting adoptive families in the various challenges they may face with respect to adoption. The acceptance of the differences between families formed through birth and those formed through adoption is essential in promoting positive emotional growth within the family. It is important for pediatricians to be aware of the adoptive parents’ need to be supported in their communication with their adopted children.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/09/19/peds.2012-2261

Posted by Esperanza Tilghman / November 25, 2012

Esperanza Tilghman serves as a Public Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

“Intercountry adoption is an important matter of foreign policy. It provides the opportunity for loving parents to offer a permanent home and a family for children who need that. And it deepens and enriches our culture and builds on one of the America’s greatest strengths, our diversity.” — Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton

On November 8, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Janice L. Jacobs, and Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Alejandro Mayorkas in a special ceremony commemorating November as National Adoption Month. The special ceremony, coordinated by the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs in partnership with USCIS, honored 21 children, ages 2-11, representing seven nations and their adoptive families. Among the over 150 guests were representatives from the offices of Senator Mary Landrieu and Senator John Kerry.

Children came dressed in their patriotic best. Moving around the lobby of the George Marshall Center, watching families pose proudly for pictures (enthusiastically taken by members of the Office of Children’s Issues), you could feel the energy and spirit of families intended to be together. The children came from China, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Nepal, South Korea, and Thailand. However, I was as amazed by the diversity of backgrounds of the families — single parents adopting their first child, families adopting their second or third child, military families, large families, small families, families of diverse ethnicities. However, it was clear they all shared strong bonds with their newest family members. As I spoke to the two sisters of one 8 year old girl originally from Ethiopia (who became family member number seven), it was plain to see how much her siblings loved her. “After this we’re going to her favorite restaurant — P.F. Chang’s!”

Once the families — and more importantly, the children — settled into their seats, Assistant Secretary Jacobs opened the event, emphasizing the importance of National Adoption Month, and telling the children that the ceremony “celebrates the choice that… parents and grandparents, and brothers and sisters made to find you.” Secretary Napolitano offered inspiring words to the children and their families: “You are going to remember this day… We can all dream big dreams, and part of your dream is coming true today.” Representing the White House was Joshua DuBois, Special Assistant to President Obama and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, who read an excerpt of the Proclamation issued by President Obama to mark National Adoption month.

November was first designated as National Adoption Month by President Clinton in 1995, to raise awareness of adoption issues affecting families and children. Every November, a Presidential Proclamation commemorates National Adoption Month, encouraging individuals, communities, and organizations to help build awareness of adoption issues, share adoption stories, and challenge myths and stereotypes that create discriminatory barriers between families and the children who need them. In this year’s proclamation, President Obama announced: “During National Adoption Month, we give voice to children who are still waiting for that opportunity, celebrate the bond that unites adoptive parents with their sons and daughters, and recommit to providing every child with the care and security that will nurture their development and well-being.”

For everyone who participated — parents, children, distinguished guests, and the community of State Department and Homeland Security colleagues coordinating the event — it was a memorable experience. As one young boy exclaimed, “it’s my birthday!” And in some ways, for all of our newest citizens, it was.

For more information on intercountry adoption, please visit our website, adoption.state.gov.