National Council For Adoption Calls For Calm and Rational Response to Harrison Verdict

The National Council For Adoption (NCFA) has followed closely the events and legal proceedings involving the tragic death of young Chase Harrison on July 8, 2008 and the not guilty verdict on manslaughter charges brought against his father Miles Harrison. The verdict has attracted a great deal of international attention questioning whether the verdict was in any way related to the child’s international adoptive status.

“Let me assure the international community that adoptive parents in the United States have the same responsibilities to their adopted children as do biological parents to their biological children,” said Chuck Johnson, NCFA’s vice president and COO. “Likewise, children who are adopted enjoy the very same rights and protection of full citizenship under the law as do children born in the United States. We are confident that Chase Harrison’s status as an adopted child in no way influenced the judge’s ruling or diminished the seriousness surrounding this case."

“NCFA fully understands how difficult it may be for some to accept this verdict as appropriate and just. However, the number of successful adoptions whereby Russian children have found safe, loving and permanent homes weighs heavily on the side of accepting the Harrison case as unfortunate, tragic and sad - but is in no way representative of the overwhelming majority of U.S. adoptions of Russian-born children,” Johnson said.

NCFA encourages a calm and rational response to the verdict, and hopes that the Russian government will continue to work with the United States government and the American adoption community to keep the adoption process between Russia and the United States transparent, safe and successful for the benefit of thousands of Russian-born children. Those who would suffer most from a disruption of Russian adoptions are the thousands of innocent orphans who otherwise would have been adopted into loving American homes.

National Adoption Spokesperson Rodney Atkins Speaks Out for Children in Foster Care

If you tune into your favorite country music radio station, you are likely to hear NCFA’s National Adoption Spokesperson Rodney Atkins’ new public service announcement (PSA) supporting children in foster care.

NCFA and Rodney launched the new PSA campaign this month to make the public aware of the needs of the nearly half-million children living in foster care, of which 129,000 are eligible for adoption right now. The PSA campaign is part of a broader public awareness initiative entitled Families For All, funded in part by Wal-Mart.

Rodney also conducted personal interviews with more than 25 leading country music stations in major markets to talk about the release of his new song “America,” and to direct listeners to the www.familiesforall.org website to find out more about what they can do to help children in foster care.

Thank you, Rodney, for all your help and support for children in need!  Click here to learn more about what you can do to help children waiting for a loving, permanent family.

National Council For Adoption Recommends Caution on Certain Special Needs Adoptions from Vietnam

National Council For Adoption (NCFA) regrets that the United States and Vietnamese governments could not sign a new agreement regarding intercountry adoptions before September 1, 2008.  Although we recognize that the United States held legitimate concerns with the adoption process in Vietnam, this halt in adoptions will result in many hundreds of Vietnamese orphans being denied loving, stable families in the United States. 

Although Vietnamese law allows for the processing of the adoption of children with special needs without a working agreement, NCFA is advocating extreme caution on the part of international adoption agencies and families matched with a Vietnamese child with special needs after the last agreement between the United States and Vietnamese governments expired on September 1, 2008.  Because the intercountry adoption process in Vietnam is unregulated, Vietnam is not a Hague-compliant country, and the future of intercountry adoption between the two countries is uncertain, agencies and prospective parents who pursue such adoptions do so without the usual assurances.  More specifically, we are expecting United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to be cautious about processing special needs adoptions in the absence of an agreement ensuring that there are transparent regulations and procedures in place.  At this time there is considerable uncertainty as to which special needs children as defined by the Vietnamese might actually qualify for adoption. 

NCFA urges the governments of Vietnam and the United States to act with all due diligence to finalize a new agreement that will allow intercountry adoption to resume, and to assist Vietnam, where possible, to implement a system that ensures both the safety of Vietnamese children and opportunities for Vietnamese orphans to find their loving, permanent families through international adoption.  When guidelines for best practices are followed and children’s best interests are made paramount, international adoption is a compassionate practice—one through which thousands of orphans from around the world find their families in the United States each year.  Vietnamese orphans, like orphans everywhere, should have the opportunities afforded by this amazing institution. 

NCFA Responds to UNICEF’S Report on Intercountry Adoption in Nepal

The United National Children Fund (UNICEF) and Terre des homes – Child Relief recently issued a report entitled “Adopting the Rights of the Child: A Study on Intercountry Adoption and its Influence on Child Protection in Nepal.”   The report recommends that the Nepal government delay reopening its intercountry adoption program until Nepal is able to have a fully Hague-compliant intercountry adoption program.  The report also includes recommendations for changes to some of Nepal’s adoption laws.

The National Council For Adoption (NCFA) affirms our agreement with the report’s statement that the best interests of the child must be the guiding principle in any and every adoption decision, be the adoption international or domestic.  The Nepali government was right to take seriously media reports of bad practices, including child abduction and the adopting of children and infants without their parents’ consent.  Yet while the Nepali government’s decision in June 2007 to shut down international adoptions from Nepal in response to such revelations was necessary and prudent, there can be no doubt that it negatively affected some children even while it protected others. 

All available research shows that children require a loving, stable family to thrive and develop into well-adjusted, highly functioning adults.  Research also shows that group or institutional care is no substitute for a family, and that children raised in such an environment fare poorly relative to their adopted peers.  Therefore, international adoption is clearly in the best interests of children whose families are unable or unwilling to care for them, and for whom no timely domestic adoption placement can be made.  As there are an estimated 15,000 children living in institutional homes in Nepal, it can be estimated that hundreds of Nepali children are currently without a loving, stable family as a direct result of the government’s ban on international adoption. 

The recent UNICEF report raised a number of relevant issues regarding the state of child welfare services in Nepal, but offers no immediate help to children currently languishing in orphanages.  Nor does it take into account that the Nepali government has already developed new procedures that address some of the problems detailed in the report.   Although the report contains many positive recommendations, its suggestion that the Nepali government delay reopening intercountry adoption is not in the best interests of waiting children.  NCFA stresses that the compassionate practice of international adoption can be carried out with appropriate child protections in place to ensure that abuses such as those documented in the report and elsewhere do not occur.  Signing and implementing the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption treaty is an excellent way for a nation to become part of the international adoption community with the assurance that international adoptions are being done in the best interests of children.  NCFA is pleased to see Nepal moving in the direction of entering into this important international treaty.  Countries outside the Hague Convention can and do participate in international adoption while meeting best practices standards.  For the sake of Nepali orphans, the government of Nepal should resume international adoptions immediately while moving toward signing the Hague Convention treaty. 

Since the Nepali government suspended international adoptions in 2007, there have been encouraging signs that it is willing to act in the best interests of the nation’s orphan population in this regard.  First, the Nepali government relaxed the ban on international adoptions for families that had already filed petitions to adopt, while instituting stricter terms and conditions for the adoption process in these cases to continue.  More recently, the government has instituted a requirement that international adoption agencies wishing to work in Nepal must first register with the Nepali Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare.  Finally, in September 2008 the government published a list of 38 children’s homes that have passed the Ministry’s extensive background check and are therefore authorized to handle adoptions, and announced plans to release a similar list of authorized international adoption agencies in time.

It is our expressed hope that the Nepali government will continue to address issues with its child welfare system as they are brought to light while moving toward signing and implementing the Hague Convention treaty.  NCFA also hopes that in the meantime the Nepali government will allow international adoption agencies that meet stringent best practices standards to begin or renew operations in Nepal.  Nepali children, like all children, have the right to grow up with a loving, stable family.  Those children whose biological families are unable or unwilling to care for them should not miss out on any opportunity to achieve a loving, stable family through adoption. 

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) Gathers Support for Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Support Act and Pursues Co-Sponsorship

Introduced on May 20, 2008, Senator Charles Grassley’s Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Support Act proposes a number of positive legislative changes that would benefit the 510,000 children in foster care. 

If enacted, this bill would extend through 2013 the Adoption Incentive Program, whereby the federal government allocates financial rewards to states that have increased the number of children adopted from their foster care system.  It would also increase adoption incentive payments by establishing 2007 as the program’s new “base year” against which future performance would be measured.  The bill would make all children with special needs adopted from foster care eligible for federal adoption assistance payments by exempting them from current income eligibility requirements.  The bill would also establish relative guardianship as a permanency option for those children for whom courts have ruled that neither reunification nor adoption are viable permanency options, and allow states to receive federal reimbursement for assistance payments made to relative guardians.  Finally, the bill would allow the federal government to allocate unobligated funds from the Adoption Incentive Program to states that increase the number of children exiting foster care through relative guardianship. 

Click here to read Senator Grassley’s appeal to his colleagues for co-sponsorship, which contains further information on the Improved Adoption Incentives and Relative Support Act and its supporters. 

Putative Father Registry Laws

About one half of the states have enacted putative father registry laws, which regulate the extent to which an unmarried, uninvolved biological father can undermine a birthmother's decision of the birthmother to place a child for adoption. Generally, these statutes establish a timeframe within which a possible, or “putative,” father must register with an identified state agency to have any right to notice of proceedings to terminate parental rights or not to consent to placement of the child for adoption. Some statutes require the putative father not only to demonstrate that he is, in fact, the biological father, but that he is also committed to the birthmother’s and child’s best interests. For example, putative father laws sometimes require a demonstration of financial support to the birthmother, beginning during the pregnancy. Read more about state putative father registry laws:

• States with putative father registries
• States without putative father registries

NCFA appreciates the efforts of Katy Braden, NCFA 2007 summer legal intern, and the expert research and analysis contributed by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, especially Andrea Vavonese, Juliane Sullivan, Ian Shavitz, Daniel Yonan, Natalie Roisman, Robert Leonard, David Hedgepeth, Deborah Bone, and Mary Ellen Moltumyr.

NCFA Lends a Helping Hand to MTV’s
True Life Adoption Documentary

The National Council For Adoption is lending a helping hand to the producers of an adoption documentary for the successful and popular MTV’s True Life series.  Previous True Life documentaries have dealt with substantial subjects such as autism, schizophrenia, and war-weary veterans returning from Iraq.

The adoption documentary will follow three or four young unwed birthmothers on video as they go through difficult and emotional decisions in developing adoption plans for their babies. Read more.

NCFA Teams with Wal-Mart and Rodney Atkins to Inspire Better Care for Children in Foster Care

Alexandria, VA – May is National Foster Care Month, and the National Council For Adoption (NCFA) and Wal-Mart are jointly launching the Families For All public awareness campaign to inspire American families to consider what they can do to help children in foster care.

Today there are more than a half-million children in foster care in the United States who need a safe and loving home, including 129,000 children who are waiting to be adopted.  The Families For All public awareness program is designed to help Americans realize that these children need and deserve a family to call their own and that everyone can play a role in making that happen. Read more.

On Wednesday, April 16, the National Council For Adoption hosted its Adoption Hall of Fame 28th Anniversary Awards Celebration.  This year’s event was held at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia from 6:00 pm -10:00 pm and featured NCFA’s National Adoption Spokesperson, country music artist Rodney Atkins, winner of the 2007 Academy of Country Music's "Top New Male Vocalist” Award. Recently, Rodney was nominated for 6 Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards:  Top Male Vocalist, Album of the Year (as an artist and producer), Song of the Year “Watching You” (as an artist and as a writer), and Video of the Year “Watching You”. Read more.