Romanian Adoption Update as of 5/25/05

Adoptions In Romania

Update as of May 25, 2005

Background: The Romanian Government imposed a moratorium on intercountry adoptions in 2001, formalizing a de facto moratorium that began in December 2000. Between 2001 and June 2004, the Romanian Government worked to promulgate new child welfare legislation and reform Romania's adoption system. Draft adoption legislation developed in consultation with the U.S. and other donor countries, as well as selected NGOs, was ultimately scrapped by the Romanians in favor of a new, more restrictive law that was passed in June 2004 and went into effect on January 1, 2005. This legislation severely limits the possibility of intercountry adoption for Romanian children for whom permanent family placement in Romania is not feasible. According to the new law, only biological grandparents may adopt.

Adoption Cases: Between 2001 and 2004, the Romanian Government continued to approve "pipeline" cases, involving orphans who had already been matched to adoptive parents, as well as some special needs cases. Between 2001 and 2004, approximately 900 Romanian children entered the U.S. as a result of adoption by U.S. citizen parents. Since the announcement of the new legislation, the Department of State has repeatedly pressed the Romanian Government, including at the most senior levels, to clarify how it plans to resolve the adoption cases in which prospective parents have accepted a referral of a Romanian orphan and whose cases have been registered by the Romanian Adoption Committee.

Plans for an International Commission: In October 2004, Prime Minister Nastase and French Prime Minister Raffarin announced plans to establish an international commission to review pending intercountry adoption cases. Establishment of such a committee will require modification of Romanian law. The Department of State welcomed the Prime Ministers' stated commitment to helping children and families affected by Romania's ban on intercountry adoptions. Since October, we have sought further details from the Romanian Government on the scope and mission of the proposed commission. In a January 12, 2005 Reuters interview, Prime Minister Tariceanu reportedly announced that an international commission would be established to handle all adoption applications . We have seen no further movement by the Romanian Government to establish a commission or resolve in any other way the many pending adoption cases.

Romania and the European Union: The European Commission has said that the restrictive law passed in June 2004 is consistent with EU practice. In December 2004, a European Parliament resolution welcomed the new Romanian child welfare law's introduction of national child protection standards and of strict rules governing intercountry adoptions. But the report also called upon Romania to provide a definitive reply to all families affected by the moratorium and, in that regard, supported "the idea of creating an international commission to study certain cases."

Current Efforts: The USG continues to press the Romanian government to finalize adoptions by the approximately 200 parents whose applications to adopt had been registered with the Romanian Adoption Committee (RAC). The President and Secretary of State have emphasized to Romania's leaders that resolving the pending adoption cases is an important bilateral issue. In May 2005, Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Maura Harty met with President Basescu to discuss a consular working group, and made clear that adoptions would be the first issue to be addressed by a working group and progress on adoptions was essential before progress on any other bilateral consular issues was possible. We are committed to working with the Romanian Government to resolve this situation in a way that prevents abuses in the adoption process and promotes domestic adoptions in Romania.