Article from Azi Newspaper

Author Roxana Bucata

September 14, 2005

Secretary of state Theodora Bertzi reiterates that, according to the new adoption regulations children from Romania cannot be adopted by foreigners unless they are biological grandparents, and then only if there exists no other solution in the country.

Romanian policy regarding international adoptions will be discussed today, September 14, in Washington, at the meeting of the Helsinki Commission. Romania will be represented by the ambassador to Washington, Sorin Ducaru. He will promote and sustain the point of view formulated by the Romanian office for adoptions, which is: Foreigners may not adopt children from Romania. Theodora Bertzi, head of the Romanian office for adoptions, declared for Azi newspaper that Romanian authorities respect the best interests of the child and apply the adoption legislation after consulting with experts from the European Union. The current legislation absolutely forbids adoption of a Romanian child by a foreign family, and the child can only be adopted by foreigners of those foreigners are the biological grandparents, declared Bertzi. "We are a responsible state", emphasized Bertzi, and declared that Romania "will remain firm in this position". She said that Romania will not accept even one proposal to modify the legislation, even from the Helsinki Commission.

Bertzi said further that the primary role of the commission is one of informing and that the commission is not able to impose anything on Romania. She explained that this meeting is taking place merely because there are a number of families in the United States who have submitted files with respect to adopting a child from Romania. She said that these files which were submitted in the period from October 2001 to February 2004, were not approved. Their cases are, at present, being analyzed by an inter-ministerial group. "It is possible to desire modifications to the law, which would permit families on the other side of the ocean to adopt children from Romania, however, the state of Romania has decided: Only grandparents from abroad may adopt."

According to Bertzi, the policy of Romania, with regard to adoptions, is clear: "Efforts are made so that every child will stay with his biological family. Adoption is the very last solution," declared secretary of state Theodora Bertzi. She told us that every case is analyzed in detail. She said that at the present time a large of number of families from Romania desires to adopt, more precisely 1080. However, the number of children adopted is very small.

The new adoption law which is much more restrictive than the previous one was adopted last year under pressure from the European Union. According to the new regulations, children from Romania can be adopted by foreigners only if those foreigners are biological grandparents and only if another solution within the country cannot be found.

The Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, is a government agency of the United States which supervises the respecting of the provisions of the Helsinki accord of 1975 with regards to human rights.