The impact of the adoption laws on the Romanian children

This article is from "Adevarul", one of the main national newspapers.

The impact of the adoption laws on the Romanian children

The "Helsinki Commission" (for Security and Cooperation in Europe of the US Government) is meeting today in Washington to discuss the issue of adoptions from Romania. Sorin Ducaru, our country's ambassador in Washington, will attend the discussions. The Commission will hear Elliot Forsyth, an American citizen who wanted and wants to adopt a child from Romania. Hundreds of legal actions for the adoption of Romanian children have been initiated in the USA, and some of the cases have been blocked once the new Law 273/2004 was enacted. Art. 39 of the law forbids international adoptions for all applicants who are not grandparents of the adopted child. The idea of international adoptions is also supported by the Romanian World Wide Group (RWW), a non-governmental, apolitical, non-afiliated, democratic and progressive association which aims at lobbying for our country. Romania, a signatory of the Hague Convention, is the only country which has changed its legislation to forbid international adoptions, thus breaching both the spirit and the letter of a document it sealed.