GREAT BRITAIN--THE ADOPTIONS CIRCUS

Article from Jurnalul National Nov. 11, 2006

GREAT BRITAIN--THE ADOPTIONS CIRCUS

At a time when a part of the British press is relaxing in its treatment of the situation of Romanian immigrants who will "assault" the doors of Britain after January 1, 2007, another part of the London press is preoccupied with a different issue which is just as delicate -- international adoptions.

Without even remembering that the moratorium of 2001 forbid international adoptions from Romania under pressure from the EU, the Daily Telegraph published yesterday the story of a young man who grew up in Great Britain after he was adopted from an orphanage many years ago.

SHOCKING

Petrescu Peabody, age 19, was actually adopted 10 years ago by a British family and told the Europarliamentarians about the miserable conditions in the orphanages in Romania. He asked for the Europarliamentarians' support for re-opening international adoptions from Romania. The boy "was nearly dead when he was delivered from one of the most notorious orphanages in Romania and taken to Great Britain." He had lived his early years in an infected bed which was soaked in urine. He could not speak nor walk and he had hearing problems. He said, "It is shocking to think that there are still thousands of children in institutions in Romania.

PRESSURES

The article published by the Daily Telegraph was, of course, pleasing to the United States and to France who repeatedly warned that Bucharest's decision to forbid international adoptions would punish the approximately 76,000 children currently in orphanages. Vice-President for the European Commission, Franco Frattini, maintained that the Commission would support the Romanian authorities in their current legislation because the results of it are visible.