Thursday, January 19, 2006
Pressing Romania
U.S. Ambassador Taubman speaks out on adoption and crime
Alecs Iancu
The U.S. ambassador reminded the Bucharest officials the country needs to keep its promise as far as adoptions are concerned. He also tackled the Transylvania highway matter.
Romania must respect its pledge to resolve inter-country adoption cases, in spite of the virtual ban of all inter-country adoptions after new laws came in effect last year, said the U.S. ambassador.
"The American government believes the Romanian government has made several promises regarding the adoption of children by American families and this promise (...) must be respected," said U.S. Ambassador Nicholas F. Taubman during a press conference yesterday.
After new adoption laws came in effect at the beginning of last year, Romania banned international adoptions except in cases when the adopting couple and the child are closely blood related.
The move, which came following EU criticism of previous, "too permissive" laws, angered several countries whose residents had begun adoption procedures of Romanian orphans. The U.S. has repeatedly criticized the new legislation and asked authorities to review it in order to allow a favorable solution at least to the requests filed by U.S. couples before the ban came in effect.
According to Taubman, the Washington administration does not agree to the adoption law, but it respects it because it is promoted by the Romanian government.
Furthermore, even the European Parliament passed a resolution last month asking that adoption requests that remained unsolved be addressed, underlined Taubman.
The issue was also discussed by the ambassador with Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu on Monday. Tariceanu explained to the ambassador that any request for inter-country adoption filed by U.S. couples is being analyzed by authorities and the results of the analysis will be transmitted to American officials.
When the new laws came in effect, a legal framework for the resuming of inter-country adoptions was set. However, the new provisions only allow international adoptions if the adopting couple is related to the child they want to adopt.
The laws also include restrictions referring to the child's age and other factors that may be of relevance in the adoption process.
During the ban, authorities received almost 1,400 requests for inter-country adoptions. After analyzing the requests, the Romanian Office for Adoptions (ORA) established that there were requests for the adoption of 1,100 children.
The requests are currently being evaluated, but there is little hope about a positive outcome of the cases. ORA head Theodora Bertzi recently said none of the 1,100 children would be adopted abroad and that the couples that filed adoption requests would be informed about the decision.
[ED: Why can't we resoect the laws of ther nations and take care of own kids??]
Alecs Iancu
The U.S. ambassador reminded the Bucharest officials the country needs to keep its promise as far as adoptions are concerned. He also tackled the Transylvania highway matter.
Romania must respect its pledge to resolve inter-country adoption cases, in spite of the virtual ban of all inter-country adoptions after new laws came in effect last year, said the U.S. ambassador.
"The American government believes the Romanian government has made several promises regarding the adoption of children by American families and this promise (...) must be respected," said U.S. Ambassador Nicholas F. Taubman during a press conference yesterday.
After new adoption laws came in effect at the beginning of last year, Romania banned international adoptions except in cases when the adopting couple and the child are closely blood related.
The move, which came following EU criticism of previous, "too permissive" laws, angered several countries whose residents had begun adoption procedures of Romanian orphans. The U.S. has repeatedly criticized the new legislation and asked authorities to review it in order to allow a favorable solution at least to the requests filed by U.S. couples before the ban came in effect.
According to Taubman, the Washington administration does not agree to the adoption law, but it respects it because it is promoted by the Romanian government.
Furthermore, even the European Parliament passed a resolution last month asking that adoption requests that remained unsolved be addressed, underlined Taubman.
The issue was also discussed by the ambassador with Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu on Monday. Tariceanu explained to the ambassador that any request for inter-country adoption filed by U.S. couples is being analyzed by authorities and the results of the analysis will be transmitted to American officials.
When the new laws came in effect, a legal framework for the resuming of inter-country adoptions was set. However, the new provisions only allow international adoptions if the adopting couple is related to the child they want to adopt.
The laws also include restrictions referring to the child's age and other factors that may be of relevance in the adoption process.
During the ban, authorities received almost 1,400 requests for inter-country adoptions. After analyzing the requests, the Romanian Office for Adoptions (ORA) established that there were requests for the adoption of 1,100 children.
The requests are currently being evaluated, but there is little hope about a positive outcome of the cases. ORA head Theodora Bertzi recently said none of the 1,100 children would be adopted abroad and that the couples that filed adoption requests would be informed about the decision.
[ED: Why can't we resoect the laws of ther nations and take care of own kids??]
# posted by Senior Mom @ 12:30 PM 
