On April 6, the House approved, 428-0, a resolution (H. Res. 578) that would urge the Government of Romania to amend its child welfare and adoption laws and allow intercountry adoptions by persons other than biological grandparents. The House International Relations Committee approved the resolution on March 15 (see The Source, 3/17/06).
Resolution sponsor Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) said that “between 1990 and 2004…more than 8,000 Romanian children found permanent families in the United States and thousands more joined families in Western Europe and elsewhere. This possibility is now gone. Some Romanians and Europeans argue that this law, this misguided law, is somehow consistent with the Hague Convention on the Intercountry Adoptions and the Rights of the Child Convention. They also allege that ‘there is little scope, if any, for international adoptions in Romania because there are so few children who are legally adoptable.’” He went on to add that the law “is a denunciation of the child welfare system, which now places such an unrealistic priority on unification with blood relatives that it is nearly impossible to determine [if] any child is adoptable, no matter how old and how long they have been in state care without contact with their blood relatives.”
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) stated, “No one doubts that there have been serious problems regarding the international adoption situation in Romania since the earlier 1990s. Exorbitant fees and false medical information, in some cases, have blazed across the media, and the Romanian moratorium on international adoptions that was instituted in 2001 may well have been a wise move, although children in mid-process were caused needless suffering. Rather than creating a pause and developing a new system, Romania has instituted a new law that virtually prohibits international adoptions. Clearly, we all support children remaining in their home countries, being integrated into their own societies. However, where there are not enough willing parents, international adoption is one way to address the best needs of the orphan child.”
