Subcommittee Approves Resolution Concerning Adoption of Romanian Children

On February 14, the House International Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats approved, by voice vote, 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.

Sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

Between 1990 and 2004, United States citizens adopted more than 8,200 Romanian children, with a similar response from Western Europe;
Today, there are approximately 37,000 orphaned and abandoned children living in state institutions, an additional 49,000 living in temporary arrangements, such as foster care, and an unknown number of children living on the streets and in maternity and pediatric hospitals;
On June 21, 2004, the Parliament of Romania enacted Law 273/2004, which prohibits intercountry adoptions except by a child’s biological grandparent; and
Prior to enactment of Law 273/2004, 211 intercountry adoption cases were pending with the Government of Romania in which children had been matched with adoptive parents in the United States, and approximately 1,500 cases were pending in which children had been matched with prospective parents in Western Europe.In his opening remarks, Chair Elton Gallegly (R-CA) explained that “since the fall of Communism in 1989, there has been little improvement in the condition of Romanian children in state-run orphanages and other institutions. UNICEF [the United Nations Children’s Fund] has reported that more than 9,000 children are abandoned each year and according to the European Union approximately 49,000 children lack permanent houses. On January 1, 2005, a new law in Romania resulted in a prohibition on intercountry adoptions except in the rare case of a child’s biological grandparent. This law went into effect despite a waiting list of thousands of children without a mother or father.”