January 2006 from the JCICS Files

China By 2006, the reasons for increasing waiting times for China referrals were clear to the JCICS.

“Wait times for a referral have increased to approximately 9-10 months for a variety of reasons
*domestic adoption is rising, domestic families pay a $5,000 orphanage donation and have a faster adoption process
*the number of dossiers has doubled to approximately 400-500/mo,
*abandonment rates have been reduced due to a strengthened Chinese economy.”

These 3 reasons are as strong as ever in 2011. Waits now are at least 5 to 6 years, if not more. This clearly shows an increase in demand for a dwindling supply of legally available children to internationally adopt. We are not saying that children in China are not in need any more–just that legally available children for international adoption are very limited, yet agencies continue to sign up scores of clients.

RussiaThe JCICS concerns were competition with the NCFA and business closures, not corruption and fraud perpetrated upon PAPs.

“A group of accredited agencies met in November before the conference held in Worcester. They have selected NCFA as their spokesperson. The latest concern is what the reaction in Russia will be now that an article has been published in Moscow regarding the investigation/closure of Yunona.”

PoundPup Legacy covers who and what Yunona was and did extensively here: http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/10556.

Ukraine
At this time, a moratorium was in place. Ukraine required adoptive parents to send in yearly post-placement reports to Ukraine until the child reaches 18 years of age. “One reason for the extended delay are the approximately 900 missing post placement reports.”

Rally needs to point out that sometimes, when adoptive parents have issues with their agency, the only way they can show their displeasure is by not sending in post-placement reports. This has a negative impact on the agency. Of course there is concern about the welfare of the adoptee when post-placement reports are not sent in. This illustrates the large disconnect that occurs with adoptive parents and agencies post-adoption.

Kazakhstan
The quality of in-country representatives was already being questioned in early 2006. PAP recruitment went on, though. Kazakhstan will go on to have major problems in their program including a shutdown in late 2010.

“They also expressed concerns about in-country representatives that agencies are selecting. They feel that not all of them are well versed in international adoption and some of the representatives are not very professional.”

India
The JCICS business entitlement was clear in these notes. They lamented, “Very few adoptions are taking place right now and have decreased by around 20% since this time last year. This is difficult to process given that the Indian government reports 12.4 million orphans. Non-government voices indicate there may actually be as many as 40 million.”

Sorry, but just because a country has orphans, does not mean that they have to place them to the US! This business entitlement shines through in the JCICS support of the FFOA legislation that still is in play in 2011. FFOA would allow US groups to survey orphans in foreign countries and then have decision-making power in domestic and international adoptive placements and also tie that to humanitarian aid. You have heard of the UN “Oil for Food” scandal? Rally likes to title this legislation as the “Orphans for Food” scandal. The fact that most of the money that would be allocated for this effort would go to adoption agencies and not the children in the foreign countries merely adds salt to the wounds of those in need. (See http://pear-now.blogspot.com/search/label/Families%20for%20Orphans%20Act for a history of this legislation.)

Guatemala
It is downright shocking to read that the JCICS nonchalantly labeled pure corruption as a “communication” issue.

“There are continued communication problems. One issue is that attorneys are now buying numbered places in line.”

Korea
The marketing of Asian countries was that there are so many girls in need of placement. Additionally, Korea had been marketed as having a lot of healthy children available. By 2006, the JCICS was fully aware that “There are more boys available than girls, and a higher percentage of referrals have high risk medical information than ever before.”

Again they lamented about the strengthening economy and continued openness of local people to adopt. “Domestic adoption is increasing…”

They also mention KAAN http://www.kaanet.com/, the Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network. 100,000 Korean children of the 200,000 adopted internationally have been placed to the US. The JCICS was watching activities of various Korean groups because of their successful efforts of lobbying for transparency or closing of international adoption. In September 2009, The US Department of State website was updated http://adoption.state.gov/country/south%20korea.html with the following:

“Please Note: U.S. citizens who are considering adoption in the South Korea should be aware that the Korean government has expressed its intent to eliminate the need for intercountry adoption of Korean orphans by 2012 by encouraging domestic adoption of all Korean orphans. In support of this policy, the Korean government has established specific numerical quotas for international adoptions that are currently being reduced by 10 percent each year. Prospective adoptive parents should consult carefully with their adoption service provider in light of current Korean adoption processing times and South Korea’s intention to end inter-country adoptions by 2012. For important updates please visit U.S. Embassy Seoul’s website. “

For a listing of Korea-based adoptee organizations and their efforts read this: http://www.seoulcityblog.com/2010/05/16/korean-adoptee-organizations-in-seoul/.

Haiti
The corruption was laid out even more clearly than it had been in the JCICS 2005 notes. “The caucus has been quiet. Rebecca shared that Dillon is putting their program on hold as their coordinator is tired of all the corruption. There are so many new agencies opening and paying bribes. Dillon will shift their focus to family preservation and sponsorship programs there.”

Corruption did not go away from 2006 to 2010. Hypocritically, after the Haiti earthquake, Dillon gladly accepted 882 preliminary applications for the Haiti program and are back in business with Haiti adoptions! http://texasbaptists.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/dillion-flooded-with-haitian-adoption-inquiries/.

For the full January minutes see http://poundpuplegacy.org/files/jcics/January%2026%202006%20Minutes_Final.doc.

For all 2005-2009 board meeting minutes, see http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/46329.

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