Kazakhstan Signs New Family and Marriage Code into Law; Pending Adoption Files to Be Returned for Re-Filing Under Hague UPDATED

Update 2: Opened May 10, 2012. Suspended August 9, 2012. 91 days. They are vying for the shortest opened time with Kyrgystan.Here is the DOS alert pasted below.

“August 21, 2012

Update 3: “Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry is against adoption of Kazakhstan children by foreign same-sex couples, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Director of the Consular Service Department of Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry Yryskali Daurenbek as saying at the national round-table meeting called Adoption in Kazakhstan.

“The issue that is of concern for me as a citizen of Kazakhstan and to all our people is that more and more countries are adopting legal acts that legalize same-sex marriages. That’s why I would like to apply to those agencies that accept documents for adoption from foreign citizens to not only study the papers of these people but also to also talk to them, so that we can make sure that our children don’t get to such ‘families’,” Yryskali Daurenbek said.

He continued that despite of the fact that the Marriage and Family Law of Kazakhstan clearly forbids adoption of children by such families, the attempts to do so have taken place and may happen again.

“Of course, we will all be responsible for the work we do. If we do our job poorly and a child ends up in such family it will be not good, both morally and in terms of observance of the Kazakhstan legislation,” Daurenbek said.

The Ministry’s representatives added that all documents Kazakhstan received as part of adoption application from foreign citizens at both initial and completion stages would be checked carefully to prevent adoption of children by same-sex couples.”
Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry against adoption of children by foreign same-sex couples [Tengri News 3/1/13 by Shynar Ospanova ]

Update 4: Kazakhstan has announced that it will not allow the US to adopt until it receives information about two adoptees that have been living at Ranch for Kids. See the entire analysis of the events leading up to this here.

Update 5/September 10, 2013

“Kazakhstan Senator Svetlana Dzhalmagambetova opposes the ban on adoption of Kazakhstan children by foreign nationals, Tengrinews.kz reports.

“I believes that we should not legislatively ban adoption of Kazakhstan children by foreigners. This is, first of all, a violation of the democracy principles. Secondly, we will not solve the problem with the ban alone. We have to have every Kazakhstan orphan raised in a family. Of course, preferably in a Kazakhstan family. But unfortunately, not all Kazakhstan citizens are ready to raise adopted children in their families. We have introduced a system of financial support to adopting families. But still not all the Kazakhstan orphans are raised in Kazakhstan families,” the Senator said on the sidelines of the forum timed to the Family Day.

“One or two cases should not be made the indicators defining the general situation with the adopted children,” she stressed.

“The only thing we have to do is control every child adopted by citizens of other countries. We have to pay attention. This should be done by the authorities that approve the adoption and of course by our Foreign Ministry. These children become citizens of other countries only when they turn 18. Until that time they remain our citizens. That’s why we have to control how the children are brought up in the foreign families,” the deputy said.

“Unfortunately, our law does not provide for liability towards foreign adopting families. They can be brought to liability only under the laws of their country,” she added.

Earlier Kazakhstan Senate deputy Gani Kassymov suggested to return all the children adopted by foreign citizens back to Kazakhstan.

Earlier Tengrinews.kz English reported that an American couple was convicted in the U.S. of raping two children adopted from Kazakhstan.

For more information see: http://en.tengrinews.kz/laws_initiatives/Kazakhstan-senator-deems-foreign-adoption-ban-undemocratic-22452/
Use of the Tengrinews English materials must be accompanied by a hyperlink to en.Tengrinews.kz”

Kazakhstan senator deems foreign adoption ban undemocratic

[Tengri News 9/6/13]

Update 6/September 24, 2013

“U.S. Special Advisor for Children’s Issues, Ambassador Susan Jacobs will travel to the Netherlands, France, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan from September 16-27, 2013, the U.S. State Department reported.

“From September 23-24, Ambassador Jacobs will meet with Kazakhstani government officials to discuss mutual concerns about the welfare of Kazakhstani children adopted by U.S. citizens and the Kazakhstani government’s suspension of adoptions to the United States,” the U.S. Department said.

The trip will end with her second visit this year to Kyrgyzstan to press for resolution of adoption cases that have been pending since 2008. She will also discuss with government officials the resumption of adoptions generally.”

U.S. Special Advisor to discuss children adoption issues in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

[Trend 9/17/13 by E. Kosolapova]

“Kazakhstan has requested the U.S. Department of State to provide information on the children adopted from Kazakhstan, Tengrinews reports citing the chairman of the Commission for Children’s Rights Protection of Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science Raissa Sher.

According to her, the meeting of the Special Advisor for Children’s Issues of the U.S. Department of State Susan Jacobs, Adoption Division Chief David Mico and representatives of the U.S. Consulate with representatives of the Kazakhstan Commission for Children’s Rights Protection and Kazakhstan General Prosecutor’s Office was held today, on September 23. And meetings with representative of the U.S. Department of Justice and social services will be held in the United States next week. They will discuss ways of tracking and checking the information on the underground Internet network trading children adopted from Kazakhstan and other countries.

“A commission will be formed to make the check. Besides, an agreement was reached at the meeting that the U.S. Department of State will be taking part in detection of adoptive families that fail to observe their obligations towards their adopted children, including cases of re-adoption or relocation to specialized institutions. There will be work groups consisting of representative of the competent authorities of Kazakhstan and the United States. They will meet annually to discuss international adoption issues and establish interaction,” the official said.

She added that Kazakhstan passed the list of the children adopted by U.S. citizens from Kazakhstan: the total of around 6 thousand children since the year 2000. “The main purpose of this list is to obtain the State Department’s support and access to additional information on the living conditions of the children adopted from Kazakhstan,” Raissa Sher stressed. The temporary ban on foreign adoption is still in effect in Kazakhstan.

Earlier this month Reuters uncovered an American online network doing what they call “private re-homing”. The network was used to exchange adopted children – mostly originating from foreign countries, but 30% of the kids are Americans – who were no longer wanted by their adoptive parents for one reason or another. Some of the kids were even traded for clearly sexual purposes. Some of the kids adopted from Kazakhstan were among the victims of the “exchange””

Kazakhstan and US State Department forming commission to check into US online children trade network

[Tengri News 9/23/13 byAssemgul Kassenova]

Update 7: US DOS gives notice February 7:

See http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_alerts_notices.php?alert_notice_type=notices&alert_notice_file=kazakhstan_4 and pasted below:

“Notice:Kazakhstan requires post-adoption reports

This adoption notice is a reminder to adoption service providers and adoptive parents that Kazakhstan requires post-adoption reports including information on the general welfare, education, upbringing, and health of Kazakhstani children adopted by U.S. families. In accordance with Kazakhstani family law, parents who adopt Kazakhstani children must provide post-placement reports every six months for the first three years after the adoption is finalized and then once a year until the child is 18 years old. The reports should be sent to:

Visa and Consular Section
Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan
1401 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

For more information about the contents of the reports, please contact the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan or your adoption agency. We urge you to comply with Kazakhstan’s post-adoption requirements in a timely manner. Your adoption agency may be able to help you with this process. Your cooperation will contribute to Kazakhstan’s history of positive experiences with American parents.”