PEAR issues a Statement on American Families Caught Attempting Illegal DRC Exit UPDATED

“According to reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”), officials intercepted an attempt by three American adoptive families to remove their children from Congo without proper authorization (http://radiookapi.net/actualite/2014/09/14/trafic-denfants-la-dgm-demantele-un-reseau-dirige-par-un-citoyen-americain/).  This news story has been reported as “child selling” or trafficking by DRC news outlets (http://youtu.be/Ym4kecKFvIM).  PEAR understands that the three families in question had legally adopted the seven affected children according to DRC regulations, that they had US visas, and that they were attempting to take the children from the country without the permission of the Congolese government in the form of the mandatory exit letter from Congolese immigration (known by its acronym “DGM”).  The seven children are all believed to be in the custody of the Congolese government; the American adoptive parents had all left the country prior to the police operation.  Congolese news has reported that one American, M. Jessy Samuel, was implicated in the scheme.

In September 2013, the Congolese government announced a one-year suspension on the issuance of exit permits.(http://travel.state.gov/content/adoptionsabroad/en/country-information/alerts-and-notices/DRC9-27-13.html).  In April 2014, the US Embassy stated that the Congolese government was aware that at least five American adoptive families had taken their children out of the country without exit permits (http://travel.state.gov/content/adoptionsabroad/en/country-information/alerts-and-notices/DRC4-28-14.html).  We have been informed that many more than five adoptive families have taken their adopted children from Congo without the proper authorization during the suspension, which may have happened with agency complicity and/or through the payment of bribes. In the present case, it is not believed that any adoption agencies were involved in the attempted illegal exit.

Given that the Congolese government has officially stated that no exit letters will be issued until such time as the suspension is lifted, PEAR does not believe that the United States Embassy in Kinshasa should be issuing any entry visas, as this deliberately contravenes current DRC policy and puts prospective parents in the difficult position of having children that are “legally” adopted in DRC and permitted to enter the U.S., but are unable to leave the country under until such time as the suspension is lifted.

As such, PEAR calls on the US Embassy in Kinshasa to immediately cease the issuance of entry visas until such time as the suspension is lifted.  Continuing to issue visas during the suspension will only encourage adoptive parents to attempt to circumvent Congolese laws to remove their adopted children from the country.

We also call on members of the adoption lobby, DRC prospective parents, adoption bloggers, and adoption agencies to be truthful in their knowledge of the issued exit letters, of any “underground” routes that may have been used to illegally remove adoptees from DRC, and to advocate for a fully transparent and legitimate adoption process. We would also remind all adoptive parents with legally adopted children in DRC of the risks of attempting an illegal exit from DRC, and that a valid exit letter from DGM in Kinshasa is required in order for your children to legally exit Congo.”[Rally emphasis]
 http://pear-now.blogspot.com/2014/09/american-families-caught-attempting.html

We agree with this statement!

“Jessy Samuel, an American citizen living in the Democratic Republic of Congo is involved in a network of child trafficking. The Directorate General of Migration (DGM) revealed Saturday, Sept. 13 in a statement to the press. According to Deputy Director of the Border Police to migration, Bonaventure Ibanda, this American is working with a Congolese living in the United States, Gauthier Mukoko.
Bonaventure Ibanda says seven children, four of Kananga and Kinshasa three aged two to eight years recovered by the service, were preparing to leave the DRC by Kasumbalesa in Katanga for the United States.
“He brought four children Kananga for Kinshasa. And here in the capital, he again recruited three children. All these children were entrusted to Ms. Ntshuvi Dodi who took 4 children. And it will leave other three children his niece Muembo Chatty, “said he said.
Bonaventure Ibanda said these two women arranged to make fake parental permission in Lingwala to help facilitate the travel of those children to Lubumbashi documents.
“They went out from Kinshasa to Lubumbashi on September 6. Once there, they were greeted by a Donat Sadiki, “said he added.
The Assistant Director of Border Police of the DGM said Mr. Gauthier, resident in the United States has a transport company in Zambia mainly in the city of Kitue.
This is Kitue that these children should get to fly to the United States of America.
But this trip was not made ​​through the service of the DGM.
Some fugitives are MMD for investigation to identify the parents of these children, six girls and one boy.
There are about a year, 13 children have escaped a network of human trafficking in Kinshasa. These children, ranging in age from 1 to 10, are from the province of Bandundu.”

http://radiookapi.net/actualite/2014/09/14/trafic-denfants-la-dgm-demantele-un-reseau-dirige-par-un-citoyen-americain/ [Google-Translated]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 Update: Be sure to click on the story to see the deleted Facebook posts.

“At least one U.S. citizen —and possibly more—has been implicated in a child-trafficking scandal in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) while allegedly trying to smuggle kids out of the African country for the purpose of adoption, according to local press reports.

Radio Okapi reported this week that Congolese authorities have implicated a U.S. citizen identified as M. Samuel Jessy in an attempt to illegally smuggle seven children —six girls and one boy, ages 2-8 — across the DRC’s southern border into Zambia in an attempt to expedite their delivery to families in the United States. It’s not clear whether the American has been detained. A Congolese citizen who lives in the U.S. and two women in the capital city of Kinshasa were also reportedly involved in the smuggling operation.

The children who were being smuggled are thought to be in custody of the Congolese government.

U.S. authorities won’t confirm the reports. “Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to share further information at this time,” a U.S. State Department official said.

An after-hours call to the DRC’s Direction Générale de Migration was not immediately returned.

The illicit practice of smuggling children across the DRC’s borders has reportedly been going on for years, sources tell Fusion.

“It’s a word-of-mouth referral system,” an adoptive parent told Fusion on the condition of anonymity. “The [Americans] have the children brought through Lubumbashi instead of Kinshasa. It’s $2,500 for fees and services, and a $750 donation… They do it in groups of four…. there was another trip scheduled for this Sunday, but because of the bust, they’re postponing trips until December.”

She added, “Nobody’s willing to talk publicly about it. No one wants to be the one to shut down adoptions forever from the DRC.”

Adoption advocates are concerned that the recent scandal could bring unwanted attention to the cross-border smuggling network. During a private conference call on the morning of Sept. 17, an adoption lobbying group warned adoptive American families to keep their mouths shut and maintain “absolute discretion” about adoptions in the DRC.[Hmmm.. wonder who gave a private conference call? ]

According to one adoptive parent on the call, the group’s spokeswoman warned that talking to the press about the situation might trigger a cascade of “radioactive” publicity similar to what happened in 2010, when American Laura Silsby and eight others were caught smuggling 33 children out of Haiti.

Fusion reached out to the organization for comment, but calls were not returned by press time.

It’s unclear if the Congolese government will attempt to question the American families that were trying to adopt the children. Radio Okapti reports that authorities are trying to determine which American families are linked to the seven children.

“We were not advised, consulted, informed nor participants in any way,” Kelly Carmody, director of the adoption agency A Love Beyond Borders, told Fusion. She would not confirm if the Americans involved in the smuggling scandal had been matched with Congolese children through her agency.

“It can happen easily that an agency doesn’t know when a family does something foolish, shortsighted, selfish and illegal,” she said. “A family might just go underground, off the radar and they lie to the agency and others to cover their trail.“

Over the past few years, the popularity of adopting Congolese children has surged in the United States. Between 2010 and 2013, the U.S Department of State reports that adoptions from the DRC increased by 645 percent”

The boom has led to problems. Last April, the DRC informed the U.S State Department that five U.S. families had illegally removed children from the DRC without exit permits. The State Department advised Americans that the DRC would be applying a greater levels of scrutiny to international adoptions.

Congolese authorities say they’ve received reports of “many” American families breaking Congolese law by trying to adopt more than three Congolese children simultaneously, and of Americans removing children from the DRC without attending all required court hearings.

The DRC issued a general ban on exit permits last September. Currently, no Congolese child in an adoption process to the U.S is permitted to leave the country.

Still, many U.S agencies have continued to encourage the adoption of Congolese children even after the ban.

“No one would take responsibility for stopping this when it should have been stopped,” said Gina Pollock, former president of the U.S. advocacy organization Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform. She says rumors of Americans “sneaking kids out” of the DRC have circulated for years.”

American implicated in Congo child-smuggling ring[Fusion 9/19/14 by Erin Siegel McIntyre]

Update 2: From http://radiookapi.net/actualite/2014/09/26/rdc-la-dgm-maintient-linterdiction-de-ladoption-internationale-des-enfants/ [Google Translated 9/26/14],

“While the duration of the ban on international adoptions of Congolese children ends soon, the General Directorate of Migration (DGM) announces the continuation of this decision in October last year to one year. In a statement released Thursday, Sept. 25 in Kinshasa, CMD indicates that this decision stands “until further notice”.

In October 2013, the Director General of CMD, François Beya, explained its decision to suspend international adoptions of Congolese children following information on adoptions or even seconds of adopted children in the DRC trafficking.

At the time, the figures provided by the DGM indicated that 1,106 Congolese adopted children had left the country to join adoptive parents in 15 foreign countries between 2009 and 2013 What makes an average of about two hundred children who left country each year during this period. Belgium reports do we in MMD, the maximum is twenty children adopted each year.
Surveys indicate that some MMD adopted children in the DRC have been abandoned by their adoptive parents or sold to other parents. Which is prohibited under Congolese law.
To avoid any slippage in adoption, Branch migration estimates it takes serious investigations before adopting a Congolese child.
The service announced on September 13 the dismantling of a network of child trafficking led by an American named Samuel Jessy who lives in Kinshasa. It would work with Gauthier Mukoko, a Congolese living in the United States of America.”