Fifty-Four Romanian Children Adopted Abroad

“Though restrictive, Romanian legislation does not completely ban international adoptions, and 54 Romanian children were adopted by foreign citizens since the enforcement of Law 273/2005, said Bogdan Panait, state secretary with the Romanian Office for Adoptions (ORA).

“I want to make some things clear, because they must be very well understood: we allow international adoptions. At this moment, international adoption means that – let’s say – an uncle or grandfather living abroad wants to adopt his nephew or grandson from Romania, who entered under the incidence of adoption because of various reasons; he may do it, and it is an international adoption. It is considered as such because the child changes the state, the request is made in the respective state so, under the Convention of Hague, it is an international adoption. (…) Foreign citizens may adopt children if they can prove that they lived five years on Romanian soil. There is another law that sets the criteria for the adoption of a Romanian child by foreign citizens (the Law of Citizenship),” Panait explained, quoted by Mediafax.

The official admitted that Romania is about the only country in this part of Europe that did not liberalise international adoptions, unlike countries like Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland or the Czech Republic.”
Panait: 54 Children Were Adopted by Foreign Citizens
[Nine O Clock News 6/8/11]

US Department of State statistics show that 12 children were placed to the US between FY2005 and FY2009.

REFORM Puzzle Piece