CALLS TO ACTION

Ethica responds to Center for Adoption Policy and New York Law School’s discussion of Ethica’s legislative proposal to combat trafficking for the purposes of adoption

Below is a letter Ethica submitted in follow up to the Center for Adoption Policy and the New York Law School’s recent discussion of Ethica’s legislative proposal to combat trafficking for the purposes of adoption.  Ethica continues to encourage organizations to assist us in working to combat trafficking in adoption, especially utilizing legislative approaches that [...]

Welcoming our newest board member

Dear friends, Ethica is thrilled to announce that our board is adding a new member.  Farnad J. Darnell is an active member of the adoption community as a researcher, educator, and staunch advocate for justice in adoption.  As an adoptee, he has recently become more involved in the adoption community through regular contributions to the [...]

 

Adoption Alerts

Guatemala: USDOS Adoption Notice – Guatemala Update

From the US Department of State: Guatemala May 14, 2012 Notice: Guatemala Update This Adoption Notice is a follow up to the Notice of December 12, 2011. Universal List In March 2012, after months of meetings to gather information, U.S. officials presented a list of known pending cases to Guatemalan officials.  This list is a [...]

Kazakhstan: USDOS Adoption Notice – Adoptions from Kazakhstan to Begin With Approval of U.S. ASPs

From the US Department of State: Adoption Notice: Adoptions from Kazakhstan to Begin With Approval of U.S. ASPs The Ministry of Education and Science, the Central Authority of Kazakhstan, has confirmed approval of two U.S. accredited adoption service providers (ASPs) to process Hague Convention adoptions from Kazakhstan to the United States. The ASPs are:  Little [...]

Ethiopia: USDOS Adoption Notice – Summary of Adoption Service Provider Meeting with the U.S. Embassy

From the US Department of State: Ethiopia May 10, 2012 Notice: Summary of Adoption Service Provider Meeting with the U.S. Embassy In response to several requests for written summaries of the adoption service provider meetings held by the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, the Office of Children’s Issues posts this notice to provide interested parties [...]

Haiti: USDOS Adoption Alert – Temporary Suspension of New Adoption Cases

From The US Department of State: Haiti May 4, 2012 Alert: Temporary Suspension of New Adoption Cases Haiti’s adoption authority, l’Institut du Bien Être Social et de Recherches (IBESR), informed U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince that it will suspend processing of new adoption cases effective May 7, 2012. IBESR indicated that the suspension will enable it to [...]

In The News

Despite Progress, Forced-Adoption Practices Persist Throughout the United States

From RH Reality Check: This year has been a good year so far for an international community of mothers seeking redress for millions of forced adoptions that took place in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. In February, Australian legislators announced a plan to apologize for the coercive practices that unnecessarily separated thousands of families during [...]

Guatemala: US refuses to return snatched girl

From the Huffington Post: A Guatemalan official says the U.S. government has said it won’t return a girl adopted after being snatched from her Guatemalan mother in 2006, because the two countries had not signed the Hague Abduction Convention at the time. Guatemala’s Foreign Relations Ministry quotes the U.S. State Department as saying the two [...]

Sierra Leone: The Stolen Makeni Children

From Slate: …last month the commission released its findings and concluded that the “so-called adoptions” were fraudulent. In the commission’s words, the biological families “cannot be said to have genuinely consented” to the adoptions, as they did not understand the concept of giving up their children forever; had never signed any agreement to relinquish their [...]

Adoption Privacy Rules Hamper Obtaining A Florida ID

From FCN (NBC): 21 year old Jessie Walker said she’s persona non grata. “I’ve never had a driver license or state ID. I’ve never been able to obtain one,” she said. She said her many attempts to get a state ID have all been rejected. “(I’ve tried) North Carolina, Raleigh, Fayetteville, Raiford, Charlotte. Florida I’ve [...]

Utah woman, adopted from India, faces likely deportation after losing appeal

From The Salt Lake Tribune: Kairi Shepherd was an orphan living in India when a Utah woman adopted her in 1982 — a seemingly good turn of luck for the 3-month-old, which included her obtaining legal permanent resident status in the United States. But when she was 8, her adoptive mother died of cancer. When [...]

Some Utah adoption agencies ‘coach’ mothers to take rights from fathers

From 9News (NBC): After a Colorado father went through four years of legal battles to get custody of his daughter – who was put up for adoption without his consent – 9NEWS uncovered evidence of a system in Utah where agencies are coaching mothers to deceive fathers out of their parental rights. Utah adoption lawyer [...]

 

Articles and Resources

Despite Progress, Forced-Adoption Practices Persist Throughout the United States

From RH Reality Check: This year has been a good year so far for an international community of mothers seeking redress for millions of forced adoptions that took place in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. In February, Australian legislators announced a plan to apologize for the coercive practices that unnecessarily separated thousands of families during [...]

Guatemala: USDOS Adoption Notice – Guatemala Update

From the US Department of State: Guatemala May 14, 2012 Notice: Guatemala Update This Adoption Notice is a follow up to the Notice of December 12, 2011. Universal List In March 2012, after months of meetings to gather information, U.S. officials presented a list of known pending cases to Guatemalan officials.  This list is a [...]