An independent voice for ethical adoption
Ethica Founder and President Trish Maskew Departing; Successor Named
Silver Spring, Md.–Trish Maskew, president of Ethica, Inc., a nonprofit organization that advocates for ethical adoption practices, is leaving the group she founded in 2002. Melissa Griebel, current vice-president and director of domestic policy, will succeed Maskew as President on June 20, 2008.
Maskew is leaving Ethica’s Board of Directors to accept a position at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, where she will begin working this fall. Read More Here
Suspension on Zambian Children Lifted
On May 15, 2008, the Government of Zambia officially ended the suspension on the adoption of Zambian children by foreign parents. The Ministry of Community Development and Social Welfare has not announced its revised intercountry adoption procedures to date. Until the Ministry finalizes their procedures, it is premature for prospective adoptive parents to make arrangements to come to Zambia to continue with their adoption. The U.S. Embassy in Lusaka is in consultation with the Ministry and will post further updates on this website once they are available. Read More Here
U.S. Department of State Vietnam Adoptions Fact Sheet
The United States and Vietnam enjoy a rapidly expanding bilateral relationship. In some areas our growing cooperation is bolstered by bilateral agreements.
Vietnamese law requires that countries whose citizens wish to adopt orphans from Vietnam negotiate and sign a formal agreement with the Government of Vietnam. The United States and Vietnam signed an agreement in 2005. Over the course of 28 months (January 2006 to April 2008), 1403 orphans adopted from Vietnam were issued visas to the United States. According to Vietnamese officials, several thousand adoption cases are currently pending.
The Government of Vietnam has been unable to comply with the 2005 Agreement as planned, and cases have frequently been tainted by corruption due to weaknesses in the Vietnamese adoption system. The U.S. and Vietnamese governments have agreed the current agreement cannot be renewed when it expires in September 2008. We will continue to encourage Vietnam to join the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions and to undertake measures that will advance Vietnam’s ability to meet Hague obligations. Read More Here
Nepal Introduces New Intercountry Adoption Terms
On May 2, 2008, the Nepali Cabinet approved new terms and conditions to govern the intercountry adoption process, but it is not yet known when adoptions may resume. The legislation also stipulates that adoptive families who had been matched with a child prior to June 15, 2007 may be processed under the terms and conditions which were in effect at that time. Read More Here
N.C. Mom Convicted of Killing Son, 4
A Johnston County jury today convicted Lynn Paddock of first-degree murder in the death of her 4-year-old son, Sean.
The verdict carried an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole….
Sean was the youngest of six children the Paddocks adopted from 1996
through 2005 with the help of the private adoption agency Children’s
Home Society. The surviving children testified about horrifying,
humiliating abuse. Read More Here
Tallahassee Lawyer Suspended in Adoption Case
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A lawyer who knowingly submitted false
information in an adoption case was suspended for three years Thursday
by the Florida Supreme Court, although two dissenting justices said she
should have been disbarred.
The
majority justices in the 5-2 ruling acknowledged Joyce Sibson Dove’s
ethics violations ordinarily would deserve disbarment, but they cited
mitigating factors.
Those included the Tallahassee lawyer’s lack
of a prior disciplinary record, community service such as helping
Ukrainian hospitals and orphanages bring sick children to the United
States for treatment, and her remorse and rehabilitation since the
2002 violations.
In dissent, Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis wrote
that it was among the most flagrant cases of lawyer misconduct the high
court has ever reviewed because it affected vulnerable children
and families. Read More Here
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