Liberia, Moldova Halt International Adoptions

The countries of Liberia and Moldova announced bans on international adoptions this week pending invesitgations into allegations of fraud and child mistreatment. The African News reported the following excerpt from the address of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the National Legislature on Monday, January 26, 2009: “The gross mismanagement of the adoption program (which aims primarily at placing orphans in …

DOS Notice on Sierra Leone: Nov 28, 2008

Sierra LeoneAdoption Notice U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATEBureau of Consular AffairsOffice of Children’s Issues_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ October 28, 2008 U.S. Embassy Offers Orphan First Program Due to the high rate of adoption fraud in Sierra Leone, the U.S. Embassy in Dakar is offering prospective adopting parents the opportunity for a preliminary, unofficial review of a child’s orphan status. Under the “Orphan First” pilot …

UPDATE: Call to Action Vietnam – USCIS Warning

UPDATE: Call to Action Vietnam On Friday, April 25, 2008, the US Embassy in Hanoi took the unprecedented step of releasing a detailed “Summary of Irregularities in Adoptions in Vietnam” about the adoption corruption their recent investigations uncovered in Vietnam. The text of this summary can be found at: http://vietnam.usembassy.gov/irreg_adoptions042508.html This summary followed an earlier warning not initiate adoptions from …

UPDATE: Call to Action Vietnam – USCIS Warning

The US Embassy in Hanoi has issued the following warning for adoption from Vietnam: ADOPTED CHILDREN IMMIGRANT VISA UNIT Warning Concerning Adoptions in Vietnam April 2008The Department of State continues to urge prospective adoptive parents and adoption service providers not to initiate new adoptions from Vietnam at this time. The 2005 Memorandum of Agreement, required by Vietnamese law to authorize …

Have a Heart – Support Ethica’s “Operation Identity”

In honor of Valentine’s Day, PEAR is asking the adoptive family community to support and assist in Ethica’s Operation Identity: Cooperating to Protect the Identity of Vietnamese Orphans. Identifying information is extremely important to adopted persons, it is important to all persons. As adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents, it is our duty to preserve and protect our child’s identity. …

On Monday, January 28, the DOS issued a warning adoptions from Vietnam: (travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3939.html) Ethica then published their statement about the status of adoption from Vietnam. (http://www.ethicanet.org/item.php?recordid=vietnam&pagestyle=default). PEAR commends and fully supports both the DOS and Ethica for their efforts to oversee that adoptions between the US and Vietnam are done in an ethical and transparent manner. We are in agreement …