Reading Into the Numbers

Posted by ethica on December 20, 2007 at 4:10pm

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The U.S. Department of State has released preliminary statistics for orphan visas issued in 2007 (below). This is the only way to track international adoptions although technically the visa data tracks the immigration of the children to the U.S., not their adoptions. Their adoptions can either be finalized in-country or here in the U.S., depending on the country's adoption laws and what kind of visas the children qualify for. Despite this, these statistics are the most reliable indicators of trends in international adoptions by U.S. citizens.

Some things to note in the table below are the jumps in numbers from a handful of countries. Some are experiencing stricter adoption requirements, new adoption agency licensing procedures, push to increase domestic adoptions, and/or other economic improvements which could explain the decrease in adoptions (China, Russia, and S. Korea). We can see the trickle effects as families pursue adoptions in countries with more flexible requirements and/or stable adoption laws (Vietnam, Ethiopia). But we need to examine the numbers more closely.

For example there's concern over Vietnamese adoptions increasing from 163 adoptions in 2006 to 626 adoptions this year given the recent U.S. Embassy statement on babies being sold into adoption. The rapid rate of Vietnamese adoptions cannot be accounted for and indications are pointing to a similar situation that led to the moratorium of Vietnamese adoptions from 2003-2005. At 626 adoptions this year, we are close to numbers on the eve of the moratorium which were 726 in 2002. Of course adoptions only resumed in 2005 with agencies being licensed later that year and into 2006. However taking into account the Embassy's statement and reports of 50 children a month being referred from Phu Tho province alone, it's understandable why there's increased scrutiny over Vietnamese adoptions. The U.S. Department of State keeps a close eye on the rate of adoptions and focuses on sudden increases that can be attributed to irregularities in the adoption process. Where are these children coming from? Why now? What are the forces driving these adoptions?

Next year's numbers should prove to be even more interesting as we expect Chinese adoptions to be influenced by the Olympics, Guatemala closing adoptions in January, and the Memorandum of Understanding being renegotiated between the U.S. and Vietnam in March. Will Ethiopian adoptions continue at this rate? Will African adoptions eventually eclipse Asian adoptions? Hopefully we will have access to more statistics for gender and age at the time of adoption to shed some light as to what might be driving all of these trends.

	FY2007	FY2006	FY2005
1	5,453 CHINA (Mainland)	6,493 CHINA (Mainland)	7,906 CHINA (Mainland)
2	4,728 GUATEMALA	4,135 GUATEMALA	4,639 RUSSIA
3	2,207 RUSSIA	3,706 RUSSIA	3,783 GUATEMALA
4	1,255 ETHIOPIA	1,376 S. KOREA	1,630 S. KOREA
5	959 OTHER	732 ETHIOPIA	821 UKRAINE
6	939 S. KOREA	587 KAZAKHSTAN	755 KAZAKHSTAN
7	626 VIETNAM	460 UKRAINE	441 ETHIOPIA
8	606 UKRAINE	353 LIBERIA	323 INDIA
9	540 KAZAKHSTAN	344 COLOMBIA	291 COLOMBIA
10	416 INDIA	320 INDIA	271 PHILIPPINES
11	314 LIBERIA	309 HAITI	234 HAITI
12	311 CHINA (Taiwan Born)	245 PHILIPPINES	183 LIBERIA
13	310 COLOMBIA (/td)	187 CHINA (Taiwan Born)	141 CHINA (Taiwan Born)
14	265 PHILIPPINES	163 VIETNAM	88 MEXICO
15	190 HAITI	70 MEXICO	73 POLAND
16	89 MEXICO	67 POLAND	72 THAILAND
17	84 POLAND	66 BRAZIL	66 BRAZIL
18	0 ROMANIA	66 NEPAL	65 NIGERIA
19		62 NIGERIA	63 JAMAICA
20		56 THAILAND	62 NEPAL
TOTAL	19,292	20,679	22,728

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"...we began receiving death threats to ensure our silence."

We arrived in the country of our son's birth only to discover that our adoption was not complete, our child was ill, and serious allegations were being leveled against our adoption service providers. For the following four months, we cared for our child in a foreign hotel while trying to complete our adoption. As our journey unfolded, we were asked to provide information about our experience to the authorities and then we began receiving death threats to ensure our silence. We turned to the US Embassy, Congressional offices and even the White House for assistance, but our desperate pleas for help fell on deaf ears. Through a friend, we learned of Ethica and contacted them. Ethica not only helped to get us home in less than three weeks from the time that we first called them, they were in phone contact with us and the embassy many times each day, working to ensure our safety while they were working so hard to get us home. Years later when we were attempting to get our son's citizenship, we tried everything and everyone that we could think of (because we did not want to deter Ethica from the very important job of assisting other families in adoption crisis) but when everyone we had hired eventually gave up, we once again turned to Ethica, and with no surprise to us, they were able to help us when no one else could! We had his citizenship within a very short time of contacting Ethica. We will forever be indebted to Ethica, because how can you ever properly thank an organization for your lives and the life of your child? The R. Family

"...someone with no agenda."

Ethica's agenda has not changed since we were formed 5 years ago. We remain an independent voice for ethical adoptions, able to provide direct assistance to all adoption triad members as well as work on the policy level to ensure transparency and accountability. Our unique position allows us to work with adoption agencies, families, and state, federal, and international government officials. As a result we are fortunate to have success stories like the one below. In this case a family had engaged their adoption agency and both American and Vietnamese law firms to fight for their child. Ethica responded with no strings attached and we'd like to continue this with your support. "In 2007, my husband, myself and our young daughter traveled together to welcome a beautiful baby boy into our family. He was and remains a cheerful, sweet boy, and we all fell in love the moment we met. But four weeks after we completed the legal adoption of our son, we were devastated when the State Department issued us a NOID, refusing to grant our son his immigration visa. In the interview when we received the NOID, we were strongly encouraged to “refuse to be part of a corrupt system,” repudiate the adoption, and relinquish our son. We asked, but the embassy was unaware of any birth family searching for the child; instead we were encouraged to send our little boy back to the orphanage where we’d adopted him. Needless to say, we were horrified that representatives of the US government would suggest, in front of our daughter no less, that the best choice we could make would be to condemn this child to life in a rural orphanage in a third world country.

We didn’t know where to turn for help. Our agency at first promised faithfully to stand by us – and then told us they had a limited contractual obligation to help us in any real way. Our senator’s office brushed us off, “Please be assured that she will continue to assist you as well as the thousands of other constituents who contact her with their concerns, including active military and disabled veterans, elderly social security recipients, juvenile special immigrants who have been abused, and myriad others who have an urgent need for assistance.”

We were stranded in a foreign country, where the embassy had promised to make certain the NOID would stick, and the very people we were certain would advocate for us refused to do so. Because our daughter is school-aged, we were forced to split our family, one adult abroad with our baby boy, one in the US with our daughter.

That’s when we contacted Ethica. What a difference! Suddenly there was someone with no agenda, no ulterior motive (unless advocating for our family is an agenda). Over the next few months, Ethica contacted the high-ranking DOS and CIS officials who were overseeing our case, and as new developments occurred Ethica contacted these officials again. Even when Ethica had meetings with these officials that were not about us, they still made certain to remind them that our family was still separated, still waiting and still worried. Beyond that, Ethica got us in touch with people in other countries who could help us find housing and other families to talk to.

We knew of and admired Ethica’s work before we ever ran into trouble ourselves. One embassy official told us that their concern was for all the people of our son’s country, not for the individual child. That’s exactly what makes Ethica so important – they recognize you must care about both in order for either to have any meaning.

While we certainly would never have chosen the circumstances under which we got to know Ethica so well, we were certainly grateful they were on our side when we needed them."

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Dear Supporter. On this Mother's Day, the adoption community will

celebrate and honor first and adoptive mothers for the love and care they've provided to their children. These mothers might be blocks or oceans apart, but connected through a desire to ensure their children's well-being and futures. We at Ethica, ask that you help contribute to their legacies by supporting ethical adoptions, practices, and policies. Our work reminds us that motherhood through adoption has its challenges and sometimes, heartbreak. Unfortunately, adoptions can be tainted by questionable practices and the victimization of vulnerable members of the adoption triad. When problems arise, families and their advocates approach Ethica for guidance and assistance. Their stories speak for themselves: - An American mother calls, seeking help to recover her child, whose "adoption" she never consented to. - An anthropologist calls after interviewing ethnic

minority Vietnamese women who are desperatelysearching for their children. They had been given as little as $31 USD as “poverty alleviation support,” promised that their children will be returned to them in several years, and that until then the orphanage will provide for them. The children have been internationally adopted without their consent. - A family is stranded in Guatemala, abandoned by their adoption agency in the midst of new policy changes that essentially close adoptions while the country centralizes its process. - A young woman adopted from Eastern Europe, and then left in the U.S. foster care system, wonders if she is a citizen since she has no immigration paperwork and needs to apply for federal assistance. - Adopted children in an African orphanage tell their prospective adoptive parents about being sexually abused. As a result they are denied food, and the orphanage threatens to stop their adoptions. - An adoption agency uses a bait-and-switch tactic, offering children to prospective adoptive parents despite not having the appropriate paperwork or histories, then switching the "referral" in-country. - A Christian missionary group questions if their donations are being used to care for orphans as the poor conditions persist. - Families report giving "donations" of $5-7,000 to Vietnamese orphanage directors in order to complete their adoptions. And yet two months ago, Ethica was asked to provide blankets and formula for babies dying from unusually cold weather in Vietnamees orphanages. Ethica receives 50-80 inquiries a week from adoption triad members in crisis. Over the past 6 years, we have assisted over 8,000 children and families, often advocating for them with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and state attorney generals. Currently we are actively assisting over 200 children and families in the U.S., Guatemala, Vietnam, Liberia, Haiti, and Nepal. In the United States, in addition to answering many questions and supporting individuals through difficult situations, we have conducted a review of state adoption laws. We have testified in person and in writing on adopted people's rights to their birth records. We have worked on cases involving the informed consent of first parents. Our work involves human rights issues such as the trafficking of children into adoption. We have carried out several successful humanitarian aid projects to Liberia and Vietnam. It is essential that Ethica continue to assist families in crisis and expand our advocacy initiatives. Ethica is the only truly independent adoption advocacy organization doing this vital work. Ethica represents all members of the adoption triad, and has no competing financial interest. To maintain our independence, we do not accept monetary support from anyone who places children for adoption. Please consider joining our campaign, "Voices for Ethical Adoption." As an Ethica supporter, you are aware of the ethical challenges in adoption and the need to make ethics a priority. We need your voice. Our goal is to raise $20,000 in 15 days so that we can meet the increasing demand for our services. Unlike adoption agencies, we do not receive funds from placing children for adoption, so we rely on the community's goodwill and support. A $100 donation allows Ethica to administer our humanitarian efforts for 1 month. A $250 donation allows Ethica to train a state adoption regulator on adoption fraud and need for adoption consumer protection laws. A $500 donation can keep the Ethica phone lines open for 1 year. A $1,000 donation can cover Ethica's office rent for 4 months. Thank you for your past and continued efforts to promote a dialogue on ethical adoptions! Sincerely, Linh Song, MSW Executive Director Ethica, Inc.

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Vietnam Blankets for Babies Emergency Relief Fundraiser Update

Ethica, Inc. had received troubling reports of severe, cold weather in northern Vietnam that has taken a toll on orphanages in Hanoi, Bac Giang, Hay Tay, and Bac Ninh provinces. We understood 3 children have died in early March and 10 more had been hospitalized. In the past two months, 9 of 19 infected infants had died.

Government officials at the National Fund for Vietnamese Children were concerned that many more children would be vulnerable to a virulent form of rhinovirus that has in some cases, progressed to pneumonia. This can be fatal for institutionalized infants and children already vulnerable to illness. The officials met and gave Ethica's representative in Hanoi permission to secure and deliver much needed blankets, heaters, warm clothing, and formula on March 7th and 8th. We estimated that $9,350 USD would be needed for this emergency relief fund which would assist 469 children under 16 years old and 152 babies from 1-7 months old. In just three days our group was able to raise over $10,000 to care for all of the children! Many thanks to our generous donors and the following organizations for their contributions: Tamaryn Fund for Good Deeds - made and all delivered blankets Hanoi International Women's Club - $1,000 United Nations International School of Hanoi - warm clothing and volunteers Systems Little House School Kindegarten in Hanoi - in kind donations Asian Children's Services - $300 Also many thanks to the officials at the National Fund for Vietnamese Children for giving our volunteers this unique opportunity to assist children in need! Items delivered included: Cookers to sanitize baby bottles Milk Formula Baby Clothing Children's Clothing Blankets Toys Food Fruit Donations covered: A $30 donation will provide an infant with formula for one month. A $300 donation will buy 100 baby blankets. A $300 donation will buy 100 warm baby outfits. A $500 donation will buy 100 warm children's outfits. A $600 donation will buy 100 children's blankets. Some observations that our team made was that both the Ha Tay and Bac Giang centers were involved in international adoption. Ha Tay has had children adopted to Italy, France, and the U.S. Bac Giang children were being adopted to the U.S. (though it wasn't clarified if children were being placed elsewhere). Ha Tay The Ha Tay center seemed better equipped, mentioning a training for infant care was planned for March and that a teacher's university, including Americans are working with the center on child development issues. Five years ago in Ha Tay there were over 700 residents (poor children, orphans, disabled, elderly) but the director stated that there were fewer residents because of a government program to bring children back to their families. There were 5 small rooms with about 8-10 babies per room. Two babies died this past winter from alnoursihment, eight babies were currently sick and at hospitals. Of the older children there seemed to be a high number of boys. Our team was told that they included streetchildren and that boys are more likely to be streetchildren. Some children were receiving vocational training from a Swedish NGO. five children were going to the university and sponsored by a private enterprise. Bac Giang The Bac Giang center included handicapped children who would live there for about 4 years, be taught how to read and write, and returned home. The orphans remain until they grow up and sometimes the center can support them to attend the university or vocational training, funding permitting. The law states that orphan children are to be supported through the first 2 years of university (18-20 years old). This winter 2 babies were hospitalized and malnourished but have since recovered. There were about 5 connecting rooms with babies with 2 HIV+ babies in a separate room along with a baby with hydrocephalitis. Ethica has posted photos on the photo section of this page. Additional deliveries are being made this week. We are also working on a coalition of organizations to continue to supervise and support the children's care after the 30 day emergency fund provisions have been depleted. To contribute to this cause please visit our Donation Page. Please also email us at info @ ethicanet.org (spaces removed) to specify that your donation is to be used towards this project. Thank you!

Vietnam and Guatemala News

Vietnam

Ethica has been active in advocating for clarification on the current situation in Vietnam and on new guidelines introduced to curb troubling activities. We have confirmed the following:

The Vietnamese Department of International Adoptions has stated that agreements allowing unlicensed agencies to place children through partnership with licensed agencies are illegal according to Vietnamese law. The U.S. Embassy continues to warn that applications of parents using these agencies may be denied.
The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi reminds prospective adoptive parents that lying to a Consular Officer under oath in order to hide this umbrella'iing relationship could have serious consequences.
Prospective adoptive parents should be aware that the Vietnamese Department for International Adoptions has informed the Embassy that direct cash payments from adopting parents to orphanages and orphanage staff in Vietnam are a violation of Vietnamese law and regulations.
There are currently 26 NOIDS issued that remain unresolved. Renegotiations for the Memorandum of Understanding being in March with renewal in September. A major stumbling block is Vietnam's refusal to release a fee schedule as promised in the MOU.

In addition the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi has launched a new site. Ethica will be giving input and feedback on the featured information: http://hanoi.usembassy.gov/orphan_visas.html

Guatemala

Ethica is currently advocating for families who need their children's birth certificates from Mixco and Sayaxche. Please contact us at info@ethicanet.org to add your family to the final advocacy list to be completed on January 23rd. We ask that you sign a release form and send us the child's name, date of birth, PGN status and dates, your family name, and contact info.

The U.S. Department of State has released the following notice clarifying that new referrals should not be issued or accepted at this time: http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3927.html

Ethica has confirmed that 3 appointees were installed at the Central Authority. It is hoped that by next week will have a definition as to which "in process" cases qualify to be grandfathered into the new procedures.

Linh Song, MSW
Executive Director
Ethica, Inc.