Congo Adoption Report

Adoption Status in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Report commissioned by EthioStork LLC

Date Submitted: January 8, 2014

Adoption in the DRC Overview

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is not party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). The Congolese government states that one thousand one hundred and six children have been adopted in the Congo between the years 2009 and 2013.

Situation

On September 25, 2013, fifteen embassies in the Democratic Republic of Congo received a letter from the Congolese Ministry of Interior and Security and the General Direction of Migration (Direction Générale de Migration, DGM) announcing a suspension in international adoption. The countries affected by the suspension are the United States, Canada, Uruguay, Burkina Faso, France, Belgium, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Australia. The suspension is going to last twelve months pending ongoing investigation and review of welfare of adopted Congolese children from 2009 to 2013.

Why The Suspension?

In the spring of 2013, the Congolese embassy in Canada launched an investigation about adopted Congolese children living in Canada from information it received from an undisclosed source. It found that some of the children were no longer with their original adoptive parents but with a new family. The ambassador alerted the Congolese Minister of Interior Richard Muyej Mangez and in April of 2013, the DGM suspended temporarily some exit permits for adopted children.

The Minister tasked the DGM to verify the information received from the embassy and DGM corroborated the findings. The DGM report stated that some of the children were left homeless and others were sold/trafficked to same-sex couples. A decision from the ministry was made to suspend any and all adoptions to verify the whereabouts and well-beings of over 2000 children adopted in the Congo since 2009. On September 25, 2013 a letter was sent to 15 embassies from the Ministry. That same day, the director of the DGM, François Beya confirmed with the press that the international adoption of Congolese children has been suspended for the next 12 months, not on a legal basis but more so administrative.

What’s the difference between a ban and a suspension?

First, this is simply an administrative suspension and it does not carry the force of the law. It is not a ban. The Ministry of Interior and the DGM have stated numerous times to foreign embassies that later this year, starting September 2014, the international adoption will resume with a new adoption process in place. It is not clear if the country will sign on to the Hague Convention or not, though there are groups locally who have been pressuring the government to sign on to the Convention.

Are there events that helped in getting an inquiry on adoptions in Congo?

Since the French-Chad adoption scandal of 2007 which concluded in 2013, the Congo and other African countries have been more diligent in reviewing adoption. On February 12, 2013, French citizens Eric Breteau (founder of Zoe's Ark) and his partner Emilie Lelouch, were found guilty by a French Court for attempting to smuggle 103 children out of Chad claiming they were Darfur war orphans and dfrauding would-be adoptive parents in France who had paid large sums to “save” children in crisis. They were sentenced to two years in jail. The group was arrested in Chad in 2007 trying to load the children on to a plane bound for France, where they were to be adopted. They claimed the children were orphans from the war-ravaged Darfur region in neighboring Sudan, but Chad's government accused them of kidnapping and it later emerged the children were not Sudanese and most still had living relatives. An investigation by Unicefand the Red Cross found that at least 85% of the children still had living parents and were from Chad, not Sudan. The charity workers were arrested and sentenced to eight years' forcedlabour in Chad, before being transferred to a Paris jail and then pardoned by Chad's president, opening the way for a French trial.

What other concerns exist around adoption in the Congo?

Please read the two articles below:

1.

May 31, 2013 New York Times Article

“Eager to Adopt, Evangelicals Find Perils Abroad.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/us/moved-to-adopt-evangelicals-find-children-and-pitfalls-abroad.html?_r=0

2.

June 18, 2013 investigative reporting

“Christian Saviors and the Adoptions Industry in Congo - Exploiting Africa's Most Precious Resource: Children.”

http://www.consciousbeingalliance.com/2013/06/christian-saviors-the-adoptions-industry-in-congo/

3.

December Washington Times Article

“An American mother fights for her adoptive daughter in the Congo.”

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/heart-without-compromise-children-and-children-wit/2014/jan/8/american-mother-fights-her-adoptive-daughter-congo/

If adoption was approved before September 25, 2013, what’s next for the family?

If adoption by a couple was approved before September 25, 2013 by the Congolese Ministry of Gender and Family, the adopted children will still be able to leave the Congo with their adoptive family. The Congolese government does not accept any more adoption from single parents. More details on US process for adoption can be found at adoption.state.gov.

Additional Info

You can contact the offices below for more information regarding adoption in the Congo.

Direction Generale de Migration (DGM)

Attn: Mr. Albert Luyinu, Administrative Secretary

65, Boulevard du 30 Juin

Commune de la Gombe

Ville de Kinshasa, R.D.Congo

Tel: 243 81 030 07 55

Email: dgm@dgm.cd or dgmetatmajor@yahoo.fr

Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

1726 M Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036

Tel: (202) 234-7690

U.S. Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

310, Avenue des Aviateurs

The Wait

Are there children available for adoption in Ethiopia? There are over five million orphans! Why is the wait so long when there are so many children who need loving families?

I have wanted to post something addressing this for a while now but couldn't decide if it would benefit or discourage adoptive families. In the end, i decided it would be "unjust" to put it lightly, for me not to share what i see on the ground.

Are there children who are orphaned and need homes? Yes. Are there children who are adoptable? Not too many, at least not right now.  Let me explain why.

One reaseon is there are over fifty licensed child placing agencies operating in Ethiopia  (at least 20 of these agencies are based in the US).   Surely that shouldn't be a problem when there are so many orphans? Not true. While there are many agencies, serving many adoptive families and ready to place a child as soon as he or she enters an orphange, there are simply not many children who are ready to be placed. You may have recently gone to Ethiopia and visited orphanages overflowing with children.  Most of them are not paper ready.   But even those who are not paper ready are older children. You will not find too many available infants.

The relicensing of many agencies (after a few months of standstill) may be seen as a good sign for adoptions from Ethiopia. Here is the problem however, the process of declaring a child an orphan and adoptable has changed. This means that you will not see many infants who are ready to be placed.  So the realtly in Ethiopia right now is there are many agencies but not enough infants who can be placed.

My sincere advice to families;

1. Please be willing to wait.  I understand how painful it could be. But when there are not that many adoptable children , it simply means orphanages and agencies are not able to meet demand.  This opens a door for corruption. It will cease to be about best interest of children.  I hate to use a market analysis however, imagine what happens when demand rises but what is being demanded is few.   There simply are not many infants.  To keep the integrity of adoptions in Ethiopia, families must be willing to wait so that there are no orphans created to meet demand. 

2. Consider adopting a special needs or older  child (3 to 5 are not older children in Ethiopia as there is as much demand for children in that age range). There is always a child in this catagory.

However, if any adoptive family wants their baby girl right this minute. The family must be willing to accept that their demand is driving adoption in Ethiopia in the very wrong direction.  Unless more children become available, i urge families to understand that, while there is nothing wrong to wanting to adopt an infant,  they have to be willing to wait.   Because i know the last thing you want, is to learn that an orphan was created or bartered to meet demand. 

Anyone who knows me (or knows about me) also knows i support adoption, an adoption that is child centered and not centered to meeting the demands of the ever popular, Ethiopian adoption.

 

Join our live or Web Seminars

Here is what is covered during our seminars.

1.  The current process of Adoption in Ethiopia and what to expect.

2.  How to minimize the risks that come with adopting from Ethiopia.

3.  What to look for in referral paperwork

4.  Travel

5.  Transracial adoption and empowering your child.

 

Webinar Dates,

Wednesday May 8^th 6:00PM to 7:00PM EST

Thursday May 9, 2013^th 1:00PM to 2:00PM EST

Saturday May 25^th    11:00AM to 12:00PM EST

Cost: 100 per couple/Family.

How to sign up:  please email us with dates you are interested in.

Live Seminars

Where:  901. South Highland St.

               Arlington, VA 22204  

When: Saturday June 15^th 2013 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM (signing in starts at 10:30)

Cost: 150 per couple

*Tasty Ethiopian Lunch is provided!

Private Consultation in office or over the phone

By appointment only; adoptive families can come to our office in Arlington to get a private consultation and also cover the above topics.

Cost: 100 per couple (in person)

$50:00 per couple for half an hour consultation over the phone

 Please email us at info@ethiostork.org if you are interested in attending any of these. We look forward to serving your family.

 

Yet Another Testimony....

"When the orphanage we adopted our son through told us finding information on his birth family would be very difficult and would take a long time, we knew we wanted to engage a searcher right away. We chose EthioStork and were so happy we did. EthioStork found his family in only two days. We now have invaluable information for our son -- information he should have had all along because it is his. Making contact also reassured his family in Ethiopia that he is healthy and happy.
 
We strongly recommend EthioStork. We were thrilled at how quickly they found our son's "unfindable" family. The information they profvided for our son and the beautifully shot DVD we now treasure.

Thank you, Duni and EthioStork. We are forever grateful to you for everything you did for ou son and the connection you helped us establish with his family in Ethiopia.

-A Grateful Canadian Family

 

Give EthioStork Four Weeks!

If you are interested in doing that extra thing within your control to ensure that your process is as smooth as absolutely possible, EthioStork can help. However, you must enlist the services of EthioStork long before you might imagine would be necessary.

What then, you might ask, is the time frame we're talking about? At least four weeks.

It is a simple fact that families who assign EthioStork to conduct their Orphan Status Verification well in advance prove to pass through the embassy process faster. When given enough time, EthioStork is able to provide you, the adoptive family, with a third party Orphan Status Verification that can be submitted along with your adoptive child's documents.
EthioStork founder, Duni Zenaye, is now requesting that families sign up four weeks prior to when the documents are to be sent to the embassy.

If you don't want to wait a day longer than you have to to bring your child home, let EthioStork conduct an Orphan Status Verification. Don't wait until the last minute!

Read testmonials from previous clients.

My Two Cents to Both of You

As someone who has worked in Child Welfare both in Ethiopia and the US, I regularly am contacted by reporters from both countries. I find it interesting to see what the press, most likely influenced by what they perceive as public interest, desires to prove true, or at least report. When speaking with journalists I have gotten the impression that my responses have not been sensational enough. This post is intended for them.

Reporters in Ethiopia

Almost all the interviews I have done in Ethiopia were conducted to address organ selling and child abuse. I continuously am asked how much money adoptive families receive for the organs of the children they adopt. Those who have asked me this are convinced the selling of organs is a regular practice; why else would someone invest $20,000 or more to adopt a poor (sometimes severely disabled) African child?

My response is always: I am not aware of any organs of Ethiopian adopted children being sold.

The other question centers on the public's concern that these children are abused by their adoptive parents. A recent story about a young girl who died in Washington State served to fuel the erroneous perception of what happens to children who are adopted overseas.

My response? Even though extensive care is taken to ensure families meet the strictest guidelines, still it is true that some children may end up being abused. But just like there are abusive birth parents, there are also abusive adoptive parents. Most adoptive parents, however, and I emphasize most, are really great parents.

Reporters ask, "Isn't it just better to have children stay in Ethiopia than risk the chance of being abused overseas?"

My response: Though there are abusive dads, no one proposes that all dads be deprived of the privilege of fatherhood. As well, though great care is always taken to minimize the risk of placing children with families that may abuse their children, sometimes it happens. However, and this is vital to acknowledge and accept: adoption is a good option for a lot of orphans. 

Reporters in the US

Reporters in the US (and perhaps the public) are convinced that children are sold by poor mothers; why else would they give up their children so easily?

I have no evidence that supports this. Although it is tempting to think that if someone is poor enough they would sell their children for a goat or $20.00, most parents relinquish their children because they are unable to care for them and want them to have a better future and receive proper care.

Another question I am asked is about children being snatched from birth mothers, and adoption/child welfare professionals being paid ridiculous amount of money to "harvest" children. The biggest doubt people and reporters in the US have seems to focus on the overall adoption process in Ethiopia. They are convinced that every adoption originating in Ethiopia is completed unethically.

Well, I have seen bad practice in the world of Adoption. (For example, birth mothers who were not properly counseled, or a mother lying about being raped for fear of being denied the right to relinquish a child.) I have also seen bad practice in foster care. (Foster parents taking in children only to abuse them or use them as maids.) Further, I have seen bad practice in family reunification. (Children being reunified with birth parents who abuse them so badly that they severely injured them, or families who love but can’t or don’t want to care for their children and are forced to take them back.) 

When the focus is not the Orphan and we become religious about “only one option as best,” there is always a chance for bad practice.  
   
I have conducted hundreds of Orphan Status Verifications. Out of the hundreds I have verified, very few had falsified paperwork. Most of the cases had inconsistencies, but almost all of them had inconsistencies that were created by lack of education about the paperwork process. Cultural barriers also regularly contribute to what may appear to outsiders as bad practice.

Conclusion

So, as someone who has seen child welfare first hand both here in the US and in Ethiopia, I would like to make a public statement:

To those who voice concern about organ selling and child abuse: there is such a thing called Post Placement Visits and Post Placement Reports. There are some horrible cases, but based on the reports piled up at the Ministry Of Women Children and Youth Affairs, most of the children are doing well.

Do all adoptive families sell their adopted children's organs? NO! Are all adoptive families child molesters? NO! Are all adoptive families perfect, and thus not require home studies or post placement reports? NO! Should international adoptions be banned? Most emphatically: NO!

As the founder of an organization that conducts Third Party Orphan Status Verifications, I wish to speak to those who seem to, more and more, be labeling the children coming out of Ethiopia as non-orphans and a victims of bad practice:

Ethiopian children who are in need of families are worthy of being adopted; there is no amount of possible corruption that can alter this fact. 

However: are adoption cases from Ethiopia so clean and transparent that an adoptive parent does not need an Orphan Status Verification? NO. 

Simply put:  Adopt responsibly. 

All adoptive families should do their homework regarding the child to whom they are being referred. If nothing else, they will have the peace of mind knowing they did everything in their power to learn everything they could about their child. That way, when the time comes to pass on their child’s history, they’ll have something to share.

Our Clients Have Regrets

Our clients have regrets. Why? They regret that they didn’t hire us sooner. Seriously, if I had a nickel for every time an adoptive family calls me last minute, rushed and anxious ... Well, you get the picture.

Save yourself time, money and the fear of being sent to USCIS or getting an RFE (Request for Evidence). Allow EthioStork to help you do your homework; let us conduct an Orphan Status Verification for your adoption from Ethiopia.

Don't wait until you've wasted time and money using an “investigator” who failed to give you the information you need. Additionally, it really isn't prudent to hire us after you've passed court, even though we are happy to help at whatever stage you find yourself in. However, if you come to us first, you will save yourself time, and most likely, regret. 

Do you remember your high school or college days when you had an upcoming test? If you studied adequately prior to the test you likely had a good night's sleep before the big day. Now, do you remember how you felt when you ignored the pending test and then a couple of hours before the  you tried to cram? Stress, and perhaps failure.

If you take energy to have an Orphan Status Verification conducted, we can almost guarantee a good night sleep before you submit to embassy. Why? Because we empower you, the adoptive parents! Our team of professionals will take the utmost care in verifying the orphan status of your child. We will ensure that you know everything there is to know about your future adopted child so you can submit to embassy with your head held high and the assurance that your child is a true orphan. Most importantly, you will be prepared to answer any questions that are sure to come your way.

Don’t gamble with an “investigator” who doesn’t know Ethiopia and U.S. adoption laws, someone who does not know what to look for. Contact us at info@ethiostork.org