Joint Council Update - Visit by Dutch and Belgian Authorities

• From: "Anna Rough"

• To: ,

• Subject: [hague-l] Joint Council Update - Visit by Dutch and Belgian Authorities

• Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:25:37 -0500

• Importance: high

• Priority: Urgent

________________________________________

Joint Council Update

Program International Relations Initiative

Date September 10, 2008

Regarding Visit by Dutch and Belgian Authorities

On Monday, September 8, 2008, a Joint Council delegation met with representatives of the Dutch and Belgian Central Authorities and the U.S. Department of State. During the meeting, held at the Adoption Center of Washington, information was exchanged on the United States’ policy and procedural implementation of the Hague Convention and the functionality of current procedures. Discussions also centered on finding families for American children (including those in foster care) with Dutch and Belgian families.

Outgoing Cases

The Dutch representatives confirmed their desire to help U.S. children find families in the Netherlands, in accordance with Hague principles. With U.S. implementation of the Hague Convention, Belgium is now increasingly interested in intercountry adoption with the U.S.

Joint Council expressed its opinion that under DOS’ interpretation of the current U.S. Hague regulations, outgoing cases will be difficult if not impossible to process. Under the current U.S. Hague regulations neither Adoption Service Providers (ASPs) nor Approved Persons can assist US birthmothers in the search for international Potential Adoptive Parents (PAPs). Joint Council shared their belief that the current implementation of the regulations encourages corruption by eliminating accountability and oversight in outgoing cases from the United States. Joint Council also asserted its opinion that US birthmothers should be allowed to utilize the help of professionals in outgoing intercountry adoption cases.

Joint Council also expressed its belief that outgoing cases will be difficult to implement under the current system, as few birthmothers will place their children into temporary foster care for the required 60-day time frame prior to placement with a non-US family. Joint Council continues to recommend custodial care in the context of allowing the birthmothers to make the final decision.

Rights of the Child

The Dutch and Belgian authorities expressed their opinion, that the rights of the child should be foremost in every intercountry adoption case. Along with Joint Council, they support the right of a child to grow up in its own community, as stated in the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Convention. All parties also agreed that birthmothers must be provided a voice in the placement of their child. Current U.S. regulations supersede this critically important right and replace the rights of the government ahead of individual rights.

Foster Care System

The Dutch and Belgian CA shared that their foster care system is currently state-regulated, with the Netherlands completing only approximately 6 domestic adoptions from foster care a year. This number is comparatively low compared to the approximately 800 children finding families in the Netherlands through intercountry adoption every year.

Both delegations expressed a strong interest in finding permanent and safe families for U.S. children in foster care and conducted an earlier meeting with the Adoption Exchange. Joint Council provided a review of the U.S. foster care system and exchanged ideas on how the Dutch and Belgians could help find families for U.S. children in foster care.

Summarization

Joint Council expressed its willingness to assist the Dutch and Belgian authorities with their concerns regarding the Hague implementation. Joint Council will also aid the Belgian authorities who have expressed an interest in searching photo listings of US waiting children. It remains Joint Council’s belief that the 60-day-rule and elimination of professional assistance is essentially non functional and hinders transparency in outgoing convention cases. Joint Council’s Tom DiFilipo looks forward to continuing this dialogue during his visit to Brussels, Belgium, on September 24-27.

Joint Council extends its appreciation to Michael Goldstein for his assistance in arranging this meeting and to Linda Brownlee for kindly hosting the delegations.

Sincerely,

Anna