Comments to Hague Convention

MICHAEL S. GOLDSTEIN, P.C.
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
62 BOWMAN AVENUE
RYE BROOK, NEW YORK  10573-2804
      TEL          (914) 939-1111      
                                   FAX (914) 939-2369                               
    
 

                                                              August 8, 2006

To Whom It May Concern:

   Re: Docket Number State/AR-01/97

I am writing about my concerns and my questions about the proposed regulations for Outgoing children.  I am an attorney and social worker who has been practicing adoption law for over 20 years.  As an attorney who has represented many birth parents who have placed US children with families who live overseas, and in other cases having represented overseas adoptive parents who have been “identified” by US birth parents, I have questions regarding the interpretation of “identified” (page 34859) and concerns regarding the inconsistency of “identified” with the “no contact” rule (page 34860).

Section 96.54 excludes from domestic recruiting, cases in which “the birth parent(s) have identified specific prospective adoptive parent(s).”  My understanding of the history of the IAA was to protect the rights of birth parent(s) to place their children with whomever they decided.  My questions are related to the practicality of how birth parent(s) actually locate adoptive parent(s):

Will the US domestic recruiting requirements be excluded when birth parent(s) identify adoptive parent(s):

1. By a referral from a non-relative.
2. By reviewing adoptive parent profiles in an attorney’s office who represents the adoptive parent(s).
3. By reviewing adoptive parent profiles in an attorney’s office who represents the birth parent(s).
4. By reviewing adoptive parent profiles at an adoption agency.
5. By reviewing adoptive parent profiles online.
6. By responding to advertisements placed in newspapers.

I am also very concerned with how Paragraph (j) of Article 29 of the Convention, the “no contact” rule will be applied to the cases referred to above, where the birth parent(s) identify the adoptive parent(s).  In practice, the birth parent(s) must have contact with the adoptive parent(s) if they identify them.  Also, in this day and age of adoptions in the US, many of the adoptions start out as “open” and the contact continues even after the adoption is finalized.  Therefore, since the domestic authority can establish “contact” conditions, as an attorney routinely practicing in this field with outgoing children, I would suggest that the “no contact” rule not apply to cases where the birth parent(s) identify the adoptive parent(s).

Please respond as soon as possible, and feel free to contact me, if you need any further explanation of my concerns or questions.  Thank you.

                           Sincerely,

                           Michael S. Goldstein

MSG/