U.S. Visa Denial Upsets Adoption Of Romanians

AP

BUCHAREST, Romania - About 30 Americans whose adopted Romanian children have been denied immigration to the United States protested for a third day yesterday outside the U.S. Embassy.

U.S. Ambassador Alan J. Green Jr. talked with some of the distraught parents for 45 minutes and told them "he has called very high authorities in Washington" to try to help them, said Kathy Lyon of Corning, N.Y. Green made no promises, however, she said.

Lyon has been in Romania nearly two months adopting Quinn, 2, and a 2-month-old baby, Gus.

Since completing the adoption, she is their legal parent as far as the Romanian authorities are concerned. But officials from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service have told her her children cannot get an entry visa because their natural parents are alive.

According to U.S. law, an adopted child must be an orphan or abandoned by his natural parents before he is granted residency in the United States.

Sonya Paterson, of Vancouver, B.C., a protest organizer, said yesterday that about 50 families have been denied U.S. visas following a TV broadcast showing Romanian gypsies allegedly selling children.

Embassy spokesman Virgil Bodeen said immigration officials are questioning whether children have really been abandoned. "There is a little more scrutiny of the whole process, and this is where these parents find themselves," he said.