Robin Sizemore on Armenian Adoptions
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http://www.rferl.org/content/armenia_considers_changing_adoption_procedures_amid_corruption_allegations/24336795.html
Excerpts of this article from Radio Free Europe:
Shadowy Middlemen
It will decide in the coming months whether it will be necessary to amend Armenia's Family Code, which would require parliamentary approval, or to simply change existing procedures, which could be enacted by the government without legislative action.
Under the existing rules, the Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Issues draws up and keeps a national registry of children available for domestic and foreign adoption.
The list is supposed to be accessible to all prospective adoptive parents. But in practice, even government agencies say they have trouble accessing
Specifically, the report cited a sample contract signed by one U.S. agency, Hopscotch Adoptions, based in High Point, North Carolina, which assists Americans wishing to adopt Armenian and Georgian children.
The contract, offered to a potential client in the United States in 2007, explained that almost $5,000 of more than $30,000 charged by Hopscotch for every adoption would be spent on “gifts to foreign service providers and government functionaries performing ministerial tasks as an offer of thanks for prompt service.”
It claimed that such gifts are common in Armenia and Georgia and do not violate U.S. law.
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