Foreign Adoptions by Americans hits three decade low (30 years) and will erode further.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-adoptions-by-americans-hit-three-decade-low-1459296819

Foreign adoptions by Americans fell 12% last year to the lowest level in more than three decades, according to new figures from the State Department.

The decline is largely because of measures designed to prevent child-trafficking and promote adoption within developing countries, adoption advocates said.

The State Department reported that 5,648 children were adopted abroad in the 2015 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, down from 6,438 in 2014 and from a peak of 22,884 in 2004.

The last year that fewer overall adoptions were recorded was 1981, at 4,868.

China remains the most popular source of Americans’ foreign adoptions, with 2,354, a 15% increase from 2014. But that number pales compared with 7,903 in 2005.

Armenian Adoption Adventure, list of adoption agencies denied accreditation tougher laws comming July 2014

http://adoption.state.gov/hague_convention/agency_accreditation/deniedagencies.php


US State Department Susan Jacobs talks about how the laws for facilitators in country will change in July 2014.  Adoption agencies will no longer not be responsible for their facilitators, they will be watched, audited, acrediated and no longer allowed to bribe orphanage workers or members of the Ministry of Social Services for Women and Children.
 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-tougher-laws-at-hand-for-international-adoption/

The facilitators in country will be registered and scrutinized as the adoption agencies are. 

Armenian Adoption and Children of Armenia Fund presents their winter soiree

The most powerful charity for children in Armenia is the COAF (Children of Armenia Fund) which works at the village level promoting jobs and building the economy for families.  COAF builds schools, clinics and foundations for children in Armenia so their parents are not put in economic situations of leaving their children with orphanages for food and shelter.  They have many big name celebrities that come to fundraisers, the east coast NY one is held at the Met and has included such notables as Jane Fonda, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Ken Davitian and more.  Here is the upcomming fundraiser with Michael Aram Designs, we have had several with Jewelry Giant Alex and Ani as well.  Lets support the future generation of Armenia and build their education and economy. 

Armenian Adoption Adventure, Every Child Needs a Family UNICEF Director talks about Armenian Orphans

Armenian Adoption and NY Times Article on Evangelical Adoption Ministries

The Evangelical Orphan Boom

By KATHRYN JOYCE

IF you attend an evangelical church these days, there’s a good chance you’ll hear about the “orphan crisis” affecting millions of children around the world.

These Christian advocates of transnational adoption will often say that some 150 million children need homes — though that figure, derived from a Unicef report, includes not only parentless children, but also those who have lost only one parent, and orphans who live with relatives.

Evangelical adoptions picked up in earnest in the middle of the last decade, when a wave of prominent Christians, including the megachurch pastor Rick Warren and leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, began to promote adoption as a special imperative for believers. Adoption mirrored the Christian salvation experience, they argued, likening the adoption of orphans to Christ’s adoption of the faithful. Adoption also embodied a more holistic “pro-life” message — caring for children outside the womb as well as within — and an emphasis on good deeds, not just belief, that some evangelicals felt had been ceded to mainline Protestant denominations.

Believers rose to the challenge. The Christian Alliance for Orphans estimates that hundreds of thousands of people worldwide participate in its annual Orphan Sunday (this year’s is Nov. 3). Evangelicals from the Bible Belt to Southern California don wristbands or T-shirts reading “orphan addict” or “serial adopter.” Ministries have emerged to raise money and award grants to help Christians pay the fees (some $30,000 on average, plus travel) associated with transnational adoption.

However well intended, this enthusiasm has exacerbated what has become a boom-and-bust market for children that leaps from country to country. In many cases, the influx of money has created incentives to establish or expand orphanages — and identify children to fill them.

In some cases, agencies may hire “child finders” to recruit children of the age and gender that prospective adoptive parents prefer, sometimes from impoverished but intact families. Even nonprofit agencies with good reputations may turn to such local recruiters in countries where they don’t already have established partners — or where the demand for children exceeds the supply.

The potential for fraud and abuse is high. Orphanages tend to be filled by kids whose parents want better opportunities for them, while the root problem — extreme poverty — goes unaddressed, a Unicef worker in Ethiopia told me. Worse, some families in places with different cultural norms and legal systems relinquish their kids believing that it is a temporary guardianship arrangement, rather than an irrevocable severance of family ties.

In 2006, the family of three sisters adopted from Sodo, Ethiopia, said they were told that adoption would give the children a chance at an American education and that they would later return. The adoptive parents, then living in New Mexico, said they’d been falsely assured by an evangelical agency, Christian World Adoption, that they were saving destitute children orphaned by AIDS, who might otherwise have become sex workers.

When the children arrived and were told the adoption was permanent, they were distraught. And when the adoptive family complained, the agency maintained that the adoption was justified under Ethiopian law and counseled the parents to trust in God’s plan. When the adoptive family complained to the Better Business Bureau in North Carolina, where the agency was based, it threatened to report the family to child protective services in New Mexico. (The agency has since gone bankrupt.)

Though most are not as nightmarish, adoption complications are common. Some adoptive parents have even hired private investigators to try to verify the stories they were told about their kids.

When scandals emerge, governments lumber into action. But then the demand just shifts to another country, and the problems start all over again. In the early 1990s, Romania saw an adoption boom after shocking images of orphanages — housing young victims of Nicolae Ceausescu’s compulsory birth policies — became public. But over time, stories of other Romanian kids’ being coerced into adoption or bought from their families surfaced. Romania halted international adoptions in 2001.

Also in the 1990s, the number of adoptions from Vietnam soared, but the outrageous fees paid to child finders — sometimes more than $10,000 — caused the government in 2003 to press pause to reform the system. (But when the adoptions resumed in 2005, so did the problems.)

At the height of Guatemala’s adoption boom in the middle of the last decade, nearly 1 percent of babies were sent to the United States, before stories of child buying and even kidnapping prompted a shutdown in 2008. Then the boom shifted to Ethiopia and, now, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Of course, adoption problems aren’t limited to Christian agencies, and they don’t originate with them, but some movement insiders say that evangelicals — whether driven by zeal or naïveté — have had a disproportionate impact on the international adoption system. Groups like Unicef and Save the Children have made clear that millions of “orphans” are, in fact, not eligible for transnational adoption, but advocates often disregard these warnings as signs of ideological opposition to adoption — a charge Unicef has denied.

After some high-profile adoption horror stories, the number of transnational adoptions to the United States fell to fewer than 9,000 last year, from a high of nearly 23,000 in 2004. Last year, only China and Ethiopia sent more than 1,000 adoptees to America, and only South Korea and Russia topped 500. (Russia this year banned adoptions by American parents.)

This boom-and-bust, musical-chairs cycle does little to improve child-welfare systems in developing countries and has perpetuated a culture of aid-based orphanage construction — the reverse of the trend in wealthy countries, which have phased out institutions in favor of foster care.

The United States must improve regulation. There are no specific limits to what agencies can spend in other countries and little oversight in the system, which relies on peer reviews from other adoption agencies. And often there is little political will to investigate agency wrongdoing. While the United States abides by the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption — a set of standards promulgated in 1993 to prevent abuses — American agencies can often dodge responsibility for abuses by blaming local partners. Moreover, many foreign children brought into America come from countries that have not signed the convention.

Policy reforms, domestic and international, won’t be enough without a change in thinking, particularly among American evangelicals. Some Christian groups have begun to heed the call to do good works overseas, by focusing on aid that keeps families intact or improves local foster care and adoption. Some churches have backed programs overseas that provide emergency foster parents, or day care programs for widowed mothers. But many churches still preach the simplistic message that there are more Christians in the world than orphans, and that every adoption means a child saved.

For too long, well-meaning Americans have brought their advocacy and money to bear on an adoption industry that revolves around Western demand. Adoption can be wonderful when it’s about finding the right family for a child who is truly in need, but it can also be tragic and unjust if it involves deception, removes children from their home countries when other options are available, or is used as a substitute for addressing the underlying problems of poverty and inequality. We can no longer be blind to the collateral damage that good intentions bring.

Kathryn Joyce is the author of “The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/opinion/sunday/the-evangelical-orphan-boom.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

 

 

Armenian Adoption Adventure and Armenian Festivals

This is the kids favorite!!  September 28,2013  Buses are available from Los Angeles. 
At the Armenian Cultural Center.

Last year my friend made Orange, Blue, and Red Ballet TuTus, it sold out.  Here are some highlights, bring our kids they love it.  Bounce houses and more



world wide known Oud Master Richard Hagobian

They are tu tu much, there is also a bounce house and many other fun children's events

 



Armenian Adoption is it for you? an email from someone researching

Copy of e mail and response:

Hi;
We have been researching adoptions and have learned that it is a slow and hard process that changes without notice. Our options are few, we have very few countries open to us for small babies or children under the age of 3. Ghana is closed, Morocco is closed, Russia is closed and more slowing down or under scrutiny.
Is Armenia a viable program for us since we are not Armenian and so few adoptions are conducted to the USA out of that country?

Thank you
Jennifer and Curt Martin Illinois.

Dear Mr. and Mrs Martin;
It is difficult to answer that as you say there are so few children available from Armenia. You didn't mention if you wanted a healthy infant or would consider a special needs children. Many are mild to moderate but fixable like the clef babies, but they are actively conducting the surgeries most of the infants come from small villages with these minor fixes. As it sits there is under 22 adopted to the USA, with over 60% being special needs.

There is around 65 every year adopted internationally, with about 1/3rd going to America and the remaining going to: Germany, Sweden, Italy, France. Bare in mind the country has a list of residents that are looking to adopt as well and they would take first precedence as the country is trying to retain the roots, culture of their children it is important to have Armenian surnames for these children.

There is 3 adoption agencies that deal with Armenia, 2 of these agencies discourage those that are non-Armenian and make no promises. The third one will state that it is 3-4 years and $50,000 for a healthy infant. Beware of any promises and check into the other countries that remain open and are newer programs seem to have a faster program: Columbia, Uganda, Bulgaria (was under scrutiny but now open) Good luck!

Armenian Adoption Adventure International Adoptions lowest in 15 years

The number of international adoptions is at its lowest point in 15 years, the Associated Press reports. Worldwide, the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parents dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 last year, according to annual statistics compiled by Peter Selman, an expert on international adoptions at Britain's Newcastle University. The drop is being attributed to crackdowns against baby selling, a struggling world economy and moves by countries to place more children with domestic families, according to the AP. Some adoption advocates blame the drop on the Hague Adoption Convention, a set of international guidelines designed to ensure transparency and child protection following a rash of baby-selling and kidnapping scandals, the AP reports. Meanwhile, U.S. adoption officials and international agencies such as UNICEF tell the AP the Hague rules, which require countries to set up a central adoption authority and a system of checks and balances, are necessary to safeguard orphans and keep profit-driven players from corrupting the system. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/05/international-adoptions-down-worldwide/1 HANOI, Vietnam — The number of international adoptions has fallen to its lowest point in 15 years, a steep decline attributed largely to crackdowns against baby-selling, a sputtering world economy and efforts by countries to place more children with domestic families. Globally, the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parents dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 last year, according to annual statistics compiled by Peter Selman, an expert on international adoptions at Britain's Newcastle University. Some adoption advocates argue the decrease is also linked to a set of strict international guidelines known as the Hague Adoption Convention. Devised to ensure transparency and child protection following a rash of baby-selling and kidnapping scandals, critics say the guidelines have also been used by leading adopting nations, including the U.S., as a pretext for freezing adoptions from some countries that are out of compliance. "It should have been a real step forward, but it's been used in a way that's made it a force for shutting down" adoptions in some countries, says Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor who promotes international adoptions. "That affects thousands of children every year." She says places where international adoptions are stopped may ultimately see more children stuck in orphanages or on the street where they could fall prey to sex traffickers. U.S. adoption officials and international agencies such as UNICEF say the Hague rules, which require countries to set up a central adoption authority and a system of checks and balances, are necessary to safeguard orphans and keep profit-driven players from corrupting a system that should be purely about helping children. Alison Dilworth, adoptions division chief at the U.S. Office of Children's Issues and a strong supporter of the Hague guidelines, says they shield adoptive parents from everyone's worst nightmare: "God forbid, that knock on the door ... saying your child that you have raised and loved and is fully integrated into your family was stolen from a birth parent who is desperately trying to look for them." Much has changed from a decade ago, when busloads of would-be foreign adoptive parents flocked to orphanages in poor countries such as China, Vietnam and Guatemala to take babies home following a relatively quick and easy process. Waits have become longer and requirements stiffer, with some countries now refusing obese or single adoptive parents and requiring proof of a certain amount of cash in the bank. Countries embroiled in scandals have pulled the plug on their programs, or been cut off by the U.S. and other countries, leaving hundreds of children in bureaucratic limbo. Sharon Brooks, 56, of New York, knows the story all too well. She waited three and a half years for the release of a little girl in Vietnam after the U.S. froze adoptions there in 2008 amid serious fraud concerns. In January, Brooks learned the child she had named Akira-Li would instead be adopted by a Vietnamese family. "That was my one shot," says Brooks, who now believes she is too old to qualify for most international adoptions. "Everything in my life has been at a standstill." Vietnam joined the Hague convention on Feb. 1, and U.S. officials say they are hopeful adoptions will resume within the next year. Shutdowns in countries such as Guatemala, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan have coincided with efforts to promote domestic adoptions in countries like Russia and China, where foreigners now face tightened restrictions. China, for instance, stopped allowing single women to adopt. In the late 1990s, a third of U.S. adoptive parents fell into this category, Selman says. Advances in fertility treatments and the growing number of couples turning to surrogacy have also contributed to the global drop. The U.S., which historically has received about half of the world's annual international adoptions, saw a decline of more than 60 percent from 2004 to just over 9,000 last year. Dilworth, the U.S. adoption official, says the economic downturn is at least partly to blame, with foreign adoptions typically costing between $20,000 to $40,000. But the U.S. freeze on adoptions from some countries also means there are fewer children available to adopt. Guatemala used to provide up to 4,000 children a year for international adoption at its peak in 2006. But the U.S. will not accept further adoptions from the country until it has fully revamped its system to root out corruption, Dilworth says. "They have incredible problems with fraud," she says. In one recent high-profile case, a Guatemalan court ruled that an American family must return their 7-year-old adopted daughter to her birth mother after allegations surfaced that the girl was snatched from her home five years ago. The child remains in the U.S. Other countries that have seen large drops in the adoption of foreign babies include Spain and France, where international adoption fell 48 percent and 14 percent respectively from 2004 to 2010. Canada remained the same and Italy actually saw a 21 percent increase during that period, according to Selman, who analyzed data from 23 countries that are primary receivers of adopted orphans. Last year's 25,000 international adoptions were the lowest since 1996, Selman said. The global numbers could decline further as South Korea, one of the top providers of orphans for foreign adoption, works to phase out its long-running program. Since the 1950s, more than 170,000 South Korean children were adopted by families overseas, with the majority going to the United States. Despite having one of the world's fast-growing economies and domestic concern about falling birth rates that are already among the world's lowest, South Korea continues to rank as a top destination for international adoption. Experts blame this on a strong cultural stigma against both unwed motherhood and adoption. But pressure has been mounting to reverse the trend. In recent years, South Korean lawmakers have created new incentives to help promote domestic adoption, while quotas have allowed fewer children to leave. If the decline in global adoptions is to be reversed, says Selman, Africa is likely to lead the way. Ethiopia has emerged in recent years as a top source of orphans available for foreign adoption, though it's unclear whether other African countries will follow. "If it's going to go up, it'll be from Africa," he says. "It could be that they set their pace against adoption, and that could have a profound effect." _http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/international-adoptions_n_1506442.html Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Romina Ruiz in Guatemala City contributed to this report.

Armenian Adoptions and the Hague Convention on Adoption

Since many of you have asked how, what and why about adoptions. Bare in mind the process is different from France, Italy, and Germany. Hopefully soon the Armenian populations in Canada, Argentina and Urguay will have opportunities to adopt, as their embassy in Armenia is working hard on these diplomatic relations. Because Armenia is party to the Hague Adoption Convention, children from Armenia must meet the requirements of the Convention in order to be eligible for adoption. For example, the Convention requires that Armenia attempt to place a child with a family in-country before determining that a child is eligible for intercountry adoption. In addition to Armenia's requirements, a child must meet the definition of a Convention adoptee for you to bring him or her back to the United States. Learn more about the Convention's requirements for adoptable children. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: There are many children living in orphanages, however, ONLY those children whose parents have died, disappeared, or signed a statement of relinquishment of their parental rights, and whose families do not visit them, thus abandoning them, are available for adoption. In addition, consent for child adoption can only be given after the birth of the child. • Reliquishment Requirements: If biological parents are alive, the biological parents must sign a statement of relinquishment in order for a child to be eligible for adoption. • Abandonment Requirements: A child's name must be listed on the national registry list for three months before he or she is declared available for intercountry adoption. For this reason, it is impossible to adopt a very young infant from Armenia. • Waiting Period: The names of children available for adoption are listed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues. A child's name must remain on the list for three months before he/she is declared available for intercountry adoption. http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_info.php?country-select=armenia Below is the opinion of Sonia Vigilante, sent to us by others in our adoption community. For a person who has defended the ease of her own adoption and the agency in which she adopted from. All we can say is REALLY Sonia? These adoption agencies take money and deliver a service to anyone that can and will pay their huge fees. With barely 22 Armenian children adopted in 2011 to USA residents, it is highly likely that the majority of these adoptions are special needs and go to mostly non-Armenians. If they are not allowed to adopt then these children would not have homes. With a drop of 70% in international adoptions (9,000+ in 2011 from over 22,000 in 2005) your adoption agency will not refuse the money from anyone that is willing to wait over 3 years and pay $50,000 FROM Armenian Adoption Interest Yahoo Group. I also agree with khall that Armenian heritage should be a requirement. That aside, I think that the Armenian preference is an agency stipulation...in other words, if an agency's facilitator requires that the family have Armenian heritage, then the agency will enforce that stipulation in order to have a smooth process. But as it stands now, I know there are many healthy babies going home to non-Armenian homes in the U.S. It is unclear why your contact has stated this requirement, but my guess is that the facilitator they work with uses this requirement as an advantage of some sort. In any event, good luck with your adoption!! Armenia is a beautiful country and we couldn't be happier with our daughter, who we brought home in 2008!

Armenian Adoptions- Adoption of disabled children

While Armenian citizens leave their mentally and physically disabled children, they are adopted in Italy, France, United States in the framework of the inter-country adoption. The adopting families from overseas are exempt from paying several taxes in their countries, Armenia’s Ministry of Labor informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. According to the Ministry of Labor, there are 9,000 disabled children in Armenia, 550 were left by their parents. The adoption of healthy children is typically problematic in Armenia. Almost no one adopts disabled children. For adopting a disabled child the family gets an allowance of $1200 and other benefits in Sweden. In Armenia the allowance is AMD 18,000 or around $50. Armenian citizens throughout the world refuse to adopt disabled children, the head of Armenian Labor Ministry Children’s Department Lena Hayrapetyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am. “If the child has a missing finger or can’t see properly he can still become a member of the society,” she added. “If the family refuses to keep the child, the state takes care of the child.” http://news.am/eng/news/100866.html Last week we got wonderful news that 8 American couples that are working with a prominent Adoption Attorney (who has full Hague Acrediation) are finalizing their adoptions in Armenia. This Attorney is known by US Congress and by officials in Armenia, Please pray for these 8 couples in the next few days as we honor our 97 year of recognizing the slaughter of our ancestors and the 150,000 Armenian orphans "Remains of the sword" Please also say "Thanks" to those Americans who are willing to adopt the non correctable special needs children. This is a huge unselfish act. Armenia is getting more and more pediatric and rehabilitation training for the special needs children. They no longer have to be "reserved" in the room at the top of the stairs and adopted out. Armenia will provide for all of her children.