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International adoption
International Adoption Statistics for 2009

Happy Day to everyone. I am doing my happy dance because the 2009 immigration numbers were posted by the Office of Immigration Statistics. Children internationally adopted by American families are included in these numbers. I love playing with numbers and statistics.
With these numbers, I can look at average age or gender of children adopted from a specific country. I will be doing several different blogs on adoption statistics, but first I will start with 2009.
This isn't a big surprise but 47% of the children were adopted from Asia. (39% in 2008. 42% in 2007.)
- AngelaW's blog
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Interesting (and Sad) Associated Press Article on Haitian Adoption
In case you missed it, Rukmini Callimachi wrote an interesting article for the Associated Press entitled Law stymies Haitian adoptions. The article provides a detailed look on how the bad choices of a few people have basically screwed over numerous Haitian orphans and the families who are hoping to adopt them. The article focuses on Tamara Palinka, a hopeful adoptive mother who desperately wants to adopt three-year-old Sonson but who might never be able to do so because of tightened Haitian adoption laws.
According to the article, Haiti is simply trying to protect Haitian children from being exploited. However, these measures might subject numerous orphaned Haitian children to a childhood in an institution when they could be adopted into a loving forever family.
Both Lisa and Sandra blogged about Haitian adoption after the earthquake in January that orphaned many Haitian children:
- FaithA's blog
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Adopting from Belize
Belize is a Hague Convention compliant country as is the US so the adoption must follow the requirements of the Hague Adoption Convention on Intercountry Adoption. The following information about adoption from Belize is from the Department of State, updated July 2008.
Belize does not allow private adoptions so children can only be adopted through the judicial process. Prospective adopting parents who reside in Belize adopt through the Belize Family Courts. If the prospective adopting parents reside outside Belize, the adoption is processed through the Supreme Court of Belize. In 2009, 6 children were adopted from Belize and the same number in 2008.
The adoption process of a child from Belize must be completed in the country of the prospective parents because “Belize does not grant custody of its children for emigration and adoption outside of Belize. However, the Chief Justice of Belize has determined that the “Provisional”, “Interim” or “Preliminary” Adoption decrees often issued by the Supreme Court can be considered permission for the prospective adoptive parents to take the child out of Belize and to pursue a concurrent adoption process in accordance with the laws of their own country” (special provisions apply for anyone who initiated an adoption before April 2008).
Who Can Adopt?
- LisaS's blog
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Ethical Adoption from Ethiopia
With the increase in the number of children being adopted from Ethiopia in the last few years (2009-- 2,277; 2008 – 1725; 2007 -1255; 2006- 732), there have been more reports of unethical practices and irregularities in some of these adoptions. There are of course ethical adoptions from Ethiopia, probably a large majority of them, but of course no adoption system is perfect and inconsistencies are quickly picked up by the media. At this point in time, Ethiopian adoptions are growing at a faster rate than any other country.
Ethiopia is not party to the Hague Adoption Convention and due to concerns of corruption and child trafficking in Ethiopian adoptions, the U. S. Embassy in Addis Ababa has implemented some changes.
Adoptive parents should be aware that an I-604 (Determination on Child for Adoption, sometimes referred to as “orphan investigation”) must be completed in connection with every I-600 application. Depending on the circumstances of the case, this investigation may take up to several weeks or even months to complete. Therefore, adoptive parents should not plan to travel to Ethiopia until they have confirmed with their adoption agency that their visa interview appointment has been confirmed.
- LisaS's blog
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Russia & US Adoption Agreement Hopeful by Mid-June

Last week, the Associated Press reported that Russia and the United States are moving closer toward working out an agreement so that adoptions can resume. According to an Associated Press article, the hope is that an agreement will be reached by mid-June. It’s a shame that waiting children and families will have wait to another month, but the news could have been another year … or forever.
Russia halted adoptions to the United States last month after an adoptive grandmother put a seven-year-old adoptee named Artyom Savelyev back on a plane to Russia alone, leaving roughly 3,000 hopeful adoptive families in limbo until the two countries can agree upon certain terms. According to this article, Russian officials want more control over the living conditions of Russian adoptees after they move to the United States.
Special Notice About Cameroon Adoption Scams
The Department of State has issued a warning to potential adoptive parents regarding an increase in Cameroon Adoption Scams. Unfortunately, some hopeful adoptive parents fall for these tragic fraudulent stories and lose thousands of dollars. Even members of the yahoo adoption scam group continue to ask questions about these emails, hoping that they have been contacted about a “real” child, available for adoption. It seems hard to believe that people could make up such tragic stories, send pictures, and prey on families dreaming of a child. But they do, all they care about is money, not the hearts and dreams they shatter.
- JuliaFuller's blog
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Russia Has Suspended Adoptions by Americans
I am deviating from my usual Trauma Thursday format to cover breaking news … Russia has suspended adoptions by Americans pending reaching an agreement on adoption procedures. You can read the fully story here.
The suspension was prompted by adoptive mother Torry Hansen’s decision to return her seven-year-old adopted child Artyom Savelyev to Russia. You can read my blog entry here for the details. In short, this is one big, fat mess for any American who is currently in the process of adopting a child from Russia.
According to the Associated Press article, Russian authorities were “incensed” that the seven-year-old boy was flown back to Russia unsupervised by his adoptive family with nothing but a note explaining why he was being returned to his country of birth. The article goes on to state that the Russian authorities are “outraged” that the United States has not filed charges against Ms. Hansen or her grandmother. Under current laws, the Russian government has no way to prosecute either woman.
- FaithA's blog
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Adoptive Grandmother Sent Adopted Child Back to Russia Alone
If you have been following the news over the weekend, you have probably heard that a U.S. grandmother sent a seven-year-old adopted child back to Russia alone, which has resulted in the possibility of Russia putting a halt to adoptions with the United States. You can read the full story here.
According to the article, the boy, Artyom Savelyev, was adopted in September by a woman named Torry Hansen, who lives in Tennessee. His adoptive grandmother put him on an airplane with a one-way ticket to Russia with a note saying that “he was violent and had severe psychological problems.” The adoptive family claims that they feared for their safety. Understandably, the Russian government is less than pleased with how this disrupted adoption was handled, and now hundreds of pending adoptions could be put on hold or stopped.
Intercountry Adoption Numbers Continue to Drop Drastically
Adoptions to the United States from other countries dropped drastically again last year. As a matter of fact the number of intercountry adoptions was the lowest it has been in the last ten years. Only 12,753 children were adopted to the US through intercountry adoption in the government fiscal year which runs from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009.
ANNUAL TOTAL OF ADOPTIONS FROM 2003-2009
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2009: 12,753 |
2004: 22,884 |
|
2008: 17,438 |
2003: 21,616 |
|
2007: 19,613 |
2002: 21,378 |
|
2006: 20,679 |
2001: 19,647 |
|
2005: 22,739 |
1999: 15,719 |
The top five countries were China, Ethiopia, Russia, South Korea, and Guatemala. There are still children in Guatemala whose adoptions were initiated before intercountry adoptions were halted in Dec. 2007. The numbers from Guatemala will only continue to decline. The same holds true for China where new adoption restrictions are making it much harder for US citizens to adopt. I project that the numbers from Ethiopia will continue to increase for another couple years until UNICEF gets involved, and then the adoption doors will be slammed shut.
Temple Grandin, Cows and Autism
Saturday night I saw down with my family to watch a biopic for Temple Grandin. I have been reading about Dr Template Grandin for years and years. I expected to love it ... and I did. It is a must-see movie.
Temple is a highly successful 62-year old woman with autism. She invented a career for herself in the cattle industry. She has transformed how autism is seen and how cows (and many other prey animals) are handled.
The movie quickly moved from "4-year old Temple being diagnosed with autism" to "33-year old Temple with a masters degree in animal science."
Sensory integration disorder was clearly explained. This is such a hard issue for people to understand. I still remember issues that happened in first grade. So I explained SID to Natasha's first grade teacher. Seriously... the teacher thought that I was making it up... to excuse Natasha's bad behavior. (ARGH!)




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