|
HOUSE PASSES SMITH RESOLUTION SUPPORTING INTER-COUNTRY |
||
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives today passed H. Res. 578, legislation authored by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ). The resolution expresses the sense of the House that the Government of Romania should “amend its child welfare and adoption laws to decrease barriers to adoption, both domestically and inter-country, including by allowing inter-country adoption by persons other than biological grandparents.” “Today the House of Representatives has sent a clear message about the need to provide permanent homes and families for tens of thousands of children in Romania’s adoption laws place an unrealistic priority on “unification” of an abandoned child with biological relatives without regard for how long unification should be attempted, how old the child is, or how long he or she has been in state care without contact with relatives. As a result, it becomes nearly impossible to declare any child adoptable. The US Helsinki Commission examined these problems at a September 14, 2005 hearing entitled “In the Best Interest of the Children: “The current law in The resolution notes that when inter-country adoptions were prohibited by law 273 in 2004, there were believed to be approximately 1,700 pending cases in which children had been matched with adoptive parents in other countries, including the | ||
### | ||
For Immediate Release: April 6, 2006 Contact: Brad Dayspring (202) 225-3765 |
||
| ||