and social stability we recommend short and long term planning with benchmarks for goals at 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. We are concerned that implementing programs quickly without the proper infrastructure have created significant problems and is not in the best interest of the children. ROMANIA TODAY Romania has made tremendous strides since the fall of communism and has taken some positive steps towards child welfare reform. JCICS supports many of the efforts and encourages the country to continue to protect the rights of children. However, we are troubled by the current situation in Romania and the neglect of its most helpless citizens. UNICEF STUDY UNICEF conducted a three month transversal study on the abandonment of children in Romania in 2003 to 2004. This study confirmed the desperate circumstances of abandoned children of Romania. It states: "The coordinates of child abandonment in 2003 and 2004 were the same as those 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Despite continued efforts on behalf of the government and non-governmental groups, the number of children coming into care continues." Of the children abandoned in Romania, the majority of the children are Roma at 56.7%, with Romanian being second at 41%, Hungarian at 1.7% and finally Turkish-Tartar at 0.6%. The study showed that the research indicated [in the reference years of the study] that approximately 4,000 newborns were abandoned each year in maternity wards and another 5,000 abandoned annually to pediatric wards and hospitals. The study also indicated an existing racial discrimination among society and professional child welfare and medical workers to the Roma population. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ORPHANS REMAIN Domestic adoptions have not increased to keep up with the needs of abandoned children in Romania. Limiting a child's right to a family through only domestic adoption or intercountry adoption by second-degree relatives, denies the right to a permanent family for thousands of children. We believe that this short-sighted approach has a negative impact on the future of these children and creates for them long-term sentences of hopelessness and despair. INACCURATE STATISTICAL REPORTING SYSTEM Many children in the welfare system in Romania are currently visited by parents or family members. While JCICS supports the protection of parental rights and exploration of reunification in these cases, there are many other children for whom this is not the case. Historically, Romania has counted children as "adoptable" only when their parental rights are terminated. However, to achieve this designation, children must receive documented relinquishment from their parents or an abandonment hearing in the courts. The latter often does not occur due to the significant lack of funding from the government. As a result children may never have contact S with their parents but are unable to be adopted or statistically recorded as "adoptable". INADEQUATE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM We are concerned about reports of thousands of children hastily placed into an inadequate foster care system in Romania. Foster parents have not been trained; social workers lack the resources to make the required visits; and financial gains are a motivation for many foster care parents LACK OF FAMILY REUNIFICATION PLANS A lack of family reunification plans and processes are evident as birthmothers attempting to relinquish their babies are forced to take their child home without additional support or assistance or when abandoned infants are dropped off and left with distant relatives with no follow-up supervision. BASIC FREEDOMS Individuals involved in child welfare reform in Romania, as well as media reporters, are reluctant to come forward to address their concerns on the current situation due to negative reprisals from the Romanian government. Until the citizens of Romania can feel secure to address the reality of the current situation in Romania, making positive end-roads in child welfare reform will be extremely challenging. RECOMMENDATIONS JCICS recognizes the complexity of adoption reform and the difficulties that exist in developing a system that both conforms to international standards and balances the needs of children waiting for families. However, the situation has become so politically complex that children continue to suffer until a law that accounts for the rights and best interests of the children is supported by the EU and approved by the Romanian government. It is our hope that the European Union will embrace the international community and join together to ensure that a child's health and happiness is what ultimately governs our actions. Methods for eradicating corruption in adoption need to be implemented and full functioning child welfare infrastructures need to be established in all countries. Reintegration of the child with their family should always be the primary goal. If that is not a possibility, then national adoption along with intercountry adoption should be considered as options. The foremost objective is permanency for the child. While we understand that the Helsinki Commission cannot insert itself into Romania's internal challenges, JCICS requests that the following action items are considered: • Ensure that Romania's adoption legislation adheres to the tenets and principles outlined in the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation In Respect of Intercountry Adoption. Emphasize through diplomatic communication with the European Union and other EU and EP delegates that international adoption is the best option for children who cannot be permanently placed within their country of birth. With regards to the pending "pipeline cases" we recommend: -Creation and passing of an exception to the law to allow processing of the pipeline cases under Romania's emergency ordinance. -Expeditiously processing the pipeline cases using clear criteria. CLOSING JCICS believes we all have a responsibility to let these children's voices be heard. It is our duty to insure that these children are given a life of safety, permanency, and well-being. Thank you very much for allowing me to appear before your Committee today. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. APPENDIX 1. JCICS LETTERS a) April 25, 2005 to President Basescu (including recommendations for processing pipeline cases April 25, 2005 The Honorable President TRAIAN BASESCU President of Romania 1 Victoriei Square District 1 Bucuresti, Romania DEAR PRESIDENT BASESCU: It is with gratitude that we thank you for taking the time to meet with the families and organizations at Ambassador Ducaru's residence in Washington DC on March 10, 2005 in regard to the pipeline cases. We are writing you today to address three points: 1. JCICS White Paper 2. Processing of pending cases 3. Current situation in Romania As you are aware, Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS) is one of the oldest and largest membership associations of licensed, non-profit international adoption agencies, child advocacy groups, parent support groups and medical clinics in the world. JČICS does not place children for adoption or provide adoption services, but rather advocates on behalf of children in need of permanent families and promotes ethical practices in intercountry adoption. JCICS White Paper. JCICS shares the commitment of the Romanian government to strive for best practices in child adoption and welfare law and supports Romania's effort to promote national adoption in an effort to care for its children. We would like to commend the National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights (NAPDC) for their request for input from NGOs regarding Romania's child welfare legislation. Joint Council has prepared a "White Paper" defining our position on permanency for children around the world (see enclosure). We will be sending a copy of it to NAPDC as well. Processing of pending cases. JCICS presented to the US State Department recommended criteria for processing the pipeline cases. The ultimate goal for all involved is to have the system be as transparent as possible. Enclosed are our recommendations. Current situation in Romania. It has been brought to our attention that some children currently considered part of the "pipeline" cases awaiting adoption by matched U.S. families have been adopted nationally. JCICS applauds the efforts to keep children with birth families and extended families. However, many of these abandoned children have been residing in institutions or foster care for at least three to twelve years. This naturally raises questions and concerns as to why these children's families are just now coming forward to adopt them. We sincerely hope that these placements have been done at the request of the extended family and that they were not the result of external pressures or financial incentives. We know you share our strong belief that it is in the best interest of any child to be adopted by a family solely on the basis of a dedicated commitment to that child's well being. We would like to take this opportunity to emphasize the need for transparency and ethical practices in child placement-both domestically and internationally —and that a child's best interest should be of foremost priority. Joint Council is confident that under your leadership the care of these children, and all children in Romania, will proceed in an ethical and transparent manner. We understand the political pressure that Romania is facing with regards to the pending EU Accession, but believe that a child's right to a permanent family should prevail over political pressure. Thank you again for your time and consideration of our requests. Sincerely, MEGHAN HENDY DEB MURPHY-SCHEUMANN President DEBBIE PRICE Romania Caucus Chair SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROCESSING OF PIPELINE CASES The establishment of a transparent procedure to process pipeline cases is essential to the protection of children's rights in Romania. It is critical that a system be created that will protect the rights of the child, prevent corruption, be clear in terms of legislation, and be able to be accomplished within a defined timeframe. There are several areas of concern to be addressed in completing the "pipeline" cases: • Creation of a definition of "pipeline cases" to determine those children who are eligible for completed adoptions; • Establishment of a transparent procedure to finalize the "pipeline cases"; • Creation and passing of an "exception" to the law to be implemented by January 1, 2005 that will provide for the processing of "pipeline cases" that were initiated under Romania's emergency ordinance; • Determination of the department within the Romanian government responsible for processing the cases; • Identification of those pipeline cases and assessment of the prospective adoptive parents desire to proceed with their adoption. We highlight and offer suggestions on two of the above areas of concern: Definitions and Procedures DEFINITIONS To insure that all cases that were in process prior to the suspension of the emergency ordinance are finalized, a definition and criteria needs to be established that will be consistent for all children. It is recommended that the definition include at least one of the following components: Cases that were: assigned a file number by the Romanian Adoption Committee for processing ⚫ have a letter approving the family for adoption from the Central Authority or foreign embassy of the adoptive parents domicile prior to March 20, 2004; • Approved by the local direction as an identified family. PROCEDURES We suggest that all pipeline cases be processed within six months of the passing of the new procedure. The Romanian Adoption Committee should publish monthly reports to detail how many adoptions have been completed in all regions. These reports should be made public via the internet or though written request to Romanian Embassy posts. To keep the process as transparent as possible, files should be processed based on established criteria that must be applied to all cases. Criteria can be established as follows: Date that the file was registered at the RAC; Documented medical or mental special needs of the child; Date that the file was registered with the foreign embassy; Each criterion could be assigned a weighted measure that would 1 File registered at the RAC in June 03-Measure (1-5) Score: 3 File has not be registered with Embassy-Measure (1-5) Score: Direction approved child in January 04-Measure (1–5) Score: 3 Categories for purpose of processing Category 1 Scores 75-100% (processed first) Category 2 Scores 50-74% Category 3 Scores 25-49% Category 4 Scores 0-24% Thank you for this opportunity to provide suggestions for the processing of pending cases in Romania. We look forward to a swift M W |