ADOPTIONS: ROMANIA OFFICIALLY REJECTS ALL PENDING

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUCHAREST 000576

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/NCE BILL SILKWORTH;
AND CA/OCS/CI CHRIS LAMORA AND SCOTT BOSWELL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/05/2026
TAGS: CASC PREL PGOV PHUM RO
SUBJECT: ADOPTIONS: ROMANIA OFFICIALLY REJECTS ALL PENDING
INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION CASES

REF: A) BUCHAREST 0536 B) 2005 BUCHAREST 2550

Classified By: DCM Mark Taplin, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) On April 5, Embassy received by mail a letter from
Theodora Bertzi, Secretary of State for the Government of
Romania,s (GOR) Romanian Office for Adoptions (ROA),dated
March 29 and including the final report of the GOR Working
Group established in June 2005 to audit pending petitions by
foreign families to adopt Romanian orphans and abandoned
children. Post has faxed the letter to EUR/NCE and CA/OCS/CI.


2. (U) The report shows that none of the 1,092 children
identified in the pending petitions will be available for
inter-country adoption, ostensibly for the following reasons:

-- 41 reintegrated into biological family

-- 12 integrated within extended family

-- 227 adopted by Romanian families

-- 17 adopted by other foreign families by the rules of the
adoption moratorium (2001-04)

-- 8 under legal guardianship in Romania

-- 12 reached or will soon reach age 18

-- 47 petitioned after a February 6, 2004 emergency ordinance
suspended even exceptional approval of intercountry adoptions
during the moratorium

-- 2 died

-- 6 not found in GOR,s database of orphans or abandoned
children

-- 90 had petitions withdrawn by the foreign families (1 from
the U.S.)

-- 132 in process of final domestic adoption

-- 415 not adoptable, protected within substitutive (sic)
families

-- 83 not adoptable, placed in the protection system (their
biological family did not consent to adoption before Court or
the Court did not approve the opening of the domestic
adoption procedure).


3. (C) Comment: The Working Group had been expected to issue
its report by the end of March, and Bertzi had announced
publicly in December 2005 that none of the cases would be
approved for inter-country adoption. However, the utterly
non-transparent process of the Working Group and the opaque
quality of the report suggest some of the children may in
fact remain in non-permanent situations in which their
welfare is not being adequately protected. Post believes we
should continue to press the GOR to open up the Working
Group,s "conclusions" for a transparent, objective
international review and to establish a legal framework that
would allow inter-country adoption for appropriate pending
cases. We will provide Department with our updated
recommendations soon. End comment.

TAUBMAN