Update on Mongolian Adoption Processing

UNCLAS ULAANBAATAR 000141 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR CA/OCS/CI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CASC KOCI CVIS MG SUBJECT: Update on Mongolian Adoption Processing ¶1. Summary: A high-ranking official in the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor has provided assurances that international adoption cases which had been on hold for at least two months would be processed within the next few weeks. A new adoption law may be introduced in the Mongolian Parliament in autumn 2007. End Summary. ¶2. Visiting Seoul Petition-based Visa Unit Chief and Ulaanbaatar ConAsst met February 28 with State Secretary Ochir Baigalmaa, third-ranking official in the Mongolian Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor (MSWL). Ulaanbaatar Consul (who was unable to attend due to a last-minute emergency) had requested the meeting due to concerns heard recently from local and international adoption services providers that the GOM had placed a hold on overseas adoptions pending enactment of a new adoption law. ¶3. Mongolia's existing adoption law dates from 1999 and is seen by the GOM as deficient in not containing detailed qualifications which prospective adoptive parents should be required to meet. Approximately two months ago, the MSWL appointed a new Adoption Officer who expressed reluctance to process international adoption cases until the above problem could be remedied in law and implementing regulations. A total of seven (7) of these cases involve orphans to be adopted by U.S. citizens. On the heels of Ms. Baigalmaa's February 27 meeting with an official from Holt International (who also visited with Conoffs and ConAsst the same day),Ms. Baigalmaa had an in-depth discussion with the Adoption Officer to make it clear that a continued hold on international adoption cases was not merited. Ms. Baigalmaa thus assured Conoff and ConAsst that we should see all seven cases processed "within a few weeks." ¶4. Ms. Baigalmaa noted that a working commission on Mongolia's adoption law has been sitting for the past two years and that draft legislation could be ready for publication and presentation to the national parliament as early as this autumn. ¶5. In light of the above information, Post looks forward to working with CA/OCS/CI and Seoul on final language for a comprehensive update to the Department's country-specific web page on adoption from Mongolia found at http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/ country/country_422.html. In its current form, that page discourages U.S. citizens from adopting from Mongolia notwithstanding the handful of successful IR-3 cases we see each year following GOM approval and determination by CIS and State that the adoption meets INA 101(b)(1)(F) requirements. ¶6. According to Ms. Baigalmaa, Mongolia has around 50 state and private orphanages in total. State orphanages typically house between 100 and 200 children. A common size for a private orphanage is 25 children, but the figure can vary widely from one institution to another. She said overall the number of children requiring adoption is decreasing thanks to expanded GOM support for families in need. At the same time there is growing interest in domestic adoption, as well as a modest rise in cases of international adoptions, which stand currently at 30 or so per year for children destined to the U.S. and other countries. Minton