FROM LUSAKA TO HAGUE: ZAMBIAN ADOPTIONS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LUSAKA 000928 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR AF/S, CA/OCS/AF, CA/OCS/OCI JOHANNESBURG FOR RCO KENT MAY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CASC KTIP ZA SUBJECT: FROM LUSAKA TO HAGUE: ZAMBIAN ADOPTIONS ¶1. In the wake of public outcry regarding well- publicized cases of child trafficking, Zambia is revising child-related legislation, including its Adoptions Act. The GRZ and relevant NGOs seek to include international standards in the adoption code. However, protecting the more than one million orphaned Zambian children from the evils of trafficking and other abuse while ensuring they have the opportunity to find supportive homes, including through intercountry adoption, remains a challenge. In honor of adoption month this past November, Consul and LES Consular Assistant met with adoption stakeholders to improve understanding of the current adoption process and advocate for inclusion of Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption-compliant elements in the new adoption legislation. ¶2. This is an action request. Please see paragraph 12. -------------- BACKGROUND: FROM SUSPENSION TO LAW REVISION -------------- ¶3. Zambia suspended adoptions in 2008 following public outcry related to child trafficking cases (Note: see Lusaka 768 for information on the GRZQs overall anti- trafficking effort. End note). The suspension temporarily affected American prospective adoptive parentsQ (PAP) adoption of Zambian children, causing Post to revise the country adoption flyer to discourage adoption in Zambia. The GRZ relatively quickly put an interim structure in place to protect children while allowing adoptions to proceed and the Ministry of Community Development and Social Welfare tasked the Ministry of Justice and Zambian Law Development Commission with reinvigorating the reviewing all child- relevant Acts. -------------- HAGUE: ZAMBIA RIPE FOR INPUT -------------- ¶4. According to Sharon Williams of the Zambia Law Development Commission (ZLDC),while Hague ratification is a longer-term goal, the ZLDC is taking the African Charter on Rights of the Child and Hague Adoption Convention as points of reference in revising Zambian adoption law. The ZLDC is under pressure to get materials to MOJ draftsmen early in 2010 but Williams said she is cognizant of the need to avoid a check-the- box approach to adoption law revision, which would deliver no practicable solutions and simply gather dust. ¶5. Williams reported that the ZLDC consulted with South African institutions which had been involved in implementation of the Hague Convention there and will soon take a research trip to Ghana, which is also revising child-related legislation. The ZLDC seeks input on which GRZ entity could best drive implementation of child-related law revisions and best practices related to institutional capacity-building and proper resourcing. ¶6. Williams welcomed Hague materials Consul provided and expressed curiosity on any best practices the United States has to share on our own Hague accession and implementation,including input on what it would take to make Zambia Hague compliant. (Comment: Zambian officials seem to find it particularly challenging to develop adoption procedures which protect children, but do not make the intercountry adoption process so onerous as to make adoption of Zambian children impracticable for most PAPs. End comment). ¶7. Both Williams and Theresa Kabeka of the NGO CHIN which had been heavily involved in the consultation process at the beginning of the law review project agree on the need to educate key members of Parliament, the Minister of Home Affairs and other GRZ stakeholders if adoption law reform is to meet with meaningful results. -------------- ENCOURAGING TRANSPARENCY IN ZAMBIAN ADOPTION -------------- ¶8. Post adjudicated fewer than 10 adoption cases in FY 09, but receives several queries a month from Americans interested in adopting in Zambia or seeking information after having begun the process. To provide better LUSAKA 00000928 002 OF 003 information to American PAPs, Consul and Consular Assistant met with the various GRZ entities, selected NGOs active in the adoption process and orphanage officials, as well as solicited input from Americans who had recently adopted in Zambia. The meetings also provided a timely opportunity to encourage overall transparency in the adoption process. (Note: Post recently submitted a revised adoption country information sheet to CA/OCI for review. End note) ¶9. Officials at the Social Welfare District Office, the first step for PAPs after dossiers have been accepted, said that Zambian attitudes towards intercountry adoption have changed for the positive based on voluntary post- placement reports and a realization that Zambia cannot hope to find homes for the vast majority of orphaned children in-country. Social Welfare reports a marked increase in non-residents interested in adopting Zambian children. Interlocutors appreciated PostQs inclusion in the revised adoption flyer of warnings against informal identification of children and use of facilitators, which are not permitted under Zambian law. ¶10. Social Workers at the Emmanuel Family Homes and House of Moses orphanages and the Child Care Adoption Society Coordinator described active programs to reintegrate children to family homes, but a desire to avoid long-term institutionalization of children when timely reintegration proves impossible and intercountry adoption is an option. In terms of domestic adoption, national NGOs Zambia Civic and CHIN as well as the Lusaka Registrar praised traditional child guardian practices as a means of preventing even greater numbers of children from being institutionalized. They highlighted efforts to encourage Zambians in village and city to reduce the numbers of vulnerable children through formal birth registration and official adoption rather than informal guardianship. (Note: Lack of timely birth registration and official death certificates complicate Post's anti- fraud efforts, including for orphan investigations. End note) -------------- COMMENT/ACTION REQUEST: ADOPTION WORKPLAN -------------- ¶11. The door is open for encouraging Zambian incorporation of key Hague standards in its new adoption legislation. During Adoption Month meetings, Consul keyed off Hague megatalkers to advocate Hague as a means of ensuring protection of children and adoption transparency. She shared elements of the Hague powerpoint provided by CA/OCS/OCI, the list of U.S. Hague-accredited adoption service providers, the definition of orphan under U.S. immigration law, links to the Hague best practices guide and a list of U.S. adoption-related NGOs with Zambian adoption stakeholders. ¶12. With Zambian interlocutors receptive to input and the law review project moving to the drafting and parliamentary debate stage, Post plans to host an adoption-themed meeting with key stakeholders in spring 2010 and would be grateful for additional guidance and resources, including the possible participation of U.S. NGOs well-versed in U.S. Hague implementation. Emboffs will also nominate key adoption contacts for public diplomacy exchange opportunities such as the international visitor program. ¶13. In terms of assisting American PAPs, PostQs Adoption Month meetings confirmed that the various institutions an American PAP would interact with during the adoption process had the same understanding of key provisions in ZambiaQs interim adoption procedures. Orphanage personnel had also taken part in Social Welfare-organized adoption training. Anecdotal information from Amcits who had recently pursued adoption in Zambia, however, suggests uneven application of procedure and weaknesses involving transparency on the child's health condition as well as fostering periods and conditions. ¶14. Once adoptive parents bring their children home, they sometimes face inconsistent information on whether the Child Citizenship Act applies to their child's case (Note: Post has been working with CA/OCS/PRI to respond to queries as applicable. End note). Post will continue to promote transparency and consistency in the adoption LUSAKA 00000928 003 OF 003 process both through encouraging Amcit PAPs to follow Zambian procedure and closely tracking GRZ implementation of that procedure. BOOTH