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.

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BACKGROUND: FROM SUSPENSION TO LAW REVISION
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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.

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HAGUE: ZAMBIA RIPE FOR INPUT
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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.

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ENCOURAGING TRANSPARENCY IN ZAMBIAN ADOPTION
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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

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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)

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COMMENT/ACTION REQUEST: ADOPTION WORKPLAN
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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

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process both through encouraging Amcit PAPs to follow
Zambian procedure and closely tracking GRZ implementation
of that procedure.

BOOTH