According to this article, Russian law bans single parents and same-sex couples from adopting. Russian children account for half of all foreign children adopted in Israel. It appears that Israel and Russia have just reached a formal agreement that same-sex couples in Israel will not be able to adopt Russian children.
Here’s a recent federal case wherein an United States citizen in the military followed the proper procedures to bring their foreign-born fifteen year old neice to the United States for adoption, but the family then missed the age 16 deadline to file for adoption. As a result of the missed adoption filing deadline, a Federal Judge just ruled that the child must leave the United States.
U.S. Families seeking to adopt foreign born children are strongly encouraged to consult with U.S. adoption and U.S. immigration attorneys prior to pursuing adoption. The legal adoption in the foreign country or U.S. will not confer automatic citizen and you could run into a serious problem wherein your child may be deported. Here’s an article about a recent family living through this nightmare.
According to this article, parents of children adopted overseas are nervously and closely reexamining their adoption paperwork to confirm whether or not the current administration and U.S. government view their child as a citizen of the United States.
Reuters report of Dutch government moving to ban international adoption based on reports of exploitation. This could have a chilling effect on all international adoptions.
According to this report, many U.S. agencies handling foreign adoptions are upset with new rules enacted by the US State Department alleging the rules are overly rigid and too costly to implement.
Legislation honoring Sergei Magnitsky in the United States was designed to allow for visa restrictions and asset freezes over connected Russian officials in response to the death of an attorney in Russia, Sergei Magnitsky, who was believed to have been tortured and killed in prison soon after he alleged corruption by government officials. In retaliation to the US legislation restricting rights of connected Russian officials, Russia banned adoption of Russian children by adoptive parents from the United States. Now, according to this report, Britain may also be considering legislation similar to the legislation in the United States honoring Magnitsky by punishing connected Russian officials with visa restrictions, asset freezes, and other restrictions.
15-Day Extension of Public Comment Period on Amendments to the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation Regulations
October 31, 2016 This past Friday, October 28, 2016, the Federal Register published a notice extending by 15 days the public comment period on our pending proposed rule. On September 8, 2016, the Department published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), to amend requirements for accreditation of agencies and approval of persons to provide adoption services in intercountry adoption cases. (See 81 FR 62322.) The NPRM provided a comment period of 60 days, which expires on November 7, 2016. In response to a request for extension of the comment period, the Department extends the comment period until November 22, 2016. This change will provide 75 days for the public to submit comments on this rule. Further information, including the text of the proposed rule and how to post comments, can be found on regulations.gov (search for intercountry adoption).
Concern over the State Department’s published September 8, 2016 proposed rule changes on international adoption have 70 accredited adoption agencies voicing their concerns during the rule comment period expiring November 7, 2016. In a September 20, 2016 letter, the 7o US accredited adoption agencies voiced their concerns that the proposed rules would harm children and agencies.
Report that a Judge in Mumbai, India granted an adoption of a one-year-old Indian child to a U.S. couple of Indian ancestry based on the one-year-old’s bond with the adoptive parents. This type of adoption is rare in India.
