In Romania, only
\n3,500 of the minors living in placement centers or in the care of maternal
\nassistants, therefore in the so called child protection system, are eligible for adoption. The rest of them,
\nout of a total number of 58,000 children, live separated from their families,
\nin the same system, but they do have relatives. And yet, why do all those
\nchildren end up in out-of-home state care? One possible explanation for that is
\nprovided by statistical data: 43% of the minors in the protection system end up
\nthere because of poverty. For those who have relatives, the authorities draw up
\npersonalized plans so that such children can be reintegrated in their extended
\nfamilies. However, reintegration occurs is much fewer cases than intended,
\nwhile adoption – the solution for the other children – is too long a process to stand real chances of success. The
\ncurrent Adoption Act, in force since
\n2004, is based on the principle that everything should be done so that minors
\ncan be brought up by their relatives. Therefore, a child becomes adoptable only
\nafter their fourth degree relatives have been found and contacted, and if they
\nrefused to take care of that child.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Finding a child’s’
\nrelatives can be a cumbersome and lengthy process, which is only one of the
\ncauses leading to the entire process being slowed down. There are cases when
\nthe adoption process as such fails to be accomplished, unfortunately, and the
\npresident of the National Authority for Child Protection Rights and Adoptions
\nGabriela Coman admits to that.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gabriela Coman: Children coming from all sorts of communities and families can be easily
\nplaced in the protection system. About 5,000 children get into the system every
\nyear, a figure which in recent years has remained constant. The period of time
\nthese children spend in the system, be it in the care of a maternal assistant,
\nin placement or foster care, is
\nunacceptably long, 6.5 years on average. If we look at statistics we see a big
\ndifference between the number of adoptable children and those who are actually
\nadopted, between the number of the families with an adoptive family certificate
\nand the number of children who are adopted. Moreover, most families want to adopt
\nsmall children. 85 % of them are
\nsearching for a child younger than 6, in good health, but the number of such
\nchildren in the system is much lower than the
\npotential adoptive families
\nwould have liked.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Adoption Act has been amended many
\ntimes. It has been recently revised thanks to the counseling offered by civil
\nsociety organizations and also by UNICEF’s office in Romania, whose
\nrepresentative in Bucharest Sandie Blanchet has hailed all the legal changes
\nthat have occurred in the aforementioned law.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Sandie Blanchet: We know that has been recognized by Romania, many times. The
\nprocess today is too slow. I takes on average, and this is on average, 15
\nmonths for a child to be adopted and we foresee that with the revision, this
\ndelay will be reduced considerably. We also welcome that the revised law uses a
\nnew measure, some kind of a parental leave that will be given to one of the
\nparents of the adoptive family, this leave will be for a maximum of one year,
\nand the parent will also receive financial allowance of a maximum of one
\nthousand seven hundred lei a month. Finally, I would like to highlight the fact
\nthat we should be very careful about targets and deadlines. The objective of
\nputting, for example, some time frame around the process is not to make sure
\nthat all adoptions are conducted within that
\ntime frame. It is not the ultimate ejective. The ultimate objective is
\nto make sure that the child’s situation improves, that the child finds a family
\nthat is a suitable family.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Under other
\namendments to the aforementioned law, the period of time during which relatives
\nup to the fourth degree can be searched for and the child can be
\nintegrated into the extended family has
\nbeen shortened from one year to six months. Moreover, the two-year deadline for
\na child to be considered adoptable no
\nlonger exits. This status of adoptable child, issued by a court of law,
\nshall be effective up until the conclusion of the adoption procedure or until
\nthe child turns 14. After the age of 14, the child will have their say as
\nregards their adoption. Also, the validity of the adoptive family license has
\nbeen extended from one to two years. In fact, the trials and tribulations the
\nprospective parents must go through during the adoption process are quite
\ndramatic. Nicoleta Cristea-Brunel, a Romanian woman residing in France who has
\nrecently returned to Romania to adopt a child, told us about this painful
\nprocess, which, for her, was a failure. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nicoleta Cristea – Brunel: What is going on in Romania’s child protection system is tantamount to a
\nsilent genocide. There are roughly 60,000 children in the system who cannot
\ngrow up in a family, for the simple reason that most of them never become eligible
\nfor adoption. It is so frustrating, so
\npainful. I, for one, being somebody who wanted to adopt a child, I simply
\ncouldn’t go to all those and see the children, because I would’ve wanted to
\ntake them all home with me. But that was not possible, not only because I would
\nhave been incapable of bringing up 60,000 children, but because I was not granted
\nthe right to adopt at least one child. However, I went at all lengths to
\nachieve that. I went through a process that, at some points, got virtually
\nKafkaesque, only to eventually be able to get the infamous adoption license.
\nBut that was all. The entire process by
\nwhich I tried to adopt a child in Romania only resulted in this piece of paper.
\nAnd for a year I kept it on my desk and
\nI would jump every time my phone rang, thinking I would be invited to see a
\nchild. But the call never came. No child could be found for me, although in
\nRomania, four children on average are abandoned in maternity wards every day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Meanwhile,
\nNicoleta Cristea-Brunel had a baby girl, through IVF, and set up the SOS
\nInfertilitatea Association, which promotes the rights of families who want to
\nhave children, whether through adoption or through assisted reproductive
\ntechnology. Quite familiar with the scope of the Romanian bureaucracy, she is
\nrather reserved as regards the revision of the Adoption Act. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nicoleta
\nCristea-Brunel: I find these amendments welcome,
\nparticularly those concerning the maternity leave for adoptive parents. As it
\nusually happens, most children are over 2 years old when adopted, and parents
\ndidn’t get a day of leave, believe it or not. You would take the child from the
\ncarer, and then you would have to let them with the baby-sitter or grandparents
\nso that you could go to work. The adjustment period was not taken into account.
\nThe other changes are also welcome, but I first want to see them implemented.
\nMany things look fine on paper. The text of the law also stipulates that court
\nrulings on adoption cases are to be passed within ten days, but this never
\nactually happens.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Recently passed by
\nthe Chamber of Deputies, the amendments to the Adoption Act are pending for
\npromulgation by the President of Romania and publication in the Official
\nJournal of Romania, in order to take effect.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Romania, only 3,500 of the minors living in placement centers or foster care are eligible for adoption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":67146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[29877,29825,43539],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-141844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-adoptions","tag-foster-care","tag-placement"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n