"Adoption heartache for hundreds"
SOUTH Korea has suspended all new overseas adoptions, plunging hundreds of Australian families into uncertainty.
Adoption agencies in Korea have suspended inter-country adoption because of falling birth rates and new welfare policies that promote local adoption and provide better support for single mothers.
From Japan:
"Adoption profiteers face govt curbs"
With a view to preventing human trafficking masquerading under the guise of child adoption, the government has established a new set of regulations for adoption agencies. However, many questions remain unaddressed.
Under current laws, privately run adoption agencies are allowed to receive money from adoptive families in the form of expenses to cover the costs entailed in arranging both domestic and overseas adoptions.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry drafted a set of guidelines in August--the first of their kind--detailing a concrete list and definition of "expenses."
The list of expenses comprises 10 items, such as travel costs and telephone bills, as well as counseling and related services offered by the agencies to adoptive parents.
On Aug. 28, the ministry urged all 47 prefectural governments, and 15 major cities with adoption-related authorities, to tighten measures to eliminate adoption agency profiteers.
The guidelines prohibit agencies from receiving any money prior to the completion of the adoption process. However, "donations" are often difficult to distinguish from legitimate costs for adoption services, officials said.
And later on in the article, something you don't often read about regarding intercountry adoption: "In some countries, adoption is used as a cover for human organ trafficking or child pornography."
And from Massachusetts:
In a September 17 article, "For-profits to compete in child placements," from Boston.com (but only available by registering):
A little-noticed provision tucked into a bill in the dead of summer has triggered a sweeping change in adoption and foster care placements in the state, allowing for-profit companies to compete in Massachusetts for the first time.
The measure, passed without a public hearing, overturns previous language that had allowed only government and nonprofit agencies to handle the placement of children with adoptive families or in foster care. The measure was attached to an economic development bill, which was quietly approved by the House and Senate late last month, and signed into law by Governor Mitt Romney last week.
The change was pushed by a human services company, Massachusetts Mentor, with the help of well-connected lobbyists with ties to the State House and Republican circles.
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