[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16254]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 GOVERNMENT OF ROMANIA'S BAN ON INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTIONS AND THE WELFARE 
              OF ORPHANED OR ABANDONED CHILDREN IN ROMANIA

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 359.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 359) concerning the Government of 
     Romania's ban on intercountry adoptions and the welfare of 
     orphaned or abandoned children in Romania.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider 
be laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 359) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 359

       Whereas following the execution of Romanian President 
     Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, it was discovered that more than 
     100,000 underfed, neglected children throughout Romania were 
     living in hundreds of squalid and inhumane institutions;
       Whereas citizens of the United States responded to the dire 
     situation of these children with an outpouring of compassion 
     and assistance to improve conditions in those institutions 
     and to provide for the needs of abandoned children in 
     Romania;
       Whereas, between 1990 and 2004, citizens of the United 
     States adopted more than 8,200 Romanian children, with a 
     similar response from the citizens of Western Europe;
       Whereas the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 
     reported in March 2005 that more than 9,000 children a year 
     are abandoned in Romania's maternity wards or pediatric 
     hospitals and that child abandonment in Romania in ``2003 and 
     2004 was no different from that occurring 10, 20, or 30 years 
     ago'';
       Whereas there are approximately 37,000 orphaned or 
     abandoned children in Romania today living in state 
     institutions, an additional 49,000 living in temporary 
     arrangements, such as foster care, and an unknown number of 
     children living on the streets and in maternity and pediatric 
     hospitals;
       Whereas, on December 28, 1994, Romania ratified the Hague 
     Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in 
     Respect of Intercountry Adoption which recognizes that 
     ``intercountry adoption may offer the advantage of a 
     permanent family to a child for whom a suitable family cannot 
     be found in his or her State of origin'';
       Whereas intercountry adoption offers the hope of a 
     permanent family for children who are orphaned or abandoned 
     by their biological parents;
       Whereas UNICEF's official position on intercountry 
     adoption, in pertinent part, states: ``For children who 
     cannot be raised by their own families, an appropriate 
     alternative family environment should be sought in preference 
     to institutional care, which should be used only as a last 
     resort and as a temporary measure. Inter-country adoption is 
     one of a range of care options which may be open to children, 
     and for individual children who cannot be placed in a 
     permanent family setting in their countries of origin, it may 
     indeed be the best solution. In each case, the best interests 
     of the individual child must be the guiding principal in 
     making a decision regarding adoption.'';
       Whereas unsubstantiated allegations have been made about 
     the fate of children adopted from Romania and the 
     qualifications and motives of those who adopt 
     internationally;
       Whereas in June 2001, the Romanian Adoption Committee 
     imposed a moratorium on intercountry adoption, but continued 
     to accept new intercountry adoption applications and allowed 
     many such applications to be processed under an exception for 
     extraordinary circumstances;
       Whereas on June 21, 2004, the Parliament of Romania enacted 
     Law 272/2004 on ``the protection and promotion of the rights 
     of the child'', which creates new requirements for declaring 
     a child legally available for adoption;
       Whereas on June 21, 2004, the Parliament of Romania enacted 
     Law 273/2004 on adoption, which prohibits intercountry 
     adoption except by a child's biological grandparent or 
     grandparents;
       Whereas there is no European Union law or regulation 
     restricting intercountry adoptions to biological grandparents 
     or requiring that restrictive laws be passed as a 
     prerequisite for accession to the European Union;
       Whereas the number of Romanian children adopted 
     domestically is far less than the number abandoned and has 
     declined further since enactment of Law 272/2004 and 273/2004 
     due to new, overly burdensome requirements for adoption;
       Whereas prior to enactment of Law 273/2004, 211 
     intercountry adoption cases were pending with the Government 
     of Romania in which children had been matched with adoptive 
     parents in the United States, and approximately 1,500 cases 
     were pending in which children had been matched with 
     prospective parents in Western Europe; and
       Whereas the children of Romania, and all children, deserve 
     to be raised in permanent families: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports the desire of the Government of Romania to 
     improve the standard of care and well-being of children in 
     Romania;
       (2) urges the Government of Romania to complete the 
     processing of the intercountry adoption cases which were 
     pending when Law 273/2004 was enacted;
       (3) urges the Government of Romania to amend its child 
     welfare and adoption laws to decrease barriers to adoption, 
     both domestic and intercountry, including by allowing 
     intercountry adoption by persons other than biological 
     grandparents;
       (4) urges the Secretary of State and the Administrator of 
     the United States Agency for International Development to 
     work collaboratively with the Government of Romania to 
     achieve these ends; and
       (5) requests that the European Union and its member states 
     not impede the Government of Romania's efforts to place 
     orphaned or abandoned children in permanent homes in a manner 
     that is consistent with Romania's obligations under the Hague 
     Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in 
     Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

                          ____________________