    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [June 11, 1998]
    [Pages 940-941]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Senate Transmitting the Convention on Protection of
    Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
    June 11, 1998

    To the Senate of the United States:
        With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to
    ratification, I transmit herewith the Convention on Protection of
    Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, adopted
    and opened for signature at the conclusion of the Seventeenth Session of
    the Hague Conference on Private International Law on May 29, 1993.
    Thirty-two countries, including the United States, have signed the
    Convention, 17 countries have ratified it, and one country has acceded
    to it. The provisions of the Convention are fully explained in the
    report of the Department of State that accompanies this message.
        The Convention sets out norms and procedures to safeguard children
    involved in intercountry adoptions and to protect the interests of their
    birth and adoptive parents. These safeguards are designed to discourage
    trafficking in children and to ensure that intercountry adoptions are
    made in the best interest of the children involved. Cooperation between
    Contracting States will be facilitated by the establishment in each
    Contracting State of a central authority with programmatic and case-
    specific functions. The Convention also provides for the recognition of
    adoptions that fall within its scope in all other Contracting States.
        The Convention leaves the details of its implementation up to each
    Contracting State. Implementing legislation prepared by the
    Administration will soon be transmitted for introduction in the Senate
    and the House of Representatives. Once implementing legislation is
    enacted, some further time would be required to put the necessary
    regulations and institutional mechanisms in place. We would expect to
    deposit the U.S. instrument of ratification and bring the Convention
    into force for the United States as soon as we are able to carry out all
    of the obligations of the Convention.
        It is estimated that U.S. citizens annually adopt as many children
    from abroad as all other countries combined (13,621 children in Fiscal

    [[Page 941]]

    Year 1997). The Convention is intended to ensure that intercountry
    adoptions take place in the best interests of the children and parents
    involved, and to establish a system of cooperation among Contracting
    States to prevent abduction of, and trafficking in children. We have
    worked closely with U.S. adoption interests and the legal community in
    negotiating the provisions of the Convention and in preparing the
    necessary implementing legislation.
        I recommend that the Senate give its advice and consent to
    ratification of this Convention, subject to the declaration described in
    the accompanying report of the Department of State.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,

    June 11, 1998.