Adoption news: US, Armenia and Madonna

The State Department released a statement yesterday on the Hague that says in part:

The United States is in the final stages of implementing new, federal-level standards and protections that greatly will benefit thousands of children from around the world in need of permanent families.

The implementation of these standards and the anticipated U.S. ratification of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions was discussed at a November 14 hearing before the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.

… In her testimony, Catherine Barry, the deputy assistant secretary of state for overseas citizens services, said that November 17 marks the deadline for adoption services to apply for accreditation under the new standards.

For more information see the State Department Web site.

And speaking of the Hague, Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan today finalized that country’s ratification process.

“Armenia has embarked on the path of child welfare reforms by adopting a new Family Code, amending key legislation related to children and establishing child protection bodies at the central and local level. The country’s accession to this Convention once again demonstrates the Government’s strong commitment to create a protective environment for children in Armenia,” the UNICEF Representative said. “It is now important to ensure that relevant mechanisms are in place for the effective and full implementation of the Convention.”

And Madonna.

Yes, we have Bono sticking up for her on the adoption front, and that’s all well and good. He knows Africa, so he’s not just another two cents dropped into the media well.

But I’ve come across something that’s going around adoption-related groups that is disturbing.

We have created an online Petition regarding the recent adoption of
David Banda by Madonna. As it may be known to you, there are several Child
rights and and Human rights Organisations, now concerned about Adoption.

So this Petition is thought to provide suppport for their efforts from the
International Adoption Community- this individual case will by large set the rules and regulations which will in future govern ICA from Malawi.

Thanks for your support and please help to distribute the above link as wide
as possible.

Great. Just great. Now the anti-adoption league is trying to whip up support from folks who have no idea that this has nothing to do with David Banda, but everything to do with a desire to pull the rug right out from underneath their own children.

If you see this on any of your groups, please drop a post in urging people to look for real information before they sign on.

You might also mention that they should have asked for help to “distribute the link as widely as possible,” since it’s an adverb and all, that support has only 2 Ps, and that they might want to conduct a spell check before posting tripe all over the Net. They also don’t need to capitalize petition no matter how important they think it is.

Pinheads!

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