Reply of Unicef to AD (Cornelius Williams = successor Susan Bissell)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Cornelius Williams"
Date: 11 Nov 2015 19:54
Subject: Re: Reminder: Independant Panel UNCRC - Adoption
To: "Arun Dohle"
Cc: "Peter Gross"
Dear Mr Dohle
Thank you for your email to my predecessor Susan about inter country adoption in the European Union (EU).
While as UNICEF we cannot comment on the details of the acquit communautaire within the EU, we can confirm that every Member State has signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and also that all 28 Member States have contracted to the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. As this information is accessible to the public, I assume this is nothing new to you.
From your email it seems your engagement with these issues and UNICEF goes back a long way and so you must be familiar with our position but let me take this opportunity to reiterate it. UNICEF believes that ‘Intercountry adoption is among the range of stable care options. For individual children who cannot be cared for in a family setting in their country of origin, intercountry adoption may be the best permanent solution’. Furthermore, UNICEF supports intercountry adoption, when pursued in conformity with the standards and principles of the 1993 Hague Convention – currently ratified by 95 countries. It sets out obligations for the authorities of countries from which children leave for adoption, and those that are receiving these children. The Convention, which gives paramount consideration to the best interests of the child, is designed to ensure ethical and transparent processes.
We agree that most European Member States child protection services are well-funded, and increasingly provide a range of options for children without parental care, including foster care and other care arrangements. However, for a small number of children, intercountry adoption may be suitable option. We also note that the number of children placed in intercountry adoption from EU Member States is relatively small. For example, according to Hague Convention statistics, in the case of Latvia, 131 children were internationally adopted in 2013, of whom 127 were children with special needs; for Lithuania in the same year it was 80 children, of whom 57 had special needs; Serbia in 2014 had 21 intercountry adoptions, and in Slovakia the number of intercountry adoptions has dropped from 43 in 2010 to 4 in 2014.
I hope this answers your question.
Best wishes
Cornelius Williams
Associate Director Child Protection, Programme Division
UNICEF 3 UN Plaza, NY, NY 10017
Telephone: +1 (212) 824-6670, Mobile: +1 (917) 618-5744
E-Mail: cowilliams@unicef.org, Skype: corn20001
From: Susan Bissell
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 9:14 PM
To: Arun Dohle
Cc: Cornelius Williams
Subject: Re: Reminder: Independant Panel UNCRC - Adoption
Dear Arun,
I'm so sorry. Your original email did not reach me. Hence I am just seeing this now.
I'm copying in the new Child Protection chief and another colleague who oversees this area of work. I have transitioned to a new post.
I regret this was not responded to. You will appreciate that email is not always the most reliable.
Kind regards
Susan