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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 002113

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR IIP/G/EUR-KELLISON, LSCHWARTZ; IIP/T/DHR-
JJASIK; EUR/PPD-JBASEDOW; CA/ACS/CI-MDERKS

E.O. 12958; N/A
TAGS: KOCI [Children's Issues], OIIP [International Information Programs], SCUL [Cultural Affairs], KPAO [Public Affairs Office], AM [Armenia], PHUM [Human Rights]
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS:
CURRENT PROCESS, OFFICIAL OPINIONS, POSSIBLE CHANGES

REF: A. YEREVAN 522, B. YEREVAN 2042

¶1. "It is better for a child to die in Armenia than to be
adopted abroad."  While international adoptions are legal in
Armenia, this pervasive negative attitude makes legislators
and government officials nervous, giving rise to a lack of
transparency in the process which in turn creates an
environment where fraud flourishes.  When Emboffs brought
cases of apparent fraud to the Justice Ministry and pointed
out shortcomings in Armenia's system, Justice Minister David
Harutunian asked for help.  In response, through the Public
Affairs Section's International Speaker program, post hosted
U.S. attorney and adoption expert Irene Steffas for a two
week series of working sessions with government officials,
lawyers, and non-governmental organizations.  Steffas
presented a range of choices for the GOAM, all which require
changes to legislation and a new level of commitment to
create an environment in which adoptions can take place
without the involvement of intermediaries and unlicensed
agencies, which are the main sources of fraud.  End Summary.

International Adoptions in Armenia
----------------------------------
¶2. American Citizens adopt approximately 40 Armenian
children per year.  This is a small number in terms of U.S.
foreign adoptions, but a large percentage of Armenian
children adopted by foreigners -- usually 70 per year.
Until this year, Post felt fairly confident in the Armenian
system.  Although parents were charged "extra fees" at every
step of the process, it was rational and fairly transparent.
The Armenian Government at the highest level signed off on
all foreign adoptions.

¶3. In early 2005 however, Post discovered that a local
adoption facilitator had been using unethical methods to
procure very young children for adoption by American
Citizens.  The facilitator had placed babies in a private
orphanage, the primary purpose of which appeared to be to
keep the children out of the state-run orphanage system
where they would likely be adopted by Armenian families.
(See reftel A.)

Presenting the Fraud to the MOJ
--------------------------------
¶4. Post brought concerns about unethical facilitators and
private orphanages to the Minister of Labor and Social
Security (responsible for regulating orphanages) and to the
Minister of Justice, chairman of the Adoption Council which
oversees adoption in Armenia.  Armenian adoption law barely
recognizes the existence of facilitators, but the Minister
of Justice understood that foreigners need help negotiating
the Armenian bureaucracy.  He told us he was just beginning
to study the best way to regulate facilitators without
providing additional avenues for corruption.  The Minister
asked Post to provide a U.S. adoption expert to explain the
adoption process from the U.S. perspective and to lay out
different options for legalizing the work of facilitators.

Current Process, Known Problems, Potential Solutions
--------------------------------------------- --------
¶5. In response to the Minister's request for technical
assistance, Post hosted U.S. attorney and adoption expert,
Irene Steffas, from November 5-18, for a two week series of
working sessions with government officials, lawyers, and non-
governmental organizations. (See reftel 2042.) In Mrs.
Steffas' expert opinion, many of the current Armenian
adoption laws "on the books" are good; however, the laws and
procedures are not always followed, nor are they clearly
known to the general public. The main hurdle as identified
by Post is the current lack of inter-Ministry cooperation,
as adoption responsibilities cut across the Ministries of
Justice, Health, Labor and Social Issues, and Interior.
While there is no "silver bullet" to improve the adoption
process in Armenia, Mrs. Steffas did identify a number of
areas in need of improvement:

(a) Aim for transparency of fees and the process for
domestic and international adoptions, with the goal of
corruption avoidance. She suggested to create a publicly
available booklet listing the laws, process, and fees.

(b) Create a complete adoption registry to have clarity on
the number of children awaiting adoption. Presently, the
number of children available for adoption is only an
approximate guess -- 11,000. Children are often identified
for adoption prior to being on the adoption registry. This
should be changed so that the parental surrender documents
allow for the child to be put on the registry and adopted by
a specific person(s) simultaneously.

(c) Centralize the process for both domestic and
international adoptions. Currently domestic adoptions are
done at the state level; only international adoptions are at
the national level.

(d) License domestic and international adoption agencies.
Local lawyers that work in the adoption field are also
recommended to be accredited.

Reaction of Justice Minister
-----------------------------
¶6. During a meeting with CDA and adoption expert Irene
Steffas, Minister of Justice Davit Harutyunyan emphasized
his desire to reform and greatly simplify the process of
adoptions in response to known and potential corruption. The
Minister stated that "no government civil servant making
30,000 dram (USD 66) a month will be able to resist slowing
the paperwork process and trying to get a cut of the
adoption agency's fees." His reaction to the expert's
suggestion to accredit foreign and domestic adoption
agencies was equally strong, "I don't want to create an
adoption industry - it shouldn't be a business." When asked
about the problem of hospitals keeping and "shopping" out
babies, he stated that he was not familiar enough with the
Ministry of Health's regulations. Despite the Minister's
differences of opinion with the expert's suggestions, it is
clear that Minister Harutyunyan is serious about improving
the process of adoptions in the very near future.

Next Steps
----------
¶7. We will continue to press the GOAM to develop coherent,
transparent adoption legislation and policy.  To follow-up
to the visit of Ms Steffas, we have scheduled a three-week
International Visitor Program on International Adoption
Issues, to take place March 11 - April 1, 2006.  This
program will involve a group of policy makers and children's
advocates who will try to learn from our best practices how
they can change Armenia's system.  We will seek to engage
with USAID's Armenia Legislative Strengthening Project to
turn the "lessons learned" from this visit into legislation.
Considering the high level of emotional resistance to
adoptions here, we expect forward progress to be slow, but
hope our efforts will keep it moving.

EVANS