180 children were adopted from DR Congo to Croatia, and the Ministry knows nothing about them
Zambia has been detaining 4 couples from Croatia for 3 weeks. They were detained from the airport on suspicion of trafficking children from the DR Congo. According to the Croatian Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, two couples are registered in the Register of Adoptive Parents. The same Ministry answered the question of the Narod.hr portal that since 2014, 4 children have come to Croatia through international adoption. And the couples who have already adopted children from DR Congo claim that there are about 180 of them in Croatia. And that all the children were adopted on the basis of the same procedure that includes the courts.
Both in the Congo and in Croatia. Although DR Congo has had a suspension of international child adoption since 2016, as stated by the US Department of State in its Annual Report on International Adoption. Namely, by changing the Family Law on July 15, 2016, the DR Congo suspended the issuance of permits for children to leave the country for international adoption, thereby, as stated in the Report, preventing the legal adoption of children from the Congo. The Report also states that the representatives of the USA had a meeting with the representatives of the Congolese Ministry of Justice and that they asked them for explanations regarding the decisions on adoption which, despite this change in the Family Law, are made by the Congolese courts.
It is estimated that around 180 children from DR Congo were adopted in Croatia
The immigration authorities in Zambia have started following 4 Croatian couples with children from the Congo, because the DR Congo has been prohibiting the issuance of exit permits for children for international adoption for years. They joined the surveillance of Croatian citizens and carried out passport control at the airport of the Zambian city of Ndoli. From the same airport, in the province bordering DR Congo , in recent years, as confirmed by couples who adopted children from Congo, around 180 children have traveled with Croatian passports, Croatian names and surnames.
Adoption of Congolese children in Zambia
The Congolese lawyers who mediated the adoption would explain to the adoptive parents that the children were being picked up in Zambia, due to the insecure situation in the Congo. So, for years now, children from DR Congo have been entering Croatia with their adoptive parents through Zambia using Croatian documents, without the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Welfare knowing anything about them . Passports would be checked by customs officials at Ndoli airport or another Zambian port, and children and parents with Croatian citizenship and proper documents would be allowed to travel from Zambia to Croatia.
The DR Congo has suspended international adoptions and issuing documents for children to leave the country
However, the immigration office that followed 8 Croatian citizens at the beginning of this month did, as far as is known, additional checks. And they found that "Croatian children", 3 girls and one boy aged 1.5 to 3 years, with proper documents and Croatian names, came to Zambia from DR Congo - a neighboring country that has suspended all international adoptions. And banned the issuing of permits for children to leave the Congo for international adoption.
How did couples from Croatia adopt children from the Congo?
"I got the information about adoption from Congo from a couple who adopted a child before us using the same procedure. Information is mostly obtained in closed WhatsApp groups. We went through the process at the Center for Social Welfare in Croatia and received a positive opinion on suitability and suitability for adoption. We also completed a three-month education course for adoptive parents. And received a decision from the Congolese court on adoption . This decision was then recognized by the municipal court in Croatia . After that, we obtained all the documents for the child", the adoptive mother of a girl from Congo told us.
Ministry to adoptive parents: "We have nothing" with adoption from the DR Congo
DR Congo is a country with 92 million inhabitants, constant armed conflicts, very poor, the second largest African country. It is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on Adoption and Cooperation (1993). The goal of the convention is to protect children from trafficking, abuse, exploitation, etc. For this reason, the Croatian Ministry of Labor, Pension System, Family and Social Welfare responded to couples who heard that children from the DR Congo can be adopted, as they have been saying to the media these days. That the adoption, if the country is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on Adoption, takes place in accordance with the laws of the country from which the children come. And that the Ministry "has nothing to do with it". We would disagree with this assessment. But about that another time.
The adoption procedure from the DR Congo took place in 3 steps
According to the information of our interlocutors, adopters of children from the Congo, the procedure took place in 3 main steps. The first step is obtaining the necessary documentation in Croatia. They were already in the register of adoptive parents. That is, they had the opinion of the competent center for social welfare that they are eligible and suitable for adoption. They went through a 3-month course organized by the associations Adopta, Drugri ižen, etc. They submitted the documentation to the Congolese lawyer who was recommended to them. This is de facto the same documentation that must be obtained for adopting a child in the Republic of Croatia.All necessary documents were translated into French, the official language of the DR Congo, by a court interpreter. An assessment by the competent center for social welfare that they are eligible and suitable for adoption, a certificate of no criminal record, a marriage certificate, a certificate of mental and physical health, completed forms with their photos and a power of attorney for a lawyer.
Decision of the court in the DR Congo and recognition of that decision on adoption in the Republic of Croatia
"After we secured all the documentation necessary for adoption in the Congo, in the second step, the Congolese court, through the lawyer we hired, issued a decision on the adoption of children from an orphanage in the Congo ," they explained to us. As a third step, the decision of the Congolese court is translated into Croatian. A hearing is scheduled at the municipal court in the Republic of Croatia. Our municipal court recognizes a foreign court decision on adoption from DR Congo . And then you go to the registry office with that document from the Croatian court. You get a birth certificate, then a residence card. So the place of residence is registered at the MUP. And he takes out a passport for a child from the Congo with a French and Croatian name and a Croatian surname.
According to the adoptive parents, they would then meet with the children in Zambia and then come to Croatia from Zambia.
This case opened up a series of questions related to both the institutions in the Congo and the institutions in Croatia. Namely, it is not clear how the Croatian municipal courts could recognize decisions on adoption by Congolese courts - when the DR Congo has in force the suspension of international adoption of children and the issuance of permits to leave the country for international adoption.How is it that the Ministry of Labour, Pension Insurance, Family and Social Work supervises the adoption of children from countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention on Adoption, and does not supervise the adoption of children from countries that are affected by war, are insecure and are not signatories to the Convention at all? And many other questions. Like whether the lesbian/transsexual couple Noah and Ivona Kraljevi? received the necessary documentation in Croatia and DR Congo - when adoption by homosexual/transsexual couples is illegal in both countries?
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