Yesterday
the US Department of state issued the following statement regarding adoptions
in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
Alert: Democratic Republic of the Congo Immigration Authorities Suspend Issuance of Exit Permits to Adoptees
On April 29, the Congolese Ministry
of Interior and Security, General Direction of Migration (Direction Generale
d’Immigration, DGM) informed the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa that the DGM has
temporarily suspended issuance of exit permits to adopted Congolese children
seeking to depart the country with their adoptive parents. This
suspension is due to an ongoing investigation of an adoption that may not have
complied with Congolese law.
The suspension of exit permits for
adopted Congolese children applies to all intercountry adoptions and is not
limited to adoptions by U.S. citizens. These exit permits are required in
addition to U.S. immigrant visas in order for children to travel to the United
States.
The DGM does not expect to issue
exit permits to any adoptees during the investigation. We will post new
information as it becomes available on adoption.state.gov.
I
could almost hear a collective gasp from the hundreds of families that are in process
to adopt a child from DRC. I know that
reading this took my breath away and my kids are all home safe and sound. But I have several dear friends and many
lovely acquaintances that are waiting impatiently to bring children home. At the very least this will mean another
delay in an already long and bumpy process.
At worst, it points us in a direction of DRC
closing down adoptions for good or, at best, indefinitely. This is something that a lot of us have
feared for a long time.
Early
rumors sound fairly optimistic. It
sounds like this halt to exit letters is not because of a case of falsified
documents or bribe paying or other common adoption corruption issues. It sounds like an adoptive parent (not from
the U.S.) who technically should have never qualified to adopt from DRC in the
first place, somehow managed to slip through the system. Or not completely slip through, considering
this pending investigation. I hope the
rumor is true and it is simply a case of one isolated situation. If it is true that means that DGM is doing
its job. It is providing the last
security check in a very complicated process.
Right
away when I read this news alert I thought of a friend who is bringing home a 6
year old girl. She has no parents, no extended
family to go to, and she has lived in an orphanage since birth. Since BIRTH to SIX years old. It makes me cry just to type that. If she is not adopted she will NEVER have a
family. She will NEVER be able to look
into the eyes of another woman and say to herself “This is my mama.” She will be fed; she will have a place to
sleep. She will probably go to school
until about grade 6. She will live in a
building filled with other children just like her. New babies will arrive. Some children will finally rejoin their
families. Others will die. Six years will turn into seven and eight and
nine….But everyday will look about the same as the last. Just as lonely, just as hopeless, just as
empty.
Grace
spent her first 9 months in an orphanage and we are still trying to repair that
damage. What kind of damage does a life
a spent in an orphanage leave behind? Prospects are grim for someone who has
never lived in a “normal” family setting.
The likelihood that their future might include prostitution, forced
labor or early marriage, drug or alcohol abuse, and suicide go through the
roof.
I
pray that DRC does not follow the same path as Vietnam or Guatemala, or Cambodia. I pray this six year old comes home before
she turns seven. I pray that every
family involved in international adoption takes a stand against the unethical
practices that cause countries to close their doors. I pray every night for all the children in
the world who don’t have mamas and daddies.
Maybe
you could say a little prayer for them tonight, too.
