Post by srobles on Jan 5, 2005 23:40:55 GMT -5
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The youngest victims of the Asian tsunami may be homeless, traumatized and possibly orphaned, but they are not yet candidates for adoption in the United States, the State Department said on Wednesday.
The U.S. government and some adoption agencies have been deluged with offers to place the children of the catastrophe with American families, but this is not feasible now, said Kelly Shannon, a State Department spokeswoman.
"The State Department shares the humanitarian concern for the children of this tragedy and applauds American citizens' desire to assist them in their time of need," Shannon said by telephone. "However, at this time it is not possible for U.S. citizens to adopt these children."
U.S. immigration law stipulates that children adopted from other countries must qualify as legitimate orphans -- with no parents, or with a sole-surviving parent who is incapable of providing proper care for the child, and who has released the child for emigration and adoption.
The situation in the worst-hit areas -- Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India -- is still so unstable that it is difficult to tell which children are truly orphans, she said. In the coming months some apparently orphaned children may be in fact reunited with their parents, she added.
In any case, the U.S. policy is to encourage orphaned children to be cared for by relatives or neighbors in their home countries, rather than by adoptive parents in the United States.
Another concern is that without parents present, child victims of the tsunami may fall prey to criminal trafficking.
The State Department voiced this concern on Wednesday, and praised Indonesia for halting international adoptions "in the face of potential abuse."
POTENTIAL EXPLOITATION
"We are appalled by these reports and are horrified that thousands of children orphaned by this disaster are vulnerable to exploitation by criminal elements who seek to profit from their misery," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said at a briefing.
Children account for at least one-third of the 150,000 people killed by the Dec. 26 tsunami.
Each year, the United States grants thousands of immigrant visas to orphans who have been or are expected to be adopted by American families; most are for children from China and Russia, but hundreds also come from Asian countries including South Korea (news - web sites), India, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.
Holt International Children's Services, an agency that arranges U.S. adoptions of Asian children, has fielded hundreds of inquiries from prospective adoptive parents of the tsunami surviving children.
"They started almost immediately (after word of the tragedy was reported) and that's something that is rather predictable," said Susan Cox, a spokeswoman for Holt in Eugene, Oregon. "Whenever there has been a crisis, whether human or from nature, the results are children are the most vulnerable. ... We got hundreds of calls and e-mails."
Cox said callers were informed that adoption would be inappropriate, for now.
"If there is a bright spot in this, it is that the children would have ... extended family members nearby," Cox said, adding that the agency's partner program in Thailand reported that such informal "kinship" adoptions were common. (Additional reporting by Saul Hudson and Sue Pleming)
The U.S. government and some adoption agencies have been deluged with offers to place the children of the catastrophe with American families, but this is not feasible now, said Kelly Shannon, a State Department spokeswoman.
"The State Department shares the humanitarian concern for the children of this tragedy and applauds American citizens' desire to assist them in their time of need," Shannon said by telephone. "However, at this time it is not possible for U.S. citizens to adopt these children."
U.S. immigration law stipulates that children adopted from other countries must qualify as legitimate orphans -- with no parents, or with a sole-surviving parent who is incapable of providing proper care for the child, and who has released the child for emigration and adoption.
The situation in the worst-hit areas -- Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India -- is still so unstable that it is difficult to tell which children are truly orphans, she said. In the coming months some apparently orphaned children may be in fact reunited with their parents, she added.
In any case, the U.S. policy is to encourage orphaned children to be cared for by relatives or neighbors in their home countries, rather than by adoptive parents in the United States.
Another concern is that without parents present, child victims of the tsunami may fall prey to criminal trafficking.
The State Department voiced this concern on Wednesday, and praised Indonesia for halting international adoptions "in the face of potential abuse."
POTENTIAL EXPLOITATION
"We are appalled by these reports and are horrified that thousands of children orphaned by this disaster are vulnerable to exploitation by criminal elements who seek to profit from their misery," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said at a briefing.
Children account for at least one-third of the 150,000 people killed by the Dec. 26 tsunami.
Each year, the United States grants thousands of immigrant visas to orphans who have been or are expected to be adopted by American families; most are for children from China and Russia, but hundreds also come from Asian countries including South Korea (news - web sites), India, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.
Holt International Children's Services, an agency that arranges U.S. adoptions of Asian children, has fielded hundreds of inquiries from prospective adoptive parents of the tsunami surviving children.
"They started almost immediately (after word of the tragedy was reported) and that's something that is rather predictable," said Susan Cox, a spokeswoman for Holt in Eugene, Oregon. "Whenever there has been a crisis, whether human or from nature, the results are children are the most vulnerable. ... We got hundreds of calls and e-mails."
Cox said callers were informed that adoption would be inappropriate, for now.
"If there is a bright spot in this, it is that the children would have ... extended family members nearby," Cox said, adding that the agency's partner program in Thailand reported that such informal "kinship" adoptions were common. (Additional reporting by Saul Hudson and Sue Pleming)