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From: "Craig, Sara" Subject: Kazakhstan Thaw - Adoption DossiersFlowing AgainDate: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 10:22:57 +0600 I met with both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education on Thursday. As many of you know by now, the MFA released the 88 dossiers it was holding on Wednesday. The Ministry of Education confirmed on Thursday that it received "about a 100" dossiers from the MFA and is busily processing them. (Despite rumors to the contrary, no dossiers were released earlier.)MFA Consular Director Konurbayev also told me on Thursday that he had issued instructions to all the embassies and consulates to resume accepting new dossiers immediately.MFA is still somewhat worried about proposed legislation to end adoptions. They say that the prime minister has asked for a detailed report on adoption issues by May 10. Konurbayev said that they will not stop dossier processing until the legislature has actually acted, however.Mr. Konurbayev asked me to relay to all parents that the purpose of the dossier halt for the last month was to account for all children previously adopted. He emphasized that the Government of Kazakhstan needs to keep track of adopted Kazakhstani children to ensure their best interests. He confirmed that all parents adopting in Kazakhstan as part of the court process must sign an obligation to register the child once back in the U.S., but that this practice only began last year (August or September). He clarified that the purpose of registration is to have the ability to contact the child (and adoptive parents), though two consuls in the U.S. would not have the ability to visit all of the children. Any visits would be performed only with consent of the parents.Lastly, Mr. Konurbayev asked me to remind all parents that no child is"assigned" to them until they come to Kazakhstan, petition the judge to adopt the child (after 2 weeks visitation), and receive the final adoption decree. He was quite surprised (and disturbed) at the number of letters he received recently in which prospective parents state that they already selected and began to love a specific Kazakhstani child. This practice is worrisome to Kazakhstani officials because they feel it treats the children as objects for sale in a catalog. I believe many agencies and parents think there is a "referral" system with the orphanages in Kazakhstan. There is no such thing and no one is "guaranteed" a specific child until they complete the adoption processing in the local Kazakhstani court.Thanks for everyone's patience over the last 6 weeks and I look forward to meeting many of you in person in the coming weeks. Sara CraigConsular Section ChiefU.S. Embassy Almatycraigs@s...This e-mail is unclassified.