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Adoption Alert for Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Source: Wikipedia.org.
There have been numerous U.S. State Department adoption alerts for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The most recent alerts are included here.
Alert: U.S. Secretary of State Meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President (August 5, 2014)
On August 4, Secretary of State John Kerry met with DRC President Joseph Kabila to stress the urgency of lifting the suspension on the issuance of exit permits for Congolese adopted children. Secretary Kerry strongly emphasized our humanitarian concern for the children and families affected by the suspension, and urged that children whose adoptions were completed in Congolese courts should be allowed to obtain exit permits and join their adoptive families in the United States.
President Kabila did not provide any new information during the meeting regarding the DRC government’s policy to not review cases during the suspension. President Kabila stated that the DRC adoption process has involved many inconsistencies in case processing and needs to be reformed.
The Department of State deeply regrets that families continue to face an indefinite wait for exit permits. We will continue to stress to the DRC government our concern for Congolese adopted children who are not able to obtain exit permits and stress our commitment to addressing the Congolese concerns about intercountry adoptions. Our offers to provide technical expertise, and to bring a delegation of Congolese officials to the United States, remain on the table and will continue to be reiterated at every opportunity.
Alert: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Announces End to Exit Permit Exceptions Until New Law is Promulgated (July 11, 2014)
On July 10, Ambassador James Swan met with Director General Beya of the Congolese General Direction of Migration (DGM) to seek clarification on the DGM’s decision to no longer issue exit permits to any adopted Congolese children until a new adoption law is promulgated. DGM Beya stated that his office will not accept any cases for consideration in the interim, even those involving children with medical conditions or those cases that met the DGM’s October 2013 exception criteria.
During the meeting, the DGM stressed that it considers no intercountry adoptions from the DRC to be completely free of fraud. The DGM said it believes all the bordereaux letters it recently reviewed to be falsified or back-dated and therefore invalid for purposes of seeking an exit permit.
Over the July 4 weekend, the Second Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, raised the exit permit suspension and all the pending cases with Congolese parliamentarians and the Minister of Gender and Family, all of whom emphasized their concerns about problems in the adoption process. The parliamentarians further cautioned that they consider many Congolese judges to be corrupt and that few government officials have confidence in completed adoptions.
The Department of State deeply regrets that families are once again forced to wait indefinitely for exit permits. On July 3, the DGM accepted eight medical cases from the U.S. Embassy for humanitarian consideration. In the July 10 meeting, the DGM stated that it will not consider exit permits for any of these eight medical cases. To date, the DGM issued exit permits for four children whose cases were submitted to the DGM prior to July 3. At the July 3 meeting, the DGM refused to accept 29 grandfathered cases received from adoptive families in response to our June 13 Adoption Alert.
The Department of State will continue to engage the DRC government on ways we can address its concerns about intercountry adoptions. Our offers to provide technical expertise, and to bring a delegation of Congolese officials to the United States, remain on the table and will be reiterated at every opportunity. We will also continue to strongly emphasize our message that all children whose adoptions were completed in Congolese courts should be allowed to obtain exit permits and join their adoptive families in the United States.
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