CALLS TO ACTION

Volunteer for Ethica or Donate to Support our Cause!

Dear Friends, Happy 2012!  We hope your New Year is starting out well. Here at Ethica, we finished out 2011 very quietly as we contemplated our positioning for 2012.  In 2011, we decided to shift our focus from crisis intervention to policy advocacy on a national level, and we worked diligently with officials in Washington [...]

Update from Washington: Both good news and bad

Dear friends, Thank you for all that you’ve done to call and email the Senate offices in Washington to ask them to include this small, but critical amendment in the TVPRA 2011.  We are so grateful to have such enthusiastic and committed supporters. I’m writing with some updates, both exciting and a little disappointing.  First, [...]

Adoption Alerts

USCIS Unable to Resume Processing Adoptions from Vietnam

From USCIS: Released Feb. 2, 2011 Intercountry Adoptions Under the Hague Adoption Convention WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it cannot approve a Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative, filed on behalf of a child to be adopted from Vietnam. The Department of State (DOS) has [...]

Honduras: US Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens – Barring of Two U.S. Adoption Agencies by IHNFA (January 30, 2012)

From The US Embassy (Honduras): Message for U.S. Citizens – Barring of Two U.S. Adoption Agencies by IHNFA (January 30, 2012) January 30, 2012 The U.S. Embassy in Honduras informs citizens that the Instituto Hondureño de la Niñez y la Familia (IHNFA ) has barred two U.S. adoption agencies from the local adoption process, effective [...]

Vietnam Adoption Notice – U.S. Department of State to delay resuming adoptions in Vietnam

From the US Department of State: Vietnam February 2012 Notice: U.S. Department of State to delay resuming adoptions in Vietnam The United States has determined that it will not resume intercountry adoptions in Vietnam on February 1, 2012, when the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption will enter [...]

USCIS Public Engagement​: “Grandfath​ered” Adoptions Engagement

From U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Dear Stakeholder,   USCIS invites interested parties to participate in a national stakeholder teleconference on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 @ 2:00 PM EDT. The purpose of this engagement is to discuss changes to the process of “grandfathering” certain adoption cases as orphan cases when the U.S. and another country [...]

In The News

Orphan Voluntourism: Who Does it Benefit?

From SOS Children’s Villages: The lines between the tourism industry and voluntary sector have become blurred, leaving child welfare and protection workers to navigate the two according to the best interests of the child. With international travel increasingly accessible to both younger generations and global citizenship likewise on the rise, “voluntourism” has become a popular [...]

Utah: Dueling bills address giving unwed fathers notice of adoption

From The Salt Lake Tribune: Two lawmakers want to address the rights unwed biological fathers have in an adoption proceeding, but with notably different approaches. SB55, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, says a birth mother, adoption agency or attorneys involved may send a “prebirth notice” to any presumed father informing him of a [...]

Laos probes sale of babies to Australians, Americans and Canadians

From The Herald Sun: Laos is investigating a retired justice ministry official for allegedly selling adopted babies to Australians, Americans and Canadians for thousands of dollars each. The official is accused of seeking out unwanted babies in poor rural areas, obtaining adoption papers and selling the infants to foreigners for up to $5,000 each, according [...]

Canada: Agency closure puts prospective parents on hold

From CTV News Calgary: A Manitoba based adoption agency is shutting down and now several Alberta families are worried about the welfare of the children and the status of their adoptions. The Canadian Advocate for the Adoption of Children or CAFAC, says it can no longer afford to maintain its overseas operations and closed its [...]

Sri Lanka News Asks: Adopting children – a hobby?

From The Nation: ‘Adopt a poor child and change his life!’, ‘Every child deserves a family. Be that family!’, ‘Give an orphan child a mother and father to love him!’ A recent campaign of child adopting agencies and organisations across the world, claiming to champion the cause of orphaned, abandoned and destitute children and urging [...]

Ex-US diplomat testifies in Argentine baby thefts

From the Associated Press (via Google): A former U.S. diplomat testified Thursday that American officials knew Argentina’s military regime was taking babies from dead or jailed dissidents during its “dirty war” against leftists in the 1970s, and it appeared to be a systematic effort at the time. Elliot Abrams testified by videoconference from Washington in [...]

Articles and Resources

USCIS Unable to Resume Processing Adoptions from Vietnam

From USCIS: Released Feb. 2, 2011 Intercountry Adoptions Under the Hague Adoption Convention WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it cannot approve a Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative, filed on behalf of a child to be adopted from Vietnam. The Department of State (DOS) has [...]

Utah: Dueling bills address giving unwed fathers notice of adoption

From The Salt Lake Tribune: Two lawmakers want to address the rights unwed biological fathers have in an adoption proceeding, but with notably different approaches. SB55, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, says a birth mother, adoption agency or attorneys involved may send a “prebirth notice” to any presumed father informing him of a [...]