The House of Representatives today passed H. Res. 578, legislation authored by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ). The resolution expresses the sense of the House that the Government of Romania should “amend its child welfare and adoption laws to decrease barriers to adoption, both domestically and inter-country, including by allowing inter-country adoption by persons other than biological grandparents.” 

    “Today the House of Representatives has sent a clear message about the need to provide permanent homes and families for tens of thousands of children in Romania,” said Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Helsinki Commission. “I urge Romanian authorities to reconsider their adoption law in light of this legislation and to take to take a new stand on behalf of innocent babies and children.” 

    Romania’s adoption laws place an unrealistic priority on “unification” of an abandoned child with biological relatives without regard for how long unification should be attempted, how old the child is, or how long he or she has been in state care without contact with relatives. As a result, it becomes nearly impossible to declare any child adoptable. The US Helsinki Commission examined these problems at a September 14, 2005 hearing entitled “In the Best Interest of the Children: Romania’s Ban on Inter-Country Adoption.” 

    “The current law in Romania is bad for children and has nearly shut down and completely foreclosed the option for adoption by a loving family in another country,” said Smith. “In addition, it is also inconsistent with the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, which Romania is party to, which supports the propriety of international adoption as a legitimate way to find families for children in need.” 

    The resolution notes that when inter-country adoptions were prohibited by law 273 in 2004, there were believed to be approximately 1,700 pending cases in which children had been matched with adoptive parents in other countries, including the United States. Recent statements by the Romanian Government have placed the actual number of pending cases at 1,100. The resolution “urges the Government of Romania to complete the processing of the inter-country adoption cases which were pending when Law 273/2004 was enacted.”