Moldovan children could be adopted by foreign families as well

The children from Moldova will be put up for international adoption, but only after competent international institutions are authorized to work in Moldova, under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, Info-Prim Neo reports. The law on the legal status of adoption was adopted in 2008, but wasn't promulgated by the former head of state Vladimir Voronin owing to a number of shortcomings. It was reexamined and passed in first reading by the Parliament on May 28. According to the chairwoman of the parliamentary commission for social protection, health and family Liliana Palihovici, the moratorium on intercountry adoption was imposed by Vladimir Voronin. She said that after the given law is adopted in second reading, the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, within six months, will submit regulations concerning the accreditation of adoption institutions and regulations on the functioning of a consultative council for intercountry adoption to the Government. Liliana Palihovici also said that the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family will accredit only organizations from countries with which Moldova has bilateral agreements and that signed the Hague Convention. Only the children who will not be adopted in Moldova during two years will be put up for intercountry adoption. The law on the legal status of adoption says the status of child illegible for adoption is obtained during six months. However, there are children in residential institutions who have not been granted this status during 5 or even 10 years. When Vladimir Voronin refused to promulgate the law in 2008, he proposed setting up a committee for international adoption under the Government and a committee for national adoption under the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family. “The former head of state's proposal is not justified as it allows interfering in the Ministry's work. Moreover, this is against the Hague Convention that obliges the signatory states to designate one authority that would implement the Convention,” Palihovici said. Furthermore, those committees would have been only consultative bodies that cannot take decisions.