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15 children adopted by foreigners in Azerbaijan since 2007 â€“ INVESTIGATION

15 children adopted by foreigners in Azerbaijan since 2007 â€“ <font color=red>INVESTIGATION </font>

07 April 2011 13:31 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva â€“ APA. Child adoption in orphan homes is a difficult process. If the adopting family is foreigner, it complicates the process. First, ordinary citizens donâ€™t see the intercountry child adoption synonymously because it is not a desirable case to give children to the strangers. Sometimes child adoption causes tensions between the countries. There were several such scandals between Russia and the United States, when the Russian children adopted by the US citizens faced with child abuse or were returned home with a letter of repudiation. Human rights adviser to the Russian President Pavel Astakhov said that intercountry child adoption procedure should be banned until the signing of agreements between the countries. Otherwise Russia can not control the fate of these children further.

There is no country, including Azerbaijan, which insures from such cases. Recently Azerbaijan has hardened the rules of intercountry child adoption and this process is controlled directly by the government.

Azerbaijan joined the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption on March 30, 2004, chief of the intercountry child adoption sector of the State Committee for Family, Woman and Child Problems Vesile Mohsumova told APA. According to the Conventionâ€™s Article 6 (1) and decree signed by the countryâ€™s President on March 12, 2007, the State Committee was designated as a Central Authority to discharge the duties and to coordinate the work of other relevant government agencies and organizations.

Mostly inborn-disabled children are suggested to foreigners to adopt

Intercountry child adoption issues are regulated by the Constitution, Family and Civil Procedural codes in Azerbaijan. Decisions of the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers concerning the registration of orphans, adopters, foreign and non-citizen adopters, regulates the government policy in this field. Mohsumova said the intercountry child adoption is allowed only with the sanction of the State Committee and court decision, if the child is not adopted by the Azerbaijani family or his/her relatives completely abandon the child. Azerbaijani legislation doesnâ€™t put restrictions regarding the adoptee health in the case of intercountry adoption. â€œChildren rejected by several Azerbaijani families because of their inborn disabilities are offered to the foreign families to be adopted. Usually Azerbaijani families prefer t adopt healthy and minor children, but foreigners adopt disabled children, who are operated and return to the normal life in the future.

Intercountry child adoption procedure in Azerbaijan

Mohsumova said domestic adoption of children under 3 is controlled by the Health Ministry, above 3 by the Ministry of Education, but all of them are registered at the State Committee. Only intercountry adoption is under the Committeeâ€™s direct control. â€œForeigners or non-citizens apply central authority of their countries, prepare and legalize necessary documents about the working place, incomes, civil status, health and then send the documents to the central authority of Azerbaijan â€“ our committee. The documents are legalized in the national languages of their countries. According to the Cabinetâ€™s decision, foreigners suffering from drug addiction, tuberculosis, infectious and neurological diseases or having previous convictions, can not adopt the children. Then guardianship and patronage commissions of the local authorities issue opinions to clarify accordance between the adoption and the childâ€™s interests. The committee issues final opinion and send it to the court. The foreigners or their lawyers and accredited organizations appeal the courtsâ€.

15 children have been adopted by foreigners in Azerbaijan since 2007

The committee official said 15 children, nine boys and six girls, have been adopted by foreigners in Azerbaijan since 2007, including six in 2007, two in 2008, five in 2009, two in 2010. This year only child was adopted. â€œSometimes the people donâ€™t see child adoption by foreigners synonymously and think that the children are sold. It is absolutely incorrect idea. The government is controlling the process. It needs to eliminate wrong stereotypes in the society. Today Azerbaijani government is working to secure welfare of the children. The disabled children are suggested to the Azerbaijani families many times, but not adopted. The foreigners bring up these children in healthy atmosphere. There are children in orphanages of Azerbaijan, who were sponsored by the government to be operated and undergo treatment. Some of the foreign adopters are Russian Azerbaijanis. They adopt the children from their relatives here, but this adoption is registered as intercountryâ€.

Further life conditions of the adopted children are seriously controlled, the sector chief said. â€œThe court decision considers regular reports on the life conditions, health and education of the children after the adoption. The adopters have to send photos, 15-minute videotapes of the children, as well as official documents about their conditions twice a yearâ€.

Why just Azerbaijan?

The sector chief said mostly people from the European countries, US and Russia applied for the child adoption. Intercountry adoption is more difficult procedure than domestic. â€œIf adopters submit all necessary documents, determine the child they will adopt, the process last 5-6 months, otherwise 10-12 months. Azerbaijani legislation doesnâ€™t consider any payment for the intercountry adoption. We ask the foreigners why they choose just Azerbaijan? Last year a US citizen, who moved from Azerbaijan to Russia and then to the United States, said he wanted to adopt a child in Azerbaijan because he is originally from this country. The foreign adopters choose Azerbaijan because adoption rules are easier. Most of them want to adopt Muslim children and those, who give much attention to genofond, origin and human values, also prefer to adopt children in Azerbaijan. Confidentiality of the child adoption is secured by the lawâ€.

Currently 10 foreign families are registered in Azerbaijan to adopt children

Mohsumova said number of the registered children to be adopted in Azerbaijan was constantly changed. â€œIf the childâ€™s documents are all right, he/she is registered by turns. If the foreigners adopt this child, the process is continued. Article 14 of the Hague Convention regulates this process. Currently 10 foreign families are registered by the committee to adopt children. We are working maximum to give these children to the Azerbaijani families. Recently a foreign family applied to adopt a disabled child, but then an Azerbaijani family applied to adopt him. We stopped the procedure and gave the child to the Azerbaijani family. I would like that the Azerbaijani families donâ€™t avoid the disabled children, who return to the normal life after the treatmentâ€.

3 international organizations are expected to be registered in Azerbaijan for intercountry adoption

The organizations giving legal assistance to the foreigners and non-citizens must be accredited at the State Committee and they can work after the relevant permission. Mohsumova said the Cabinet of Ministers approved the rules for accreditation of the organizations giving legal assistance to foreigners and non-citizens for child adoption and later some organizations have applied the committee: â€œThe worldâ€™s influential organizations applied us and now we are working on accreditation of three of them. If all processes are normal, probably we will register these organizations. So far no foreign organization was registered to assist the intercountry child adoption. The adopter applies the accredited organization, which submits his/her dossier to the central authority. If there is a child in the committeeâ€™s list, he/she is offered to that organization, which introduces the child to the adopter familyâ€.

The sector chief said that child adoption proposals are changed depending on the countries. For example, there are special websites in Russia, which publish photos and information about the children. There are many abandoned and illegitimate children in Russia, but it is not so in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani families prefer to adopt children under 3. The committee intends to develop cooperation with other countries in the field of child adoption. â€œThis field is new in Azerbaijan. We are strengthening relations with the local executive, health, education organizations and in the near future we will develop our cooperation with the central authorities of other countriesâ€.

What case can cause child adoption annulment?

Mohsumova said annulment of the child adoption process can be authorized by the court according to the Azerbaijani legislation. â€œFinal decision is made by the court after the committeeâ€™s opinion. The child adoption process is stopped in that case when the adopters donâ€™t fulfill its duties. According to Article 132 of the Family Code, the child adoption is annulled when the adopters abuse their rights, donâ€™t fulfill their duties, show ruthless attitude toward the adoptee, suffer drug or alcohol addiction, have poor health. So far we have no problems with the adopters due to serious control mechanism of the committee. Fortunately the adopted children didnâ€™t face with any problemâ€.

Intergovernmental agreement on intercountry child adoption is very important

Chief of the NGO Human Rights Allianceâ€™s Legal Clinic Nazir Guliyev told APA that not only legal approach is important for the intercountry child adoption. â€œThe situation of the country where the adopter lives, age of the children is also important. There are many families in Azerbaijan who want to adopt the children. It needs to have exactly elaborated mechanism. In some countries, children of certain ages have a right to choose families. These countries give preference to the childrenâ€™s interests. There are certain organizations which choose the families. I think that only the children who have no chances to be adopted in Azerbaijan should be given to the foreign familiesâ€.

Guliyev said Azerbaijan needed to ease the adoption procedure and to strengthen monitoring mechanism. â€œCurrently some countries become unavailable to get information about the adopted children, which cause concern of the people. May be those children are living in good conditions, but we are unaware of thatâ€.
Guliyev said foreigners preferred to adopt disabled children in Azerbaijan. â€œSome foreigners applied us for information. I asked one of them why he do that, he said it was his moral obligation. We send the applicants to the State Committee for Family, Woman and Child Problemsâ€.

The lawyer said relations between Azerbaijan and adopterâ€™s country should be regulated within the international conventions and agreements they joined. â€œIf it is impossible it will be difficult to succeed. The intergovernmental agreement in this field is very important. Azerbaijan has no agreement with any country on the child adoption now. The Alliance prepared some proposals on this issue and will submit it to the State Committee for Family, Woman and Child Problemsâ€.