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email Remarks at National Council for Adoption 26th Anniversary Adoption Hall of Fame Awards Celebration
Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs
Maura Harty
Keynote Remarks at National Council for Adoption
26th Anniversary Adoption Hall of Fame Awards Celebration
Top of the Town
Arlington, Virginia
April 19, 2006
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the National Council for Adoption, Mr. Frenzel, Mr. Blankley, and Honored Guests,
It is a real pleasure and an honor to join you this evening in celebration of the twenty-sixth anniversary of the National Council for Adoption. For more than a quarter century, you have championed, through word and deed, the cause of adoption for children in need. In doing so, you have helped make possible the precious gift of a permanent family to children in this country and around the world. You have touched the lives of thousands. I know they join me in thanking NCFA for your tireless service to the world’s children.
In 1999, NCFA’s founder Dr. William Pierce identified 21 barriers to adoption to be addressed in the 21st century. His number one recommendation was to “elevate adoption to an issue that is discussed in American society, especially by those who make public policy.”
Well, here we are in the 21st century. And I am delighted to say that Bill Pierce’s goal has been met. In America, today we don’t just discuss adoption. We don’t just accept it as a common thread in the fabric of our families. We positively celebrate it, for the joy it brings to children who have found new families. We celebrate it, for the hope it holds out to children still searching for families. We celebrate it, for the promise of the contributions these children will make to our country as they grow and thrive in this society.
That Dr. Pierce’s goal has been met is due in no small part to the NCFA’s steadfast to the notion that every child deserves the chance to grow up in a loving family. In addition to the achievements of tonight’s honorees, it is this commitment that I believe we also celebrate tonight.
I am so honored and proud to be able to assure you that the Department of State shares this commitment to the world’s children. In 1994, with top-level guidance, I worked to establish our Office of Children’s Issues. Our goal was to enhance our ability to better serve the needs of children and families. Supporting intercountry adoptions is one of the major responsibilities of that office. The expertise of the staff has grown over the years so that we now have individuals with specialized knowledge and experience in social work and family law relevant to the issue of intercountry adoptions.
Our work on behalf of children is elevated, challenging and rewarding. I am proud of what we have done, and continue to do. But we can’t and certainly don’t do it alone. We value the consultation, cooperation, and collaboration of the National Council for Adoption, and others in the U.S. adoption community. Together, we have done some great things on behalf of children. Let me cite a couple of examples:
First: Last September, Tom Atwood joined me in testifying before the Helsinki Commission of the U.S. Congress on Romania’s adoption law, its de facto moratorium on intercountry adoptions, and the impact on more than a thousand Romanian children yearning for permanent families. On that day, the Department and the adoption community spoke with one voice. We sent a clear message to Romania that it should resolve transparently and expeditiously all pending adoption cases.
Second: NCFA provided thoughtful comments on the proposed regulations for accreditation of adoption service providers, which are needed to implement the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention. We published final regulations this past February. As a result of the valuable input NCFA and others provided, we now have, for the first time, a set of national standards for adoption agencies. It is an achievement of which we can all be proud.
We continue toward our goal of ratifying the Hague Convention in early 2007. As we move forward, we will remain committed to the consultative process that has served us so well. You have shared your views generously and we have tried mightily to give all comments full and respectful consideration.
The U.S. signed the Convention because we believe it is a vital tool for ensuring that intercountry adoptions are always based upon the best interests of children. We work daily to persuade other countries to join and implement it as well. We know that the effort to establish Hague-compliant procedures is worthy and can result in intercountry adoptions that are safe, secure and in the best interests of the children.
We invite foreign government officials to come to the United States to see how our intercountry adoption system works and to witness first-hand the benefits enjoyed by children how in permanent, loving homes, here through intercountry adoption. Just since last summer, we hosted two such delegations from Russia, one from Kazakhstan and one from Armenia. Our welcome mat is always out. This is a story we will never stop telling.
I promise you this evening that the Department of State and its senior leadership will continue to work hard on behalf of children in need of families and the generous, loving Americans who are prepared to care for such children as adoptive parents. I also promise you that we will continue to do this work in collaboration with equally committed private Americans such as those of you who support and participate in the work of NCFA.
I’d like, for just one moment, to ask for your help:
You can help spread the word that the Hague Convention is a powerful and important too.
You can tell us, as some have reason to do with regrettable frequency, when you don’t think we have gotten something right.
You can share your rich stories across America and around the world, as I know you do, to let everyone know that the benefits of intercountry adoption are noble and enduring.
We work on behalf of children because we believe that it’s the right thing to do.
I’d like to close with a statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in honor of this event:
“Every child dreams of growing up in a loving family. Sadly, too many children in our own country and in countries around the world, be they orphaned, abandoned, or otherwise deprived of their families, risk not achieving that dream. The reasons they find themselves in this situation are diverse, but our response must be the same: to find families for children who need them.
The guiding principle for all government officials, adoption advocates, child welfare personnel, and anyone who in some way touches the lives of children is and always must be to do what is in a child’s best interest. The United States is working with a number of countries to establish and improve child welfare programs that will promote family reunification and domestic adoption whenever possible. When that cannot be achieved, the United States supports intercountry adoption as a viable option for meeting the best interests of these children. We believe that the best interests of the children are better served by adoption – domestic or intercountry – than by nonpermanent care such as foster care or institutionalization. We call upon all countries to consider intercountry adoption for children in need of permanent family placements who cannot find them in their home countries.
I take great pride in the generosity of so many of my fellow Americans who have opened their hearts and homes to children in need of permanent, loving families through intercountry adoption. Our society has been and will continue to be enriched by the contributions of these adoptees.
The Department of State is working hard to ensure that all intercountry adoptions meet the best interests of the children and protect the respective interests of birth parents and prospective adoptive parents. We are committed to reaching our goal of ratifying the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption in 2007. We call upon countries that are not party to this convention to actively consider joining it, for the good of children everywhere. In a number of countries that have not joined the Hague Convention, we are working on a bilateral basis to improve adoption processing along the lines of the Convention’s principles. In this regard, I note that our 2005 agreement with Vietnam is allowing children in need to again find loving homes, but with additional safeguards for the adoption process.
I congratulate the National Council for Adoption on twenty-six years of selfless, dedicated promotion of adoption, and I look forward to continuing to work with you on behalf of the children of America and the world.”
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