LilMtnCbn
05-18-2004, 06:05 AM
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/8692333.htm
U.S. Families' Battle for Adoptions Resume
ALISON MUTLER
Associated Press
BUCHAREST, Romania - Flushed from his game of hide-and-seek, 4-year-old Vasile
munches a brownie as his mother recalls the day he entered her life.
It was February 2001, and Emily Wilcox and her husband Andy had traveled to
Romania to adopt a child.
"He just stood up in his crib and jumped into Andy's arms," Emily Wilcox said
of the boy squirming in her lap. Soon Vasile, then 13 months old, was on his
way to Lee's Summit, Mo., the first real home he had ever known.
Now the couple, both 38, are back in Romania in hopes of adopting another
child. But the odds are against them this time around.
Vasile was one of the last Romanian children to be adopted before the
government suspended foreign adoptions in June 2001 at the request of the
European Union. The EU was concerned about allegations that the system was
corrupt and children were being sold to foreigners.
That ban looks set to become permanent in coming weeks as Romanian lawmakers
prepare to enact severe restrictions on international adoptions, despite an
impassioned plea from would-be adoptive parents.
Two dozen U.S. Congressmen, along with politicians from EU countries, have
written letters of protests. And this month, 20 American families who adopted
Romanian children traveled to the Balkan country to show the Romanian
government what the orphans will be missing.
"Every child has the right to a permanent family," said Debra Murphy-Scheumann,
who runs Special Additions, a nonprofit organization based in Stilwell, Kan.,
that helps arrange adoptions and provides aid to orphanages.
"These children have become political pawns," she said. "People say we are
supporting corrupt practices but that is so far from the truth. This is not
about the United States and the European Union ... this is about the life of a
child."
Murphy-Scheumann, 49, has four children of her own and five others she has
adopted. Although she has never adopted in Romania, she has become a
spokeswoman for the plight of would-be American adoptive parents.
Adding to the outrage over the planned law is that millions of dollars of aid
flowed into Romania after the 1989 ouster and execution Nicolae Ceausescu, the
Communist dictator who had run Romania for a quarter century.
His death led to the revelation that nearly 100,000 children were living in
squalor and misery in state orphanages - the result of his ban on abortion and
birth control.
Romania quickly became a magnet for American and European couples willing to
pay as much as $19,000, roughly the cost in the United States, to adopt in
Romania. Not surprisingly, allegations of baby trafficking soon followed.
The Wilcoxes believe such cases are the exceptions, however, and they offer
themselves as proof. Andy is a science teacher and swimming coach in Lee's
Summit. Emily gave up a job in advertising to become a full-time mom to Vasile.
They haven't forgotten their son's homeland. A Romanian flag flutters outside
their Missouri home, and Vasile, who is wearing an embroidered Romanian smock
and sneakers, calls his father "Tata," Romanian for "Daddy."
An estimated 30,000 children have been adopted by foreigners since 1989,
international agencies say. That includes 1,000 children adopted after 2001
because their cases were considered exceptional or were planned before the
moratorium.
Many Romanians still leave children in orphanages because they're unable to
support them with average monthly salaries of $170.
Although about 40,000 children currently live in state institutions, many are
technically ineligible for adoption because they're occasionally visited by
their families.
The Wilcoxes don't doubt there is corruption within the system, or that there
are horror stories when adoptions go wrong. But they say the little girl they
wish to adopt should have a home, either in Romania or abroad.
"If there is corruption in the adoption system, then fix the problem," Andy
Wilcox said. "Don't punish thousands of children."
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
U.S. Families' Battle for Adoptions Resume
ALISON MUTLER
Associated Press
BUCHAREST, Romania - Flushed from his game of hide-and-seek, 4-year-old Vasile
munches a brownie as his mother recalls the day he entered her life.
It was February 2001, and Emily Wilcox and her husband Andy had traveled to
Romania to adopt a child.
"He just stood up in his crib and jumped into Andy's arms," Emily Wilcox said
of the boy squirming in her lap. Soon Vasile, then 13 months old, was on his
way to Lee's Summit, Mo., the first real home he had ever known.
Now the couple, both 38, are back in Romania in hopes of adopting another
child. But the odds are against them this time around.
Vasile was one of the last Romanian children to be adopted before the
government suspended foreign adoptions in June 2001 at the request of the
European Union. The EU was concerned about allegations that the system was
corrupt and children were being sold to foreigners.
That ban looks set to become permanent in coming weeks as Romanian lawmakers
prepare to enact severe restrictions on international adoptions, despite an
impassioned plea from would-be adoptive parents.
Two dozen U.S. Congressmen, along with politicians from EU countries, have
written letters of protests. And this month, 20 American families who adopted
Romanian children traveled to the Balkan country to show the Romanian
government what the orphans will be missing.
"Every child has the right to a permanent family," said Debra Murphy-Scheumann,
who runs Special Additions, a nonprofit organization based in Stilwell, Kan.,
that helps arrange adoptions and provides aid to orphanages.
"These children have become political pawns," she said. "People say we are
supporting corrupt practices but that is so far from the truth. This is not
about the United States and the European Union ... this is about the life of a
child."
Murphy-Scheumann, 49, has four children of her own and five others she has
adopted. Although she has never adopted in Romania, she has become a
spokeswoman for the plight of would-be American adoptive parents.
Adding to the outrage over the planned law is that millions of dollars of aid
flowed into Romania after the 1989 ouster and execution Nicolae Ceausescu, the
Communist dictator who had run Romania for a quarter century.
His death led to the revelation that nearly 100,000 children were living in
squalor and misery in state orphanages - the result of his ban on abortion and
birth control.
Romania quickly became a magnet for American and European couples willing to
pay as much as $19,000, roughly the cost in the United States, to adopt in
Romania. Not surprisingly, allegations of baby trafficking soon followed.
The Wilcoxes believe such cases are the exceptions, however, and they offer
themselves as proof. Andy is a science teacher and swimming coach in Lee's
Summit. Emily gave up a job in advertising to become a full-time mom to Vasile.
They haven't forgotten their son's homeland. A Romanian flag flutters outside
their Missouri home, and Vasile, who is wearing an embroidered Romanian smock
and sneakers, calls his father "Tata," Romanian for "Daddy."
An estimated 30,000 children have been adopted by foreigners since 1989,
international agencies say. That includes 1,000 children adopted after 2001
because their cases were considered exceptional or were planned before the
moratorium.
Many Romanians still leave children in orphanages because they're unable to
support them with average monthly salaries of $170.
Although about 40,000 children currently live in state institutions, many are
technically ineligible for adoption because they're occasionally visited by
their families.
The Wilcoxes don't doubt there is corruption within the system, or that there
are horror stories when adoptions go wrong. But they say the little girl they
wish to adopt should have a home, either in Romania or abroad.
"If there is corruption in the adoption system, then fix the problem," Andy
Wilcox said. "Don't punish thousands of children."
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
