A C Menu * Keeping in Touch * Act of Faith
AFAA’s new email group has been set up so that members can collectively keep in touch by email.Each email sent by anyone in the group goes to all those who have subscribed as group members.This should be very useful for those who want to discuss issues with other members, to share news quickly (e.g. announcing a placement or a successful adoption, an imminent TV programme, or a proposed social trip), or to seek contacts or advice from other people in AFAA.
The system is free to use, apart from your own costs of emailing.You have to register, either by responding to an invitation received from the moderator, or by sending an email request to afaa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.No personal information needs to be given apart from your name and email address.You can easily leave at any time.To safeguard confidentiality and to protect our privacy, only paid-up, individual AFAA members will be accepted.
The service is provided by YahooGroups, and there are some good behaviour terms and conditions to accept.These include the obvious undertakings not to advertise, not to use the group for purposes other than discussion of intercountry adoption related issues, and not to use abusive language.Material from the group should not be sent outside without the permission of whoever wrote it.
This should be an excellent means of building a deeper sense of community between inter-country adopters in AFAA.Do give the group a try – you’ll hear from interesting people with all sorts of adoption experience!
* Keeping in Touch * Act of Faith
The Adoption (Intercountry Aspects) Act 1999 may have looked like a good idea at the time, but as we approach 2002 most of the regulations which are essential to its functioning have yet to be finalised.A consultation/draft version of the regulations and guidance has been published in November 2001 (Draft Regulations and Guidance for England and Wales, Department of Health), so that interested parties can comment.This is in fact an immensely useful document, and anyone planning an intercountry adoption should read it carefully, as it is the best indication of the arrangements that will apply once the regulations are finally implemented.
Once the regulations are law, this will allow the UK to ratify the 1993 Hague Convention on protection of children and cooperation in respect of intercountry adoption.The draft Guidance explains in detail how adoptions from Convention countries and from others will be handled.Adoptions between Convention countries should become more routine in nature - but not necessarily cheaper.Many countries ratified the Convention in the mid-1990s, but although the UK and the USA both signed the Convention in 1994 and China signed in November 2000, none of these three has yet ratified it.Bets may be laid on whether the UK will achieve its stated deadline of ratifying the Convention in Spring 2002 with implementation three months later.
The present arrangement whereby adoptions in ‘designated countries’ are recognised under UK law will still hold.So in future there will be Convention adoptions, designated country adoptions, and non-Convention, non-designated country adoptions (Got that?).But the scope for adopting from a designated country in order to avoid incurring the delay and financial cost of a UK home study is limited.The guidance says it is only in cases where a British citizen is resident abroad or is living and working abroad and is able to adopt under the law of that country that the Department of Health has no authority in the matter.Nevertheless, some British expatriates in designated countries may find it simpler, quicker or cheaper to adopt where they are, provided the local requirements don’t entail a UK home study.
Many other intercountry adoption issues are covered in the Guidance.For example, the document notes that UK agencies will continue to be able to charge ‘reasonable fees and expenses’ (but no VAT) for their services, and that these are currently ‘in the region of £4,000 per assessment’.Information on the vital matter of entry clearance still seems to be split between three UK government departments (Health, Home Office and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office).And fittingly, there is a short section on arrangements for the adoption of UK children to overseas countries.
Comments on the consultation document should be sent to the Department of Health by 13 February 2002.To get a copy from the DoH or if checking their website, quote the circular number LASSL(2001)11.
* Keeping in Touch * Act of Faith
Personal views by Andrew Gibbons.
Andrew Gibbons
chairman.afaa@pobox.comPlease note that views expressed in these articels are not necessarly those of the Editor or the Webmaster or of the AFAA Committee.
Patron: His Honor Michael Cook
Registered Charity Number 1003274
Last modified: 15 February, 2004