International Family Law News & Analysis

US implements international child/spousal support treaty with new legislation

Kansas City-area family law specialist Ron Nelson reports: 

"On September 29, 2014, President Obama signed HR 4980, “An Act to prevent and address sex trafficking of children in foster care, to extend and improve adoption incentives, and to improve international child support recovery” which implements the 2007 Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance in the United States and requires that states enact the most recent version of UIFSA [the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act] on or before September 30, 2018."

 

The U.S. had been waiting for the passage of implementing legislation before formally joining the treaty, so that we will be ready to comply with it from Day 1.

 

 

England & Wales reform child custody process, foster care, adoption, other laws on children

Landmark Children and Families Act 2014 gains royal assent

2-year residence requirement to be waived for abused adopted children - USCIS

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Policy Memorandum:

Exception to the Two Year Custody and Two Year Residency Requirement for Abused Adopted Children

 

England to overhaul child custody, adoption, divorce laws

 "A presumption that the involvement of both parents in a child’s life will further that child’s welfare, unless the contrary is shown" is included in the government's new Children and Families Bill. The bill also makes it easier to move children from foster care to adoption, removes ethnic-religious adoption restrictions, and lets foster parents become the child's adoptive parents. It also regulates and restricts expert witnesses in child-related cases, and seeks to clarify when mediation is required before filing a child custody case.

It repeals divorce law provisions that let a court delay the granting of a divorce, or give only a non-absolute divorce, to accommodate the needs of a child under 16.

The Bill would also finally repeal nearly all of the landmark Family Law Act 1996, which was never implemented. The 1996 Act reduced waiting periods for no-fault divorce but also eliminated "quickie" divorce on fault grounds, replacing both with a single one-year period for reflection and consideration, during which courts would provide information sessions and mediation. It also provided for indefinitely blocking a divorce that "would result in substantial financial or other hardship" for a spouse or a child. One of the few divorce reforms in history that was a product of thorough, educated debate in which scores of legislators studied deeply and understood the magnitude of their choices, it was a model for other countries' reforms, including the U.S.'s Second Chances Act and Parental Divorce Reduction Act.

Spanish nuns, doctors stole >300,000 babies from 30s to 90s

And no, I don't know why the headline says "hundreds" while the article says "more than 300,000 children".

"Pious Demons: Spanish Baby-Snatching Victims Seek Answers and Justice" 

By Helene Zuber in DER SPIEGEL 7/16/12.

 

Are some Chinese adoptees actually abducted & trafficked? - NYT

Family Law News Blog: Are some Chinese adoptees actually abducted, trafficked? - NYT.

New regs make international adoption harder - Ukraine, Mexico, Congo

New regulations make international adoption harder than ever for Americans | Washington Times Communities.

There's another side to the international adoption issue

"The Evangelical Adoption Crusade" is a very detailed article from The Nation (5/9/11). I probably haven't read The Nation in almost 20 years so I don't know how accurate or objective it is, but anyone who takes parental rights seriously -- as most evangelicals and anyone else in a politically "suspect class" must -- should always be concerned about the possibility of movements to help children sometimes erupting into frenzies and forgetting that some children already have parents.

Bush signs Hague Adoption Convention

Forwarded by Rockville, Md. international family lawyer Melissa Kucinski --

U.S. on Track to Join the Hague Adoption Convention in December

A message from the U.S. Department of State

The U.S. Department of State, Office of Childrens Issues, is pleased to announce that the President signed the Hague Adoption Convention on November 16. The legal requirements for ratification of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention) have been completed, and we plan to deposit the instrument of ratification on December 12, 2007! The Department will announce the official U.S. effective date˜projected to be April 1, 2008˜in the Federal Register. The Hague Adoption Convention protects children and their families against the risks of unregulated adoptions abroad and ensures that intercountry adoptions are made in the best interests of children. The Convention also serves to prevent the abduction of, sale of, or traffic in children.

Once the treaty is in force, the new processing requirements for Hague adoption cases will take effect for adoptions between the United States and more than 70 Convention members. The new process protects the rights of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents while promoting transparency, accountability, and ethical practices among adoption service providers.

For more information on intercountry adoptions and the Hague Adoption Convention, please visit the Intercountry Adoption page of the Department of State website.

USCIS sets new international adoption immigration procedures

This is a big step in implementing the new Hague Adoption Convention in the U.S.:
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USCIS News Release
October 4, 2007

USCIS ISSUES INTERIM RULE ESTABLISHING NEW PROCEDURES FOR ADOPTED CHILDREN UNDER THE HAGUE CONVENTION

WASHINGTON  --  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced the publication of an interim rule in the Federal Register to establish new administrative procedures for the immigration of children who are adopted by U.S. citizens and who come from countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.