VZCZCXRO0442
PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHBM #0665/01 1111131
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 211131Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4237
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BUCHAREST 000665 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE BILL SILKWORTH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2016 
TAGS: SOCI PHUM PGOV CASC PREL SIPDIS RO
SUBJECT: ROMANIA: GOR ADOPTIONS OFFICE MOVES TO PREVENT 
PENDING INTER-COUNTRY ADOPTIONS 
 
REF: A. A) BUCHAREST 0576 
     ¶B. B) BUCHAREST 0536 
 
Classified By: CHARGE MARK TAPLIN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) & (D). 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  On April 17, the Romanian Office for 
Adoptions (ROA) publicly announced that no inter-country 
adoptions would result from the government's review of the 
petitions by foreign families to adopt Romanian children 
filed before the January 1, 2005 ban on inter-country 
adoption took effect. We do not consider this announcement to 
be the final word on the matter, and propose a range of 
actions to encourage the Government of Romania (GOR) 
eventually to allow some of the adoptions to proceed. End 
summary. 
 
 
Working Group Completes "Review" 
-------------------------------- 
¶2.  (U)  On April 17, the Romanian Office for Adoptions (ROA) 
publicly announced the results of the Working Group that 
reviewed the petitions by foreign families to adopt Romanian 
children filed before the January 1, 2005 ban on 
inter-country adoption took effect.  The Secretary of State 
of the ROA, Theodora Bertzi, made clear to the press that 
none of the 1,100 pending cases would be resolved through 
inter-country adoption.  Bertzi has further instructed child 
welfare departments at the county level to prohibit contact 
between children in the protection system and foreigners, 
except for those who are their relatives up to the fourth 
degree; adopted siblings of the children in question; or 
those who an independent child psychiatrist has determined 
have bonds of affection such that cutting the contact would 
be harmful to the Romanian child. 
 
¶3.   (U) On January 18, Bertzi gave an interview to the 
Romanian newspaper "Adevarul" in which she stated "most" of 
the 178 cases of international adoption for which her office 
lacks the post-adoption reports required by Romanian law 
involve U.S. families.  In the article, Bertzi expressed 
concern about the case of William Peckenpaugh, the American 
who was convicted in Oregon in 2005 and sentenced to 30 
years, imprisonment for the sexual abuse of the Romanian boy 
he adopted.  Her remarks seemed intended to bolster the 
unfounded argument of opponents of inter-country adoption 
that children adopted abroad, once out of the control of the 
Romanian government, are at higher risk of abuse and 
exploitation. 
 
¶4.  (U) Post,s analysis of the Working Group report 
indicates that it is designed primarily to cater to vocal 
opponents of inter-country adoption in the European 
Commission (EC), in advance of the May 15 EC report that is 
expected to confirm Romania will join the European Union on 
January 1, 2007.  We suspect that the report was also issued 
to stave off any pro-adoption recommendations that might 
result from the European Parliament's April 25 adoption 
meeting in Brussels. 
 
 
Best Interests of the Children? 
------------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) The results indicate on their face that the Working 
Group did not place the best interests of the children as its 
the highest priority, but rather applied a selective mix of 
interpretations of current legislation, past legislation and 
previously confidential guidelines in matching the 
preordained political decision not to allow inter-country 
adoptions.  The April 17 ROA press statement claimed the case 
review was complete in November 2005.  In contrast, GOR 
officials told the Ambassador, PolChief and Consul General as 
late as January 2005 that the review was still underway. 
Bertzi appears to be seeking to justify her public statement 
on December 7 -- one day after Secretary Rice,s visit to 
Bucharest -- that no inter-country adoptions would be 
approved. 
 
¶6.  (U) The Working Group report consigns hundreds of 
children to non-permanent "substitute" families.  Post 
discounts Bertzi,s public and private claims that Romania 
can find domestic solutions for all of its orphans and 
abandoned children.  Contacts among Romanian NGOs and local 
officials further confirm what post officers have observed 
first-hand in Romanian child centers in recent months, namely 
that at least hundreds of children remain in institutions or 
group homes, many in substandard conditions of physical and 
emotional care (reftel B). 
 
 
 
BUCHAREST 00000665  002 OF 003 
 
 
It's Not Over Until It's Over 
----------------------------- 
¶7.  (C) Now that Romania appears poised to receive a green 
light for EU accession in January 2007, there may be 
political space for the GOR to reconsider at least a limited 
number of "pending" cases.  Some contacts in other concerned 
embassies and NGOs in Romania believe the GOR will not risk 
moving forward before the actual accession date.  On the 
other hand, Bucharest is already showing signs of factoring 
in a positive decision on EU membership in other political 
calculations.  The argument that accession is in any respect 
hanging in the balance over the adoptions issue will be 
utterly hollow once the spring EU accession review report is 
released in mid-May.  Thus, we believe there remains some 
potential for the GOR to adopt a different political tak on 
the pending cases and to look for ways to rlease a limited 
number of children under some kid of "review of the review" 
process.  The GOR miht defend such a change in policy as 
being based n new information or changed circumstances in 
spcific cases.  With both the Romanian President, an 
increasingly, the Prime Minister, expressing inerest in 
visiting the United States before the ed of the year, we may 
find some useful leverage in the months ahead. 
 
 
The Road Ahead 
------------- 
¶8.  (SBU) In light of the above, we recommen continued 
engagement on this issue.  Without rasing the expectations 
of potential adoptive parets unreasonably, we should operate 
on the basis that there is nothing necessarily final in 
Bertzi' "final" report on the pending cases.  Furthermore 
the stark reality is that some of the children emain in 
circumstances that fall well short of acceptable child 
welfare standards, whatever statements some GOR officials 
make to the contrary. 
 
¶9.  (C)  We plan to undertake the following steps: 
 
a. Consul General will respond the week of April 24 to 
Bertzi,s letter that transmitted to the Ambassador a copy of 
the Working Group report.  The CG will state that we consider 
the case review to have lacked transparency and not to have 
been based on the best interests of the children; and request 
the opportunity to review selected cases with an independent 
child welfare expert.  (This review could include any of the 
94 petitions filed by American families that the ROA 
announced on November 3, 2005 were not eligible for 
inter-country adoption.  At the time of that announcement, it 
remained arguable that the Working Group review was credible. 
 Subsequent developments made clear that the results were 
preordained, bringing the November 3 results back into 
question.)  We plan to show this letter to the embassies of 
France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Israel to encourage them to 
take similar steps. 
 
b. On April 25, a hearing on Romania,s inter-country 
adoption policy is scheduled at the European Parliament in 
Strasbourg.  Post anticipates a contentious debate, involving 
pro- and anti-adoption Parliamentarians, among the latter the 
Liberal MEP and former Rapporteur for Romania Baroness Emma 
Nicholson.  American families seeking to adopt, and Romanian 
NGO representatives, are scheduled to speak.  Post believes 
close monitoring of the hearing is important as a sign of 
continued USG engagement, and to allow a current assessment 
of EP sentiment on the issue. The active involvement of our 
colleagues at USEU Brussels has helped to change the policy 
environment on the pending cases outside the borders of 
Romania, and we will now accelerate our own efforts to 
challenge the GOR status quo on the basis that no European 
consensus on this issue now exists and, as observed above, 
there are no implications for EU accession. 
 
c. In late May, USAID Bucharest will sponsor a conference on 
progress made by the US-funded child welfare program and next 
steps to reform the sector.  We plan for the Ambassador to 
make a speech at the event including a more forward-leaning 
assessment of the current child welfare and adoption system 
in Romania than he has offered to date in public.  The 
conference has been timed to follow a positive announcement 
about Romania's 2007 accession date. 
 
d. In June, post would propose a letter from a high-ranking 
USG official to the GOR, once again urging reconsideration of 
the Working Group results and a legal framework to allow 
inter-country adoption where called for. 
 
¶10.  (C) Given the importance of not raising false hopes 
among the American families whose adoption petitions are at 
 
BUCHAREST 00000665  003 OF 003 
 
 
stake, post recommends making clear to them we have no 
assurance our efforts will succeed, but that in a rapidly 
evolving adoptions policy climate in Brussels and Strasbourg, 
we should not give up the ship just yet. 
 
TAPLIN