VZCZCXRO0433
PP RUEHJO
DE RUEHLS #0928/01 3421143
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 081143Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY LUSAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7496
INFO RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 0467
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 0180
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LUSAKA 000928 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/S, CA/OCS/AF, CA/OCS/OCI 
JOHANNESBURG FOR RCO KENT MAY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC KTIP ZA
SUBJECT: FROM LUSAKA TO HAGUE:  ZAMBIAN ADOPTIONS 
 
¶1.  In the wake of public outcry regarding well- 
publicized cases of child trafficking, Zambia is revising 
child-related legislation, including its Adoptions Act. 
The GRZ and relevant NGOs seek to include international 
standards in the adoption code.  However, protecting the 
more than one million orphaned Zambian children from the 
evils of trafficking and other abuse while ensuring they 
have the opportunity to find supportive homes, including 
through intercountry adoption, remains a challenge.  In 
honor of adoption month this past November, Consul and 
LES Consular Assistant met with adoption stakeholders to 
improve understanding of the current adoption process and 
advocate for inclusion of Hague Convention on 
Intercountry Adoption-compliant elements in the new 
adoption legislation. 
 
¶2. This is an action request.  Please see paragraph 12. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
BACKGROUND:  FROM SUSPENSION TO LAW REVISION 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.   Zambia suspended adoptions in 2008 following public 
outcry related to child trafficking cases (Note:  see 
Lusaka 768 for information on the GRZQs overall anti- 
trafficking effort.  End note).  The suspension 
temporarily affected American prospective adoptive 
parentsQ (PAP) adoption of Zambian children, causing Post 
to revise the country adoption flyer to discourage 
adoption in Zambia.  The GRZ relatively quickly put an 
interim structure in place to protect children while 
allowing adoptions to proceed and the Ministry of 
Community Development and Social Welfare tasked the 
Ministry of Justice and Zambian Law Development 
Commission with reinvigorating the reviewing all child- 
relevant Acts. 
 
----------------------------- 
HAGUE:  ZAMBIA RIPE FOR INPUT 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4. According to Sharon Williams of the Zambia Law 
Development Commission (ZLDC), while Hague ratification 
is a longer-term goal, the ZLDC is taking the African 
Charter on Rights of the Child and Hague Adoption 
Convention as points of reference in revising Zambian 
adoption law.  The ZLDC is under pressure to get 
materials to MOJ draftsmen early in 2010 but Williams 
said she is cognizant of the need to avoid a check-the- 
box approach to adoption law revision, which would 
deliver no practicable solutions and simply gather dust. 
 
¶5. Williams reported that the ZLDC consulted with South 
African institutions which had been involved in 
implementation of the Hague Convention there and will 
soon take a research trip to Ghana, which is also 
revising child-related legislation.  The ZLDC seeks input 
on which GRZ entity could best drive implementation of 
child-related law revisions and best practices related to 
institutional capacity-building and proper resourcing. 
 
¶6. Williams welcomed Hague materials Consul provided and 
expressed curiosity on any best practices the United 
States has to share on our own Hague accession and 
implementation,including input on what it would take to make 
Zambia Hague compliant.  (Comment:  Zambian officials seem 
to find it particularly challenging to develop adoption 
procedures which protect children, but do not make the 
intercountry adoption process so onerous as to make 
adoption of Zambian children impracticable for most PAPs. 
End comment). 
 
¶7. Both Williams and Theresa Kabeka of the NGO CHIN which 
had been heavily involved in the consultation process at 
the beginning of the law review project agree on the need 
to educate key members of Parliament, the Minister of 
Home Affairs and other GRZ stakeholders if adoption 
law reform is to meet with meaningful results. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
ENCOURAGING TRANSPARENCY IN ZAMBIAN ADOPTION 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. Post adjudicated fewer than 10 adoption cases in FY 
09, but receives several queries a month from Americans 
interested in adopting in Zambia or seeking information 
after having begun the process.  To provide better 
 
LUSAKA 00000928  002 OF 003 
 
 
information to American PAPs, Consul and Consular 
Assistant met with the various GRZ entities, selected 
NGOs active in the adoption process and orphanage 
officials, as well as solicited input from Americans who 
had recently adopted in Zambia.  The meetings also 
provided a timely opportunity to encourage overall 
transparency in the adoption process. (Note: Post 
recently submitted a revised adoption country information 
sheet to CA/OCI for review.  End note) 
 
¶9. Officials at the Social Welfare District Office, the 
first step for PAPs after dossiers have been accepted, 
said that Zambian attitudes towards intercountry adoption 
have changed for the positive based on voluntary post- 
placement reports and a realization that Zambia cannot 
hope to find homes for the vast majority of orphaned 
children in-country.  Social Welfare reports a marked 
increase in non-residents interested in adopting Zambian 
children.  Interlocutors appreciated PostQs inclusion in 
the revised adoption flyer of warnings against informal 
identification of children and use of facilitators, which 
are not permitted under Zambian law. 
 
¶10. Social Workers at the Emmanuel Family Homes and House 
of Moses orphanages and the Child Care Adoption Society 
Coordinator described active programs to reintegrate 
children to family homes, but a desire to avoid long-term 
institutionalization of children when timely 
reintegration proves impossible and intercountry adoption 
is an option.  In terms of domestic adoption, national 
NGOs Zambia Civic and CHIN as well as the Lusaka 
Registrar praised traditional child guardian practices as 
a means of preventing even greater numbers of children 
from being institutionalized.  They highlighted efforts 
to encourage Zambians in village and city to reduce the 
numbers of vulnerable children through formal birth 
registration and official adoption rather than informal 
guardianship. (Note:  Lack of timely birth registration 
and official death certificates complicate Post's anti- 
fraud efforts, including for orphan investigations.  End 
note) 
 
------------------------------------------ 
COMMENT/ACTION REQUEST:  ADOPTION WORKPLAN 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶11.  The door is open for encouraging Zambian 
incorporation of key Hague standards in its new adoption 
legislation.  During Adoption Month meetings, Consul 
keyed off Hague megatalkers to advocate Hague as a means 
of ensuring protection of children and adoption 
transparency.  She shared elements of the Hague 
powerpoint provided by CA/OCS/OCI, the list of U.S. 
Hague-accredited adoption service providers, the 
definition of orphan under U.S. immigration law, links 
to the Hague best practices guide and a list of U.S. 
adoption-related NGOs with Zambian adoption 
stakeholders. 
 
¶12.  With Zambian interlocutors receptive to input and 
the law review project moving to the drafting and 
parliamentary debate stage, Post plans to host an 
adoption-themed meeting with key stakeholders in spring 
2010 and would be grateful for additional guidance and 
resources, including the possible participation of U.S. 
NGOs well-versed in U.S. Hague implementation.  Emboffs 
will also nominate key adoption contacts for public 
diplomacy exchange opportunities such as the 
international visitor program. 
 
¶13. In terms of assisting American PAPs, PostQs Adoption 
Month meetings confirmed that the various institutions an 
American PAP would interact with during the adoption 
process had the same understanding of key provisions in 
ZambiaQs interim adoption procedures.  Orphanage 
personnel had also taken part in Social Welfare-organized 
adoption training.  Anecdotal information from Amcits who 
had recently pursued adoption in Zambia, however, 
suggests uneven application of procedure and weaknesses 
involving transparency on the child's health condition as 
well as fostering periods and conditions. 
 
¶14.  Once adoptive parents bring their children home, 
they sometimes face inconsistent information on whether 
the Child Citizenship Act applies to their child's case 
(Note:  Post has been working with CA/OCS/PRI to respond 
to queries as applicable.  End note).  Post will continue 
to promote transparency and consistency in the adoption 
 
LUSAKA 00000928  003 OF 003 
 
 
process both through encouraging Amcit PAPs to follow 
Zambian procedure and closely tracking GRZ implementation 
of that procedure. 
 
BOOTH