News
January 2010 Thai Adoptions
Please note that the citeria for adoptions via ICANZ are posted on this website. As of 20 January 2010 ICANZ will not accept ANY applications for this programme where the criteria are not met. No exceptions will be made. This does not affect any applications already lodged and accepted by ICANZ. If you are in doubt please contact ICANZ for clarity before completing a homestudy.
Some of the cirteria for the ICANZ programme do not apply to the CYF programme. You can contact your CYF social worker about their programme.
October 2009 New Requirements for Prospective Adoptive Parents for the Philippines
Find out more here
October 2009 Philippines Policy on Search and Reunion
In view of the increasing number of requests from young adoptees and from adoptive parents who would like to search and meet the birth family of their adoptive child, the Philippines Inter Country Adoption Board (ICAB) has recently issued a policy on the matter.
"Since emotional maturity of the adoptee should be a major consideration in the search and reunion process, the appropriate age for an adoptee to initiate the search and reunion shall be the age of majority applicable under the laws of the Receiving Countries. Thus, only an adult adoptee either 18 or 21 years old will be permitted to pursue their intention to search and meet with their birth family. The requests for search and reunion from adoptive parents will only be considered if there is a written consent from the adult adoptees."
23 July 2009 Russia - Update
Read here about our progress in Russia and find out how you can help us restart the Russian Adoption programme
22 July 2009 India - ICANZ To Accept Applications for Adoption
As from the 3rd of August, 2009, ICANZ can assist parents who wish to adopt from India. Applicants must be approved as an adoptive parent by CYF. Read more here.
25 April 2009 Philippines - Moratorium on Accepting New Applicants for Young Children
Due to the large number of unmatched approved adoption applications of Prospective Adoptive Parents wanting to adopt children within the age range of 0-24 months old with or without medical/developmental concerns coupled with the limited number of children of such category, effective May 1, 2009, ICAB has set a moratorium on accepting new applicants wanting to adopt from the above mentioned category.
ICAB shall resume accepting new applications for the aforementioned categories only after it has processed at least 50% of the existing families in the current list. Starting May 1, 2009, only the families who want to adopt a child over 24 months old would be considered by ICAB.
ICANZ will continue to accept applications for children over 24 months. There is a special need for families applying to adopt children aged 5-10 years, or sibling groups of 3 children where some are of school age, or children with medical conditions, so these adoptions are prioritised.
12 March 2009 Phillipines - Adoption Process Shorter and Simpler
In the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed a law making the process of adopting a child shorter and simpler. The time period before a child is considered abandoned has now been shortened from six months to three. Read the full on-line news article here.
March 2009 Russia - ICANZ moves it's Russian office to Moscow.
Details of our progress in Russia, plus updates on our progammes in Lithuania, India, the Philippines and Thailand are in this newsletter.
December 2008 Lithuania - Welcome Home to our Second Family From Lithuania
The Davis family welcomes their three sons home from Lithuania. Read the New Zealand Herald news report, the TVNZ news report or watch this TVNZ video of our second family home from this country.
November 2008 India and Thailand - ICANZ Visit
ICANZ staff visited the Central Authorities and orphanages in India and Thailand. Despite India’s recent economic boom, there are still millions of destitute and orphaned children in India. Extreme poverty and the stigma of unmarried motherhood are still widespread. As ICANZ is authorised by the Indian Central Authority to work with adoptions in India, we recently went on a two week fact finding mission to New Delhi, Kolkata, Orissa and Chennai. We visited a variety of orphanages, caring for children ranging in age from newborn babies to teenagers. We also talked at length with authorities about the needs of their institutionalised children and India’s adoption laws and procedures.
Every effort is made to find adoptive Indian parents for children in the orphanages. Infants with no health issues are usually placed locally. Adoptive parents from overseas are needed for those aged five and up and children with medical needs. These may include problems such as cataracts, psoriasis (a skin disorder), cleft palate, club foot and heart defects. Extensive records are kept on each child, detailing their physical, intellectual and emotional development.
The orphanages we saw are relatively clean but spartan and struggle to provide children with the resources they need. Children often receive education within the orphanage or may be sent to nearby schools. Some of them learn a little English. Older children may also receive vocational training such as screen printing and computer skills. Nearly all children in Indian orphanages are girls. There is a strong cultural bias towards boys in Indian society. Sons are preferred to carry on the family name and look after parents in their old age. India’s dowry system (where a bride’s family pays cash to the groom) is now illegal but is still widely practiced in rural areas and among the poor, girls are often considered a financial burden. For this reason, it’s estimated that millions of girls have been aborted or killed as newborns in recent decades. Initiatives to deter this are underway, with hospitals and orphanages putting cradles or cots outside to encourage women to leave their babies rather than abort or commit infanticide.
The orphanages we visited are all administered by non profit organisations. Many also run medical clinics and rehabilitation and care programmes for others struggling in Indian society, such as destitute women, widows and the elderly.
All adoptive applicants will need to have completed the CYF homestudy process. The process in India permits the social worker in India to match a child to you based on the age/type of child you are approved for by CYF in your homestudy. The Hague Convention forbids prospective adoptive parents contacting orphanages directly.
If you are interested in adoption from India, or in supporting Indian children and families in desperate need, contact ICANZ for information on adoption or aid programmes.
For more information, see this Newsletter
October 2008 Philippines - ICANZ Meets with Central Authorities Members
ICANZ staff and board members met with two members of ICAB (the Inter Country Adoption Board of the Philippines) - Sr Socorro Evidente, from the Hospicio de San Jose and the ICAB Board, and Dr Aida Muncada, a Psychiatrist on the ICAB Board to discuss the needs of children in the Philippines.
14 September 2008 Russian Adoptee News Story
At this on-line news article you'll read about Natalia Banks, daughter of Auckland mayor John Banks. Natalia was adopted at the age of eight from an orphanage in St Petersburg along with younger brothers Sergei and Alex. Natalia will soon graduate as a nurse and her goal is to help children in need.
August 2008 ICANZ News
This newletter contains the latest news about the Russian programme, with updates about adoption programmes from other countries, travelling back to Russia and the annual ICANZ report and AGM details.
23 July 2008 Russia - The Russian Director of Education Speaks About Adoption
Read a translation of an interview with the Russian Director of Education, Additional Education and Social Protection of Children, Ministry of Education and Science, Mrs Alina Levitskaya about Russian international adoptions.
April 7 2008 Easter at the Russian Embassy, Washington, USA
A traditional Easter reception for families with adopted children from Russia was held in the US Russian embassy, Washington.
Corr. ITAR-TASS Andrei Shitov.
Fourteen year-old American Alex Griffith is collecting money to open a playground in one of the Krasnoyarsk children's hospitals. He was born in Siberia, but the memories of that are not gone, even though his American adoptive parents took him to the United States when he was 11 months old. They, in fact, actively encourage the charitable idea of their son.
Alex is one of the more than 3 thousand children from Russia and several other countries, who found a new home in the United States, thanks to the public organization "The Cradle of Hope." On Saturday, it arranged with the Russian Embassy in Washington a traditional Easter reception for families who truly can be considered US-Russian. Some have raised up to three adopted children.
The event was, for the organization and its permanent head Linda Perilstein, a jubilee - 15th, by accounts. Nearly 400 people from all over America came to it to chat with friends, share experiences, to remind children of their Russian roots. In the embassy they not only waited for the traditional feast, but also a concert by the students and teachers of the Russian school.
The issue of the "drain" of Russian children, leaving with foreign adoptive families, in recent years, is often debated in our country in the most critical tones. Against this backdrop, the American "Cradle of Hope" and its activities serve as a clear indication that with the rarest of exceptions, these kids gain new families in the most sincere love and care, not to mention the health care that they, in many cases, need.
Translated from an article in the medical section of the ITAR-TASS news agency, the primary government-run news outlet in Russia.
22 January 2008 Russia - Chairman Mirinov in Auckland
Mayor John Banks spoke to the Chairman of the Russian Parliament, Sergey Mironov about adoption. ICANZ Director Wendy Hawke also had an opportunity at the meeting to speak to Mr Mironov about the success of ICANZ's Russian adoption programme and the positive outcomes for Russian children adopted by New Zealanders.
“The funerals of the great climber/alpinist did cause some changes in the busy working schedule of our delegation, but added some warm feelings to it. In particular, during the meeting with New Zealand businessmen, where they spoke about Edmund Hillary, they unexpectedly began speaking about children. It appeared that the Mayor of Auckland, John Banks, adopted three (!) children (sister and two brothers) from St. Petersburg in 1994. All three of them (Natalia, Sergey and Alexander) are grown-up, however, these years haven’t made them less Russian. They keep in touch with their older sister and their grandmother, who live in Russia, they learn their native language and read books in Russian.
Their adoptive father John Banks said: If they decide to return to their native country when they grow up, I won’t interfere with this desire. I love Russia and I am happy that my children are your children.
Sergey Mironov was impressed by this. Hardly can you find another mayor of a large city who adopted 3 children from Russia.
The speaker thanked John Banks for his wise and generous life position. In response he said that president Putin has set a task to change the situation with orphans in Russia, as over a million children are not being brought up by their parents and are, literally, thrown into the street.
Sergey Mironov believes that there should be a norm of monthly subsidy to be paid to adoptive parents and custodians and this should be the amount proportionate to the sum that the government is now paying for child’s maintenance in the orphanage. Unfortunately, this sum is several times lower now.” Russian Press, Jan 2008
June 2007 ICANZ holds its fourth conference in Christchurch
At Queen's Birthday weekend over one hundred people attended "Celebrations and Challenges," ICANZ's conference in Christchurch. Holly van Gulden, a well known speaker from the USA entertained and enlightened the audience with her wisdom about adoption, based on her experiences as a counsellor, social worker, adoptive mother and sister of adopted siblings. Ron McLay, an adult adoptee, travelled from Australia to be with us to share his perceptions of life as a trans-racial adoptee. Other speakers covered a range of topics from education, to life-books, to attachment, to search. Participants all agreed that the conference was a great success. To find out more, subscribe to the ICANZ Magazine.