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The Final Step
Post Adoption Reporting
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Terry Petrone, Eastern Europe program director of Adoptions from the Heart in Cherry Hill, N.J., concurs. "Countries take reporting seriously," she says. "Ukraine, for example, is threatening to stop U.S. adoptions because families aren't complying."
This is truly a situation where the inaction of a few could end up hurting many. When those families who have adopted don't comply with their obligation to send a post adoption report, the country can stop or limit adoptions. Prospective parents lose out because the adoption process is halted. Individual adoption agencies can be affected. The country may choose to stop working with a particular agency if too many of that agency's families aren't submitting their reports.
Most important, the children waiting to be adopted are at risk by failure to submit post adoption reports. By preventing specific agencies or an entire country from adopting in the country, fewer children will be adopted. Children who would otherwise have had the opportunity to live in a loving, stable home will remain in orphanages. "One family can impact an entire program," Petrone says. The Ukraine demands 100 percent compliance, and the next family who ignores the requirement could shut down the entire system.
Prospective parents are made aware of the need to submit post adoption reports from the very beginning. It is part of the contract. Each country has a different post adoption reporting process. In China, the report is facilitated by the agency and uses a social worker. The Ukraine wants the process to be between the country officials and the family. Some countries require reports at six months and the first year, but nothing more. Other countries require an annual report until the child turns 18. During the adoption process, prospective parents receive instructions regarding the requirements of the country from which they are adopting.
