March 05, 2002

Empty cribs will be filled
Some Cambodian adoptions get go-ahead after U.S. halt

By Steve Friess
Special for USA TODAY

Dozens of prospective American parents learned Monday that their long-stalled adoptions from Cambodia could be final by April. The encouraging development was their first clear signal after months of uncertainty and fear that they might never bring home the children assigned to them.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which suspended Cambodian adoptions in December amid suspicions that babies in orphanages there may have been bought or stolen, announced over the weekend that adoptions by 200 families already far along in the process will be resolved starting late this month.

Families in that batch will be notified within weeks of when they must go to Cambodia to meet U.S. officials and pick up the children. That meeting, known as a "visa appointment," is the last step before the INS issues immigration visas for the children.

The abrupt suspension of adoptions from Cambodia marked the first time the U.S. government has halted adoptions from a specific country, an INS spokesman says. Until this, Cambodia was becoming a favorite for American parents because the process moved faster than in other countries, and very young infants were readily available.

A special team of two INS officers and two State Department officers are now in the capital of Phnom Penh to work with Cambodian officials on which pending cases had received "appropriate official action" by the Cambodian government before the suspension set in, says INS Cambodia task force chief Phyllis Coven.

An additional 200 cases are believed to be too premature to qualify, INS spokesman Bill Strassberger says.

"It's an incredible thing to be able to verify a family's adoption and be able to say, 'You can breathe again -- this is going to happen,' " says Cynthia Peck, executive director of the Reaching Out Thru International Adoptions Agency in Cherry Hill, N.J. Peck notified 12 clients that their cases are on the list to be expedited.

Yet Coven cautions that the special process does not guarantee the adoptions will be successful. Each case will be reviewed for evidence of baby trafficking, and any such evidence could jeopardize the adoption, she says.

The news was welcome by parents such as Scott and Dawn Smith of Fort Wayne, Ind., who were notified Monday that their adoption of 2-year-old Isaac is among the cases to be resolved soon. The Smiths were matched with Isaac in late August and traveled to Phnom Penh to take possession of Isaac in early February, despite the adoption suspension.

Scott Smith, a physician, had seen signs of physical deterioration in the boy in monthly photos sent by the orphanage, so the couple disregarded INS advice and went over to start caring for the boy.

"I'm relieved, but it's still a little frustrating that it's going to be another wait of up to a month," says Scott Smith, who left his wife and Isaac in Cambodia two weeks ago to return to work. "But at least the process is moving."

Other families remained in limbo for much of Monday, uninformed by their adoption agencies or congressional representatives.

"We are thrilled that some action is being taken to move us all forward," says Eileen Christian of Downingtown, Pa., who was matched in early September with a now-7-month-old girl. "Maybe we will be bringing our baby girl home soon, but anything short of the INS telling us we can leave on the first plane is still too long of a delay."

Congressional adoption advocates, among the most vociferous critics of the INS in recent months, praised the development.

"The plan announced by INS and State is a welcome, giant step toward uniting these families with their children in Cambodia," says Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, co-chair of the 130-member Congressional Coalition on Adoption. "As we move toward resolution of those pending cases, it is critical that we support Cambodia's efforts to establish a transparent adoption process. U.S. citizens who choose to open their homes and hearts to a child from a foreign country should be able to depend on a process that will lead to a sound, ethical adoption."

The adoption suspension will remain until Cambodia shows it has reformed its practices, a process that Coven says may take a year.

"The Cambodian government openly concedes that there is baby trafficking going on and that the process as it is now is vulnerable to corruption," Coven says. "They must change that process before we can resume adoptions."

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