PGO states violation of rights of Ukrainian children adopted by foreigners

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine audited supervision of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine and foreign diplomatic agencies over observance of the rights of the adopted children living abroad.

According to the register of children - citizens of Ukraine, adopted by foreigners, as of February 1, 2013, 21.574 children were registered in foreign diplomatic institutions. The majority are in the United States - 8225 children, Italy - 6212, Spain - 3121 France - 1310 children.

Thus, the number of reports by foreign adoptive parents on the health status and living conditions of children adopted abroad does not allow finding out the fate of each child. Worst performance of reporting is kept in the U.S. (2010 - 28% of reports, 2011 - 32%, 2012 - 32%), Italy (2010 - 64%, 2011 - 96%, 2012 - 65%), Ireland (2010 - 43%, 2011 - 33%, 2012 - 50%), Israel (2010 - 55%, 2011 - 72%, 2012 - 17%), France (2010 - 58%; 2011 - 60%, 2012 - 58%).

The Prosecutor General’s Office stresses that due to the lack of proper control, some violations in field of protection of children's rights have become systematic ones: their re-adoption; establishing custody ignoring the rules of domestic law; failure to return to Ukraine the children on whom adoption is canceled, the lack of data on location of adopted children, their health and living conditions.

Following the audit, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine asked the Foreign Ministry to improve supervision of the observance of the rights of adopted children abroad.