Don the reunification efforts proposed in the Families for Orphans Act set up “time limits” which may cause original families to be unnecessarily separated from their children?
“Time-limited reunification efforts” meet the “best interest” principle of the UNCRC, the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption and the Hague Guide To Good Practice. Experience and research, such as the Harvard-lead Bucharest Early Intervention Project, clearly demonstrates that ‘indefinite’ reunification efforts damage children in virtually every aspect. The United States, after decades of focusing on reunification, now promotes ‘time-limited’ reunification efforts. Current reunification practices, including those of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), can keep children outside of permanent family care for up to 10 years. Such lengthy reunification efforts would not be defined by any reasonable person as “in the best interest of the child.” Doesn’t the Families for Orphans Act have conflicting definitions? For example, long-term kinship and guardianship arrangements which are considered “permanent” care under the bill may simultaneously be considered long-term
Related Questions
- Don the reunification efforts proposed in the Families for Orphans Act set up "time limits" which may cause original families to be unnecessarily separated from their children?
- How does Adoption and Safe Families Act change the ICWA active efforts requirement?
- Are Jewish settler families now less ideologically committed to their cause?
