Ron Reigns:
Welcome, and thank you for joining us on Birth Mother Matters in Adoption with Kelly Rourke-Scarry and me Ron Reigns, where we delve into the issues of adoption from every angle of the adoption triad including international matters like adopting from Uganda.
Speaker 2:
Do what’s best for your kid and for yourself, because if you can’t take care of yourself, you’re definitely not going to be able to take care of that kid, and that’s not fair.
Speaker 3:
And I know that my daughter would be well taken care of with them.
Speaker 4:
Don’t have an abortion, give this child a chance.
Speaker 5:
All I could think about was needing to save my son.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
My name is Kelly Rourke-Scarry. I’m the executive director, president, and co-founder of Building Arizona Families adoption agency, The Donna K. Evans Foundation and creator of the You Before Me campaign. I have a bachelor’s degree in family studies and human development, and a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in school counseling. I was adopted at the age of three days, born to a teen birth mother, raised in a closed adoption and reunited with my birth mother in 2007. I have worked in the adoption field for over 15 years.
Ron Reigns:
And I’m Ron Reigns. I’ve worked in radio since 1999. I was the co-host of two successful morning shows in Prescott Arizona. Now I work for my wife who’s an adoption attorney, and I’m able to combine these two great passions and share them on this podcast.
Ron Reigns:
This is a press statement from the US State Department dated August 17th, 2020. Today, the United States imposed financial sanctions and visa restrictions on four Ugandan individuals for their involvement in activities that victimized young children in a corrupt adoption scheme. Ugandan judges Moses Mukiibi and Wilson Musalu Musene, and Ugandan lawyer Dorah Mirembe and her associate Patrick Ecobu, participated in a scam whereby young children were removed from their families and placed into a corrupt adoption network, aided by the facilitation of Ugandan officials. The U.S. government designated these four individuals pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. The Department of State also designated Mukiibi and Musene under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020 (Div. G, P.L. 116-94) due to their involvement in significant corruption.
Ron Reigns:
Together, these individuals engaged in corruption to arrange the adoption from Uganda of several children by unwitting parents in the United States. Mirembe’s law firm used the services of intermediary parties to seek out vulnerable families in remote Ugandan villages, promising parents that their children would be moved to Kampala to further their education. American prospective families adopting from Uganda, then traveled to Uganda to adopt children from an unlicensed children’s home in Kampala.
Ron Reigns:
Mirembe, with the assistance of Ecobu, facilitated bribes to Ugandan judges and other Ugandan government officials to fraudulently procure adoption cases, either directly or through an interlocutor. Mirembe paid bribes to get cases steered to judges Mukiibi and Musene. Mukiibi and Musene are current or former government officials who have, directly or indirectly, engaged in corruption.
Ron Reigns:
Under Section 7031(c), once the Secretary of State designates officials of foreign governments for their involvement, directly or indirectly, in significant corruption, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States. The law also requires the Secretary of State to either publicly or privately designate or identify such officials.
Ron Reigns:
Today’s actions demonstrate the United States’ commitment to protecting the dignity of every human being and protecting the United States from those who seek to profit at the expense of others. These individuals’ actions also resulted in the submission of false documentation to the Department of State for consideration in visa adjudication, a falsification the Department will not tolerate.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
So today we’re going to be talking about international adoptions and we’re going to focus on what has been happening in the country of Uganda. One thing that is important to note is that Uganda is not a Hague Convention country. This is a significant distinction as it means there are no overall guidelines for inter-country adoption. So the Hague was implemented so that this entity could oversee the transactions of international adoption to prevent child trafficking, to prevent exactly what happened in Uganda from happening. So this big situation that happened with this one agency, European Adoption Consultants, which used to be a very big agency, is parallel to the Paul Peterson of Domestic Adoptions. So the European Adoption Consultants, as you read in the press conference, there was a bunch of illegal adoption activity that occurred. And just to kind of break it down so that our listeners can understand.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
What was happening was there were orphanages per se, that were recruiting children from families. They were also getting these children that were in orphanages, with the families were bringing them there. They were under the impression it was temporary. And then the ones that were being recruited was for a better education. And so what they were doing was they were having them sign over a legal guardianship for the child to go to another entity. And then they were being adopted out under the pretense that the mother was dead or was not able to parent.
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
There were three women that were charged through European Adoption Consultants. And then there were some people over in Uganda that were charged as well.
Ron Reigns:
Judges and lawyers, right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
According to the guardian EAC received more than $900,000 from clients who believed they were adopting from Uganda. I guess I’m so disheartened in this because when an agency becomes accredited, it’s a huge process that the agency has to undergird. I mean, not only are you licensed by the state that you are residing in, in order to facilitate adoptions, but you are now also licensed through an entity that has been selected by the US State Department in order to do these international adoptions. So when the Hague was ratified, it was a really big deal to be able to do help families adopting from Uganda by conducting international adoptions. And at first, it was the Coalition on Accreditation that was the licensing entity. And then it has since switched. And now it looks like it may be switching again as to who’s going to be the overseer.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
That being said, the fact that Uganda never ratified the Hague, they did not join the Hague Convention, and their children were left open to be victims of this situation.
Ron Reigns:
Yeah. This fraudulent scheme. Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And again, where I really, really struggle is for all of the children, for all of the birth families and the adopted families, because they’re all equally victims.
Ron Reigns:
Absolutely.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
In the adoption world, it is very similar to… You know how they say, if there’s one bad apple in the bag, everything is spoiled. It tarnishes the reputation and the safety and everything. When someone’s coming into an adoption, when there is something like this going on, because it’s scares everybody. And then we see the movies on Lifetime and other channels where they’re highlighting the bad rather than the good. In reading through what’s happened in this Ugandan scheme. And it’s not just a Ugandan scheme, I mean, there was definitely the United States agency that was absolutely-
Ron Reigns:
Fully apartied to this.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
… Correct. A US State Department statement had stated that Mirembe had promised vulnerable Ugandan families or children will go to these schools in Kampala. Instead, they were taken to an unlicensed children’s home for American families who were adopting from Uganda. Mirembe and Ecobu then facilitated bribes to Ugandan judges and other government officials. So what’s interesting about that the highest number of children in one year from Uganda was recorded in 2013, and that was adoptions of 276.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
That doesn’t mean that all of them were through EAC. It just means that that’s the amount of Ugandan children that were. But when they banned legal guardianship in 2016 and the government began closing unlicensed orphanages, obviously the numbers have drastically declined. Now we understand that legal guardianships can no longer be used for adopting from Uganda, which Mukiibi had coined the term constructive fostering and parentheticals, which waves the requirement for prospective parents to foster children in the country before adopting them instead of pointing a third party to look after the child on their behalf.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Really these children do need to be protected as much as their families. And the families from the United States who were adopting from Uganda are very much victims as well, because they are trying to build their own family, unknowing that what is happening on the other side of the continent is a crime and are completely unaware because they’re going through what they believe is a reputable adoption.
Ron Reigns:
Absolutely.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Just like the families that were working with Paul Peterson felt… They were working with an attorney who was also had his adoption agency. And so it’s really hard for families, like I said, to develop that sacred trust and to spend $30,000 to $40,000 trying to complete an international adoption.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
In 2016, there were still 187 adoptions from Uganda. That’s a lot of chaos. Right now if you go to the US State Department website, you will see that they’re actually not recommending travel though, due to the violent crime and nature of what’s going on over there right now. And after this has come out, I’m sure that people are nervous and hesitant to proceed with adopting from Uganda for fear that there may be something wrong, but again, hopefully, things will change. And the children of Uganda that are eligible and able to be adopted will still have that opportunity.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And hopefully that now that this has happened, it can be done safely and securely and nothing like this, I hope will never happen again. So there are some definite rules in adopting from Uganda. The children are between two to eight years old. Prospective adoptive parents must be open to a child at least three years of age. Like most international adoptions, children with special needs are common, including children affected by malaria or who are HIV positive. Prospective adoptive parents must be at least 25 years of age and must be at least 21 years older than the adopted child. For married couples, there’s no minimum duration of marriage to qualify for adoption. Single adoptive parents, I should say, are welcome to apply, although single applicants may only adopt a child of the same gender. It’s interesting.
Ron Reigns:
That’s fascinating, I wonder why.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
I’ve seen a lot of country requirements and I have never seen that. So that’s very interesting. There are no minimum financial requirements to apply, the families with five children or more are not permitted to adopt. The average timeline for adoption is 18 to 36 months, and a cost for adopting from Uganda falls between $30,000 to $40,000, including agency program, government and travel fees.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
So Uganda is still open for adoption. It’s just now going to be done the correct way, but again, this wasn’t all adoption agencies. This was European Adoption Consultants in combination with some of the judges over in Uganda. And so I want to make that really clear that this is not Uganda as a whole. We’ve had situations with other international countries, the whole country shut down because the adoption process became corrupt. And then they would shut down, go into moratorium, some would reopen, some would not.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
I mean, if you look at Romania, Romania still has not really opened to adopt. Guatemala was a big one. That was one of the biggest international countries to adopt from. That one shut down and then there were pilot programs to try to get it back up and running. Russia has closed their adoption program because of United States and the backlash that happened when some children were not treated properly by their adoptive parents. And so Russia has primarily shut down their adoption program to the United States.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Other countries, there were things going on in Ethiopia, and there were some agencies in the United States that were a party to some things that were very questionable and not ethical. And so Ethiopia has shut down and then it reopens and it shut down, it reopens. So, you really have to watch countries as what seems to be happening is as the programs get larger and larger and larger in these countries, they become really popular countries to adopt from people get into it, maybe for the wrong reasons. Agencies or officials or adoption specialists and in doing so, it wrecks it for a lot of people.
Ron Reigns:
Right. I mean, there’s always somebody that’s willing to do the wrong thing to make a buck or to game the system or whatever it is. And so, like you say one bad apple spoils the whole darn bunch, and you got to be aware of that.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
No, it really does. The only international country that we do right now and work with is Haiti. And Haiti has been really through the wringer, not regarding adoptions, but just everything that that country has been through. I mean, with the earthquakes and they are considered a fourth-world country. And back when you and I were in grade school, I don’t recall ever hearing about a fourth-world country. It kind of stopped at three, the third-world countries. Haiti is now considered a fourth-world country.
Ron Reigns:
Wow.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And they have gone into moratorium, and put things on hold, but not due to any corruption or anything regarding adoptions, it’s just to restructure and to make the process better for their country and the way that it’s happening. So they have done a phenomenal job in the way that they have overseen their adoption process in Haiti and who they choose to work within the United States.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
But we’ve worked with Haiti for years and years and years. And we have placed a lot of children through that program. And it’s something that I am really proud of. But again, I’ve seen lots of country open and closed, and it’s really sad to know that there are children that would love to be adopted and come to the United States. And now that may not be a reality for them because of the other people have done. It looks like the three women with European Adoption Consultants are going to really do some prison time. And I think that’s really important. I think that that’s really a big deal.
Ron Reigns:
Right. We need to set an example with these people and try and make sure that this doesn’t happen again. As a matter of fact, I’m kind of glad that this story came to light because you do want to shine a light on the bad parts and make sure it stops.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Absolutely. The only way to make it stop is definitely to bring awareness to a situation and to make sure that people understand what’s really going on. We always talk about the importance of options for education and combine that with why we teach history in schools so that we don’t make the same mistakes again. So that we catch it and we don’t repeat bad behavior if you will. But I think that that’s really important to know. And again, I want to put it out there that if in your heart international adoption is where you feel that your child is meant to be from regardless of what country you choose, just do your research, make sure you utilize the US State Department website. They have a whole site on adoption where you can go in and look at all the requirements for each individual country and it’ll walk you through everything.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
You also can find a list of accredited agencies, even if the country that you are wanting to work with is not accredited. With the Hague, you can still use the Hague Accredited agency and you’ll need to, because it’s the safest obviously route to go because that agency will have been, like I said, audited again and overseen by an entity that is assigned by the US State Department.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
So it’s a really big deal. It’s a really, really big deal. And I think that if you go and you do your research and you check the better business bureau and you talk with families who’ve adopted from the country and the program that you want to use, you’re really doing your due diligence. These families that adopted through EAC, no doubt did everything in their power to make sure that they were using a credible agency that had an established program, that had recommendations from families who had brought their own home. And so it’s just really sad to think about what’s happening now with those children. If there’s concern on the adoptive families part and in what they’re going through into trying to maintain stability and not have worries. So my heart goes out to them as I’m sure yours does too Ron.
Ron Reigns:
Absolutely. And this is something that we emphasized, especially when the Paul Peterson story started to break. Definitely do that due diligence, find out more. I mean, there’s always more to learn. You’ve given some great resources, like you say, go to the State Department website and just make sure you’re dealing with an agency or an organization that has everybody’s best interests at heart.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And hopefully, in the future podcast, we’ll be able to maybe speak with a family who has been a victim of this. So they can maybe speak out for families who are in the same boat if you will. So they don’t feel alone. And I think that it would be… We’ve got families obviously who have experienced adopting from Uganda that are struggling, and then there are the families from the Paul Peterson situation. And so uniting some of these families I think would bring comfort and peace and maybe, I don’t know, maybe a sense of community would really help, would really help. So our heart goes out to all of you that are victims. And we still believe in international adoption, even though this happened. This is not reflective of every agency, please understand that. This is one agency that did a really bad thing and now is going to be paying the consequences for it.
Ron Reigns:
Thank you for joining us on Birth Mother Matters in Adoption. If you’re listening and you’re dealing with an unplanned pregnancy and want more information about adoption Building Arizona Families is a local Arizona adoption agency and available 24/7 by phone or text at 623-695-4112, that’s 623-695-4112. We can make an immediate appointment with you to get started on creating an Arizona adoption plan, or just get you more information. You can also find out more information about Building Arizona Families on their website at AZpregnancyhelp.com.
