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The Ethiopian First Instance Court has temporarily stopped accepting cases involving abandoned children from orphanages in Addis Ababa, citing concern over a recent increase in the number of abandoned children being brought for adoption.  The number of abandoned children from orphanages in Addis Ababa has grown dramatically in recent months and Ethiopian authorities have become aware of possible cases of unethical practices associated with some of them.

 DOL persuades users to use the new iCERT

The old LCA system will be extended by DOL starting from May 14, 2009 to June 30, 2009. Hence DOL urges users to use the new iCERT during the transition period and to send a feedback on bugs by email.  

Some of the new features implemented by DOL with the launch of the new system  

I-140 backlog  

USCIS has recently updated the number of petitions they have pending. The backlog for I-140 was 40,000 in October and now it is down to 10, 000.

I-485 

USCIS has indicated that the EB-485 team at the NSC center is pre-adjudicating cases and will be ready to approve cases as soon as the priority date becomes current.    

Filing an appeal 

The Department has posted FAQs explaining how one should notify the Atlanta National Processing Center of a change of address, change of legal representation, and other related actions.

To read FAQ, see the attachment: 

On December 3, 2009 new laws intended to create a thorough nationwide child welfare system and an intercountry adoption procedure in conformance with The Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention were implemented in Cambodia. However, the processing of adoption petitions for Cambodia was still suspended on December 21, 2009 due to concerns relating to fraud, lack of legal framework, and lack of safeguards in Cambodia to protect children’s best interests.  USCIS remains unable to approve any Form I-600.

Casa Quivira Cases: DOS issued an alert on December 28, 2009 informing that the Office of the Solicitor General's (PGN's) appeal of the 2009 decision determining the adoptability of the children taken into custody from Casa Quivira was upheld by the appeals court. Note, these children include those who are already residing in the U.S.

Casa Quivira Cases: DOS issued an alert on December 28, 2009 informing that the Office of the Solicitor General's (PGN's) appeal of the 2009 decision determining the adoptability of the children taken into custody from Casa Quivira was upheld by the appeals court. Note, these children include those who are already residing in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of state released the following information pertaining to non-hogar Guatemalan Inter-country adoptions:

On March 30, 2009, USCIS assumed responsibility from the DOS for adjudicating any Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, filed within the Russian Federation, this release provides responses to commonly asked questions on the issue.

On September 29, 2009, the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Children's Issues issued an alert informing that: The  China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has announced that all prospective adoptive families will be required to work with a U.S. Hague accredited adoption service provider for both transition cases and Convention cases beginning December 1, 2009.  This will require all families to work with an agency that is both U.S.

Notice for Guatemala “hogar” adoption cases

On September 17, 2009, the State Department Issued an Alert informing of the suspension of adoptions in Sierra Leone. The Government of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs suspended adoptions on May 29, 2009 due to concerns on the legality of adoptions and the welfare of adoptees.&

The U.S. Department of State is cautioning American citizens against filing an application to adopt a child from Liberia while the moratorium on adoption remains in effect. The U.S. Embassy remains in frequent contact with adoption officials, but there is no indication when the moratorium might be lifted.

On September 30, 2009 the U.S. State Department issued an Adoption notice informing the following: Kenya is party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention).  As such, all adoptions between Kenya and the United States initiated after April 1, 2008, must meet the requirements of both the Convention and U.S.

According to DOL updates as of July 31 2009, they are working on PERM application filed in the following months: No Audit/Final Review: November 2008 Audit: October 2007 Appeals: July 2007

On September 29, 2009, the U.S.