The Walsingham Foundation

In June 2001, when Romania was forced to close its doors to international adoption, many Maltese couples felt worried, especially those who had already started procedures in that country at that time, the majority of whom had already sent at least half the money requested (which ran into thousands of dollars) for this purpose.

The need to do something was felt; we had for long been told that discussions with other countries were at an advanced stage but nothing materialised and to make matters worse the adoption agreement with Albania was allowed to lapse and ultimately Pakistan also closed its doors to international adoptions.

A small group consisting of a mixture of adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents started meeting with the aim of doing something to remedy this situation and in June 2002 The Walsingham Foundation (taking its name from the famous Marian shrine at Norfolk, England) was born, thanks to the help of Fr Mark Montebello, OP, who also let us use Dar it-Tama as a meeting place.

Intense research and attempts to make contact through the internet with associations in various countries, mainly the Ukraine, Russia and Bulgaria, led to contacts being made through a Bulgarian couple resident in Malta who got us in touch with a Bulgarian attorney who was ready to work for the foundation.

In October 2002 it was decided to send a fact finding mission to Bulgaria consisting of myself and the president but when we contacted no fewer than 60 companies for a sponsor, only two accepted and ultimately we had to turn to our members for the expenses.

In Bulgaria we visited several orphanages which were of a very high standard compared to those in Rumania and also had talks with officials in the Ministry of Justice in Sofia and there seemed to be no difficulty whatsoever for the Maltese to adopt from that country, even though there was no previous experience of adoptions involving the Maltese. Using this information, a formal report was drawn up and presented to the then Minister of Social Policy, Lawrence Gonzi, and the officials of the Department of Family Welfare, responsible for adoptions in Malta, making the case for Bulgaria as a very suitable source for children for adoption in Malta.

Although the Bulgarian attorney visited Malta several times, a year had to pass before the Maltese authorities finally agreed, accepted to assist couples wishing to adopt from that country, and changes were made to Bulgarian family laws to conform with the Hague Convention. The first group of Maltese couples were registered in Bulgaria's foreign adoptions register but things seemed to be running at a snail's pace until in August a couple received the first proposal of a child for adoption.

The couple has already been to Bulgaria to see the child and start procedures over there and hopefully the first Bulgarian child will be in Malta around Christmas time. At least our efforts were not in vain! The couple was accompanied by our president (there were not enough funds left to send two people!) to ensure that all went smoothly, to facilitate their visit and to continue discussions with the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice and to further improve the excellent relationship existing between Malta and Bulgaria in the field of adoption.

Meanwhile, there have been four adoptions from Russia (for the first time the children the couples used to host were successfully adopted), two of them by two of our members and it is said that there are five more couples who have started the necessary procedures from that country.

May we remind those who are interested that they may contact us on 2166 0412, 2169 0657, 7920 4394 or 7944 0094. The next meeting is due to be held at Dar it-Tama, Cospicua on October 27 at 7.30 p.m.