It should be mandatory for signatories of the Hague Adoption Convention to provide medical tests showing children are free from Hepatitis C, according to the Family Minister.

Family Minister Michael Farrugia.Family Minister Michael Farrugia.

Michael Farrugia recently raised the topic with Hague convention general secretary Christophe Bernasconi since the international agreement does not include Hepatitis C tests as a requirement.

Dr Farrugia told the Times of Malta that he asked Mr Bernasconi whether the convention could be changed to include Hepatitis C alongside tests for Hepatitis B and HIV.

“The process is a complex one but he told me that the documents on the convention refer to the fact that a country can ask for additional investigations,” Dr Farrugia said.

Malta asks for a Hepatitis C test before giving the green light for adoptions but Bulgaria does not provide it because it is not one of the Hague requirements.

Dr Farrugia justified Malta’s insistence because Hepatitis C had the same mode of transmission as Hepatitis B and HIV.

If the issue was not resolved on an administrative level, Dr Farrugia said he would travel to Bulgaria to solve it politically, as he had done with Slovakia. The first pair of adopted twins from Slovakia just arrived in Malta last week, he added.

Dr Farrugia admitted he was trying to understand the different points of view of the Central Authority (which handles adoptions), the Health Department and the adoption agencies.

The health authorities were requesting forms to be rubberstamped with the name of the Bulgarian laboratory where the tests were carried out as well as the doctor’s signature – something which, according to the Hague Convention, Bulgaria was not obliged to submit.

It was important however that the additional Hepatitis C test was presented to the Maltese authorities before the adoption had taken place, he stressed.

“Imagine if a child was found to have Hepatitis C after the Bulgarian court gave him up for adoption. That boy is already in transit. The Health Department will tell me that we can’t bring him into Malta. What will become of that boy?

“He is no longer Bulgarian and he is in transit to become a Maltese citizen. Before we clear this issue up and the Health Department give us clearance that the procedures we are using are in line, I am not ready to allow children to become pawns.”

On the general adoption situation, Dr Farrugia delineated the difficulties encountered in other countries.

Albanian law stated that if contact occurred between a child in an institute and his mother over a period of one year, that child was not classified as abandoned, even if the mother saw him once a year.

“We’ve had multiple discussions with them but they are just not going to change the law. However, I have good contacts in Albania and we’re working to increase the number of children ‘reserved’ for Malta from three a year to a larger number.”

He insisted that the issue with Russia had nothing to do with the civil unions law passed last year that gave same-sex couples the same rights and obligations of married couples.

Malta’s bilateral agreement with Russia was currently before the Russian authorities, pending approval. Meanwhile, different regions in Russia are insisting on different requirements. Some regions such as St Petersburg were refusing to work with Malta unless the agreement is signed while others are stating that their laws have changed and that they now can only deal with Maltese agencies which have a representative accredited by Russia.

Meanwhile, Malta has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam.

“We’re hoping that the Vietnamese central authority will pay our agency a visit. They have asked us to identify a representative in Vietnam to act as the key contact person. We have identified such a person and are hoping to start collaborating with the country early next year.”

Cambodia has closed its borders for adoption to all countries following the child trafficking scandal.

Turning to Ethiopia, Dr Farrugia highlighted two issues.

“When Ethiopia found out we were adopting children and that a particular institute was run by the Maltese, they started to send us children with severe disabilities only.

“They have also insisted on us having an embassy in Ethiopia and wouldn’t accept a consul. We’ve informed them that the Irish embassy represents us but they refused this arrangement.”

In the meantime, progress has been made with Czech Republic, while matching process has kicked off in Slovakia, culminating in a pair of twins being adopted by a Maltese couple.

He also got to know of “an influential Maltese” in Brazil and was hoping that the island could start collaborating with the South American county.

“What I am certain about is that I would rather have 20 adoptions than 100. We are very careful regarding child trafficking. We’ve increased the barriers to ensure that everything is done according to procedure.

“Signatures must be evaluated properly.

“Child trafficking is always a risk, especially with non-Hague countries. What happened in the past is difficult to say but how come some adoption procedures take a year and, in one case, it took two months?

“I will not let the central authority sign papers haphazardly. A Maltese family may be happy with their adopted child, but this should not come at the expense of the foreign family, whose child would have been taken away from them.”

kim.dalli@timesofmalta.com

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