What's Going On In The Democratic Republic of Congo

Children that are being adopted from eastern Congo can be moved to Kinshasa by their agency but this is proving to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. At no time does MLJ take referrals that are known to be from the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are approximately 50-100 children in this region that are referred to adoptive parents from agencies or independent facilitators. Not only is the travel difficult but the embassy investigation for their visa is extremely difficult and likely will create significant delays.

At this time, this is not a consideration. However, the U.S. State department will continue to monitor the situation and discussion options. In addition, the Consul has communicated that the Congolese government would likely not approve this option.

The embassy communicated that all adoptive parents should file at the National Benefits Center in the U.S. and not at the embassy unless they actually live in Congo.

The adoption agency is responsible for their foreign staff’s actions. MLJ Adoptions has approximately 15 full or part-time adoption service providers in the Democratic Republic of Congo that assist with the adoption process or foster-care. MLJ Adoptions received a referral from the embassy for our foreign director in Congo. The embassy has continued to communicate regarding the problems within orphanages. MLJ Adoptions referrals are from the Congo Social Services and not from the orphanage staff. In addition, MLJ Adoptions uses foster-care for our referrals. Foster-care is not used by all adoption professionals or independent facilitators and foster-care was a topic that the embassy used as a possible recommendation for the problems that are happening with children dying or a lost referral.

While there is no prohibition against the adoptive parents contacting the embassy, the parents should likely discuss this and obtain approval from their adoption service provider first, to be sure it is appropriate. There have been instances of adoptive parents overstepping their agency’s process and requesting an expediting of the embassy interview through political contacts and their documents/dossier/passports/etc. were not ready and yet they used the time of the embassy and replaced another family’s interview that was ready. Adoptive parents should be sure that use of political contacts or communication is appropriate. All adoptive parents want to expedite the process; however, they must also respect the work and efforts of all the government entities involved in the adoption and immigration legal process.