The authorities of Cape Verde 65 administrative procedures are pending of applications for international adoption of Cape Verdean children, presented mainly by Portuguese families, but for seven years there have been no minors to adopt.
According to the annual report on the situation of Justice, referring to the judicial year 2021/2022 (August 1 to July 31), prepared by the Superior Council of the Public Ministry (CSMP), the situation of “children available for adoption did not change” in the last year.
“There are no children available for international adoption, what has been happening in the last seven years, so the pending requests have been canceled and there have not been many requests for new adoptions. For the same reason, a high number of pending application processes remains,” reads the report, to which Lusa had access.
It adds that most of the pending cases were presented between 2005 and 2009 and with the attribution to the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) of the Central Authority for International Adoption, they were transferred to the PGR, which has a Council for the International Adoption (CAI).
“In the previous judicial year, the CAI was in regular contact with the Central Authorities with candidacies deposited in Cape Verde, requesting information on the maintenance of the candidates’ interest, taking into account the long waiting period. Of the established contacts, a response was received from Portugal, the country with the highest number of cases, and from Spain, in relation to some cases, for which information is expected on other pending cases and other central authorities”, adds the report from the Ministry. Public.
It is also mentioned that the CAI, together with other entities, has participated in working meetings with the Cape Verdean Institute for Children and Adolescents, “for the purpose of reorganizing the administrative services with competence in matters of national adoption“.
“However, there was no change regarding the unavailability of children with a profile for international adoption, a situation that results from compliance with the principle of subsidiarity,” it reads.
According to data from the report, 74 administrative processes of requests for international adoption of Cape Verdean children, 58 from Portugal, seven from France, seven from Spain, one from Italy and a judicial process carried over from the previous judicial year. During the judicial year, only one new request arrived from Portugal, making a total of 75 requests processed.
However, in the last year there have been ten administrative processes with adoption applications, two of them for withdrawal, in relation to applications from Spain, and seven for full adoption, of which, four in applications from Portugal, two from Spain and one from France. One case was also closed due to supervening uselessness, so 65 cases remain pending, which corresponds to a decrease in the pending time of around 12%.
Of the adoption processes still pending, 55 are from Portugalsix from France, three from Spain and one from Italy.
However, 60 of these pending processes —which corresponds to 92%— are awaiting the identification of children for adoption, one refers to the application process with a child already identified and four are awaiting the regularization of the situation, in which “the children already live with their future adoptive parents abroad, but whose adoption processes have not yet concluded”.
Source: Observadora
