Italy: NGOs fight for low cost adoptions

The right to be a child? Yes, but only if you are lucky enough to be found by a family that can pay 15 thousand euros to cover the expenses of an international adoption. Administrative costs are around 10 thousand euros, a large part of these go to the foreign country the children come from, from 4, 000 euros in Thailand to 9,000 in Honduras. To this you must add the price of the trip there and back and travelling expenses. Once the adoption has been formalised there are obligatory reports that must be carried out until the child is 18, each of these cost around 150 euros.

What this means, is that the state does not see international adoption as a means of international cooperation and aid, in other words as finding a family for an abandoned child, but rather as a means of finding a child for a childless couple.

This is why there is a wave of protest in the world of adoptive families and beyond. What they ask for is free international adoption, to make the terms of international adoption the same as those used in other adoptive formulas, such as those used nationally. Aibi, an Italian children?s charity is leading a campaign called No price for adoption. Launched on the 11th of October, in no more than one week the campaign had already collected 4,135 signatures and the support of 20 different organisations involved in adoption matters and pro-family associations. The petition will be presented with the proposal to amend 2008?s Italian financial law, that is currently being discussed by the Senate.

?I would like to point out that it is not about defending a couple?s right to adopting a child for free, but the right of a child to have a family?, explains Aibi?s President, Marco Griffini. ? The sum we would need to make adoption free is not very big, we are talking about 35 million euros. We have launched an appeal to many senators who are also adoptive parents?. The amendments that Aibi proposes include a request to deduct 100% of the gross adoptive expenses, as long as the organisation managing the adoption can provide supportive documentary evidence.

Cea, a body that coordinates authorised organisations, has launched a second campaign, this time with an English slogan: No price for children. This campaign is supported by several senators as well as 28 family associations, the Anpas ? Italy?s national association of public assistance ? and the Acli (Christian Associations of Italian Workers). The website?s first few days saw more than 6500 registrations.

No price for children calls for 100% tax-deductible adoption expenses including the journey and travel expenses, to be guaranteed through self-certification.

Despite the differences in these two appeals, there is no antagonism between them. They have also used similar language: ?We began from a common interest? says Stefano Bernardi, president of an association called Enzo B that support the No price for children campaign. ?Using similar language is a means of bringing the message home to politicians, although some ask why Griffini didn?t go the whole way?. Griffini however defends his position: ?I don?t see why the state should pay for business class travel and five star hotels. Ours is both an honest and realistic demand?.