RMI Announcement

Marshall Islands Licenses Only One Adoption Agency

By approval of the Cabinet, the Central Adoption Authority of the Marshall Islands has announced that effective March 1, 2004, one U.S. adoption agency is licensed to facilitate international adoptions between the Marshall Islands and the United States.

This agency is Journeys of the Heart out of Hillsborough, Oregon. According to the RMI adoption advisor, the Journeys of the Heart agency and Susan Tompkins, executive director, have demonstrated a history of highest ethics, respect for the Marshallese culture, and utmost competence in dealing with complex international adoptions. It was the only agency among the applicants to be accredited under the Hague Convention.

U.S. families interested in adopting a Marshallese child are required to work through this agency only, under Adoption Act of 2002, P.L. 2002-64.

The news of the RMI decision of March 5, 2004, was released by Jini Roby of Brigham Young University. Roby, who is a lawyer and assistant professor of Social Work at BYU in Utah, has worked with the Marshall Islands government, helping to draft the adoption law which makes solicitation of birth moms and off-shore adoptions illegal.

For more information please check out the link below.

www.jcics.org  www.yokwe.net