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88–733PDF 2014

THE GROWING CRISIS OF AFRICA’S ORPHANS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, 

GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND 

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JULY 16, 2014

Serial No. 113–198

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

PAUL COOK, California 

GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin 

CURT CLAWSON, Florida 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

KAREN BASS, California 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

AMI BERA, California 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

The Honorable Nancy Lindborg, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Agency for International 

Development ......................................................................................................... 4

The Honorable Robert P. Jackson, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State ............................................ 14

Ms. Kelly Dempsey, general counsel and director of advocacy and outreach, 

Both Ends Burning .............................................................................................. 23

Shimwaayi Muntemba, Ph.D., founder, Zambia Orphans of AIDS ..................... 33

Mrs. Jovana Jones, adoptive mother of a Congolese child ................................... 47

Ms. Muluemebet Chekol Hunegnaw, senior director, Monitoring & Evaluation 

and Knowledge Management Program Quality and Impact Department, 

International Programs, Save the Children ....................................................... 51

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

The Honorable Nancy Lindborg: Prepared statement .......................................... 8

The Honorable Robert P. Jackson: Prepared statement ....................................... 17

Ms. Kelly Dempsey: Prepared statement .............................................................. 27

Shimwaayi Muntemba, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ............................................. 35

Mrs. Jovana Jones: Prepared statement ................................................................ 49

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 66

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 67

Ms. Muluemebet Chekol Hunegnaw: Statement for the record ........................... 68

Ms. Kelly Dempsey: Both Ends Burning report .................................................... 76

The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from 

the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global 

Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations: Statements 

for the record from: 

Catholic Relief Services ....................................................................................... 84

World Vision US ................................................................................................... 86

Christian Alliance for Orphans ........................................................................... 89

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THE GROWING CRISIS OF AFRICA’S ORPHANS 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2014

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,

GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:01 p.m., in room 

2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. Smith 

(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. SMITH. The subcommittee will come to order. 

Good afternoon, everyone. 

Today’s hearing addresses a very important humanitarian crisis: 

The more than 50 million children orphaned on the continent of Africa. Indeed, to put this in perspective, as one of our witnesses 

today, Shimwaayi Muntemba, has pointed out, with such a number, the orphans of Africa, if grouped together in a single country, 

would be the fourth-largest country in all of Africa after Nigeria, 

Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

The factors contributing to this crisis are varied, starting with 

civil war and civil unrest, which have displaced millions, wars that 

have led to the deaths of parents and other adult relatives, leaving 

children to fend for themselves, or sometimes children who are separated from their parents in a mad flight for sanctuary, never 

learning if their moms or dads are alive or dead. They may never 

know if they are orphaned in reality or if both parents turn out to 

have survived and are alive in a refugee camp somewhere else. 

Such parents, too, agonize over what ever happened to their beloved children. 

Other children are indirect victims of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, 

which has wreaked such devastating havoc on the continent, or 

other diseases. They could have lost one or both parents to this or 

some other dreaded disease. 

Often being forced into the role of primary caretaker of younger 

siblings, their childhood innocence is ended by the burdens of adult 

responsibility. 

As with many of the humanitarian crises that confront the continent, there is a big-picture aspect to this one and one which we 

as Congress certainly need to address. There are important strategic implications of so many children and adolescents left without 

moms or dads. 

We have all heard of the scourge of child soldiers, how orphaned 

children are recruited and brutalized, themselves, into becoming 

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remorseless killers. Terrorist groups, such as the Lord’s Resistance 

Army under the rapacious warlord Joseph Kony, actively recruit 

child soldiers. Perhaps our State Department witness, the Honorable Robert Jackson, with his vast depth of regional knowledge, 

may address that in his remarks today. 

And if humanitarian reasons are not enough to compel Congress 

to rally behind the efforts to address the issue of Africa’s orphans 

by USAID and countless other charitable organizations, many of 

them faith-based, then strategic concerns and the effect that this 

has on the stability throughout the region should be a reason to sit 

up and take notice of this tragedy. 

But behind every statistic about an orphaned child or children, 

behind the pie charts and graphs, there is also a portrait in miniature: A lonely child who is left without a mother or a father, perhaps dealing each night with the pangs of hunger or just seeking 

a place where he or she can lay down his or her head in safety 

until the morning comes. That child awakes to forage and to fend 

for another day. 

Behind every statistic, there is a young boy or girl who has to 

deal with the sense of abandonment or with the trauma of having 

seen parents killed before his or her own eyes; there is a little soul, 

a young person, whose inherent dignity has been scarred in a world 

itself wounded, where there is so much pain, suffering, and darkness. 

These children are in need of love and compassion, of simple 

needs being met. Those who find loving homes and families are 

truly the lucky ones. One remedy for this crisis is inter-country 

adoption, which sometimes brings children from Africa to our 

shores to provide them with loving homes. 

This is, of course, only a partial remedy, because for every child 

who is given a loving home, there are many more for whom there 

will never be such a refuge. At best, they may end up in an institutional orphanage, which is a topic fraught with controversy. While 

the best ones—again, often faith-based—help address the developmental and education needs of children, the worst may abet human 

trafficking. 

In some cases, such institutions do not even shelter orphans per 

se, but, rather, children are placed there by parents who think that 

their children will get a better education and nutrition than what 

they themselves can provide. Clearly, such institutions can never 

provide the type of love that a father and a mother, along with any 

siblings, can provide. 

One issue that will be addressed in our second panel today, then, 

is the role of inter-country adoption in helping address, at least in 

part, the crisis of orphans. Some of the testimony will be critical 

of the role of our State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues in 

the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Such testimony needs to be heard, 

for we can and we must, all of us, do better. 

We will also hear about an adoption issue that has received a lot 

of attention on Capitol Hill and was the topic of a resolution authored by my good friend and colleague, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, which I am happy to say was passed by the House of Representatives just a few weeks ago after being marked up by our 

subcommittee and then the full Foreign Affairs Committee. 

3

Last year, the DRC suspended the issuance of exit permits for 

Congolese children adopted by foreign parents, impacting hundreds 

of U.S. families. The suspension means that the Congolese children 

adopted by American parents simply cannot leave the country to go 

to their new homes even though the parents have been officially 

declared the legal guardians under Congolese law. 

What’s more, despite the exit-permit suspension, Congolese 

courts have continued processing new adoptions, leading to a backlog of adopted children who are unable to leave the country. More 

than 800 American families are caught up, in varying degrees, of 

this adoption limbo, breaking hearts. 

This is a deplorable situation for these children and for their distraught families, as well. Indeed, we will hear about this from one 

such family that has been impacted, as well as an advocate for 

families that in like manner have been impacted. 

Finally, I also want to say a word to those parents here today 

who have endured not only burdens that are financial but ones 

that are primarily emotional, separated from the children they 

have voluntarily and lovingly welcomed into their lives. 

Your hardship and pain is deeply noted by my colleagues and I, 

as well as our staff members, many of whom have worked not only 

on passing Congressman Peterson’s resolution but have also promoted within our State Department and the Government of the 

DRC some effective and durable remedies to these situations. 

Please continue to persevere. Don’t give up hope. Both the executive branch and the legislative branch are firmly in your corner. 

I would like to new yield to Karen Bass, the ranking member. 

Ms. BASS. Thank you, Mr. Chair, as always, for your leadership 

on this and so many other issues. 

I would also like to thank our distinguished witnesses, including 

the Honorable Robert Jackson, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs; the Honorable Nancy 

Lindborg, Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Democracy, 

Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance; and humanitarian and advocacy experts from the civil society. 

According to UNICEF, in 2012 there were an estimated 56 million orphaned children in Africa, of whom an estimated 27 percent 

were orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. 

Numerous sources suggest orphans typically consist of a number 

of our most vulnerable children, who have been or could become 

victims of trafficking, child labor, violence, and abuse. We can’t 

allow children under any circumstances to be subject to such brutality. Congress should do all we can to ensure that all children can 

grow up in loving and caring homes. 

I am a proud cosponsor of Children in Families First, which is 

led by my esteemed colleague, Senator Landrieu. This legislation 

can be one of the solutions to addressing the issue of orphaned children, not only in Africa but around the world. 

CHIFF, as we are calling it, Children in Families First, which 

aims to redirect some U.S. resources to focus more on ensuring that 

all children grow up in families, draws on the strength of agencies 

to achieve that goal. 

As we prepare to hear from today’s witnesses, I hope we can 

learn lessons from their expertise and use their knowledge to imVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:30 Oct 08, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\071614\88733 SHIRL
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prove conditions for orphaned children in Africa. I am committed 

to working toward this end and look forward to working with my 

colleagues to find the most effective and sustainable solutions. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much. 

Because of time limitations, would you like to give a brief opening statement? 

Mr. BERA. Yeah, just very quickly, I want to thank the chairman 

and ranking member for, obviously, a very important hearing. We 

still have a long ways to go, though, I would say. Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Dr. Bera. 

As John Lennon said in ‘‘The Ballad of John and Yoko Ono,’’ it’s 

good to have the both of you back. 

We have two very distinguished government leaders providing 

testimony. 

But, very briefly, Nancy Lindborg is the Assistant Administrator 

for the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at USAID. She has testified before our subcommittee on numerous occasions. 

Since assuming her office in 2010, Ms. Lindborg has led DCHA 

teams in response to the ongoing Syria crisis, the Horn of Africa 

in 2011, Sahel in 2012 droughts, the Arab Spring, the aftermath 

of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, and numerous other global 

crises. 

Prior to joining USAID, she was president of Mercy Corps, where 

she spent 14 years doing that wonderful work of protecting the 

weak and the vulnerable. 

We will also then hear from Ambassador Robert Jackson, who is 

currently Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary to Bureau of African Affairs. 

He previously served as Ambassador to Cameroon as well as 

Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge at the U.S. Embassies in Morocco and Senegal. He has also served at U.S. Embassies in Burundi, Zimbabwe, Portugal, and Canada. 

At the State Department headquarters, he has worked in commercial and consular sections and conducted officer training. He 

has also performed oversight work in the Office for the Promotion 

of Democracy and Human Rights after 9/11. 

Ambassador Jackson has appeared before this subcommittee, 

again, on many, many occasions. And welcome back. 

Ms. Lindborg, please go first. 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE NANCY LINDBORG, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU FOR DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, U.S. AGENCY FOR 

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Ms. LINDBORG. Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Bass, members of the subcommittee, thank you very much for inviting me to 

testify today. 

And, Chairman Smith, I want to specifically acknowledge your 

extraordinary leadership on human rights and humanitarian assistance worldwide. So, many thanks. 

Africa, as we know, is a continent on the rise. It has growing 

economies and the youngest population in the world. Fifty percent 

of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is under the age of 18. So 

5

there is an extraordinary potential for this generation of youth to 

shape the future in powerful ways. 

However, more than 200 million of these children currently live 

in extreme poverty, over 15 million children have lost one or more 

parents to AIDS, and millions more, as we have heard, are affected 

by conflict and natural disaster. 

I have personally seen what happens to the children and families 

who are affected by these conflicts. Often, the shocks are coming 

one after another. And we also have seen the enormous difference 

that USAID-supported programs can make in the lives of these affected. 

I want to just cite Nyawal Ruach, a 29-year-old mother in Bor, 

Sudan. And, during the recent violence, she saw conflict coming toward her house. She tied her two young sons together so she 

wouldn’t lose them, but they nonetheless got swept away in the 

crowds. And it was through a U.S.-supported center that reunited 

families that she was able to find her sons again. In the middle of 

a conflict, that is a powerful and important thing to have happen. 

The United States has long been the largest donor for orphans 

and vulnerable children. And, in 2005, a very important law, Public 

Law 109–95, passed and that, coupled with the learnings from an 

evidence summit in 2011, really helped us to galvanize across the 

entire interagency and prompt us to create an Action Plan on Children in Adversity. And so, for the first time, we now have across 

the interagency a common framework and a shared language that 

really pulls together the efforts of seven agencies across the U.S. 

Government. 

And, as you noted, Chairman Smith, there are many causes of 

adversity, from conflict to poverty to HIV/AIDS, but this framework 

helps us understand and stay focused on the three overarching, 

interrelated objectives that we know are the most important for 

making a difference in the life of a child. So I want to just quickly 

talk about those three objectives. 

The first is, Africa has seen extraordinary progress in reducing 

the number of children who die before their fifth birthday. These 

mortality rates have been reduced by almost half in 20 years. We 

stand within reach of ending preventable child and maternal 

deaths by 2035. That is extraordinary. 

We also know that keeping children alive is also just the first 

step. We know that the first 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and a child’s second birthday lays the foundation for your 

entire life, for your lifelong health and your future development. 

So the first objective of our action plan is to build strong beginnings. And we are helping to build the long-term health of children 

through nutrition, through health. We have a new USAID nutrition 

policy, and our Office of Food for Peace is applying the best of nutritional science to reformulate special foods that meet the nutritional needs of children under 2 with more therapeutic food products. 

We have also seen increasing evidence of the essential need for 

nurture and emotional support during these early, critical formative years. And studies have shown that excessive stress can actually have the same effect on a developing brain as malnutrition. 

6

A very powerful story that has informed this was that, following 

the genocide in Rwanda, when 1 million refugees poured into what 

was then Zaire, in an effort to save lives, infants and children were 

separated from their families and essentially laid out on beds so 

they could receive vaccines and IV nutritional feeding, yet they still 

died by the hundreds. And what we learned from that was the phenomenon called ‘‘failure to thrive,’’ that they lacked the human contact and nurture that is required to grow and to develop. 

This was a very painful and powerful lesson, but that has led to 

our second objective of the action plan, which is called ‘‘Put Families First.’’

Evidence has shown that families, extended families, including 

parents, grandparents, relatives, foster or adoptive families, are the 

best source of support for children. Yet we know that about 46 million children in Africa have lost one parent and over 10 million 

have lost both. 

The vast majority outside of family care do have parents and relatives, and there is a rich tradition of kinship care in Africa. So 

getting children into families and strengthening the ability of those 

families to care and protect is a significant critical priority in both 

our humanitarian and development programming. 

And to do so, our programs support families struggling to provide 

care for vulnerable children by connecting them with a range of 

help options, whether it is urgent material needs, financial needs, 

long-term family income generation, or access to health and treatment services. We aim to empower them to decide what is best for 

their families so they can care for their children. 

The third objective of the Action Plan on Children in Adversity 

is to protect children, particularly at an early age. Across the continent, we are targeting vulnerable children, including, as you have 

noted, child soldiers, street children, children accused of witchcraft, 

children lost in the legal system, children with disabilities, child laborers, and HIV/AIDS orphans. 

A goal is to support children’s reintegration into communities to 

help children and youth get the kind of life and vocational skills 

that can set them on a pathway, strengthen local groups in their 

ability to contribute to advocating for children’s rights in their communities. 

We focus on providing safe spaces for children to heal, to learn; 

give parents and other caregivers time to address their own needs 

and those of their families. So this includes outreach, direct support for parents, and really tries to decrease the risk of family separation or child labor. 

Very importantly, we also focus on strengthening country systems. This is a key component of success, as we help local and national governments take a critical, more active role in supporting 

their own children. 

We know that if we don’t focus on the child we lose the person. 

And we know that investments in a strong start for Africa’s children are absolutely critical to lay a foundation for a healthy, productive future for Africa itself. So USAID remains very committed 

to meeting the needs of vulnerable children in Africa, while also reducing the root issues that create those conditions for conflict and 

abuse. 

7

We very much look forward to continuing the cooperation of the 

work across the U.S. Government, and especially with this subcommittee, in our shared commitment to promote healthy, resilient 

families and communities where children can thrive. 

Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. Ms. Lindborg, thank you very much for your testimony. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Lindborg follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Ambassador Jackson? 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ROBERT P. JACKSON, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

Ambassador JACKSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you 

for inviting me to testify on the Department of State’s response to 

orphaned and vulnerable children in Africa. 

This hearing is very timely, coming just weeks before the U.S.-

Africa Leaders Summit on investing in the next generation. 

The Department of State is committed to supporting children in 

adversity around the world, including orphaned and vulnerable 

children. This work is accomplished through the Department’s diverse programmatic activities, diplomatic engagement, and policy 

development. We engage the expertise and capacity of multiple department offices and bureaus. 

At the outset, I wish to make clear that the State Department 

does not isolate African orphans in its advocacy for children in adversity, nor does the Department relegate its concern only to Africa. All regional bureaus, many functional bureaus, and the leadership of the Department are focused on this. It is a very high priority. And we closely coordinate this work with USAID and other 

U.S. Government agencies. 

Allow me to focus on some of the most prominent issues facing 

children in Africa, including AIDS, trafficking, and conflict, and 

how we are working in the Department and with our colleagues at 

USAID to help address these issues. 

It is estimated that there are 17.8 million children who have lost 

one or both parents due to AIDS, and 90 percent of them live in 

sub-Saharan Africa. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children 

through programs that mitigate the social, emotional, and economic 

impacts of HIV/AIDS on children and reduce their risk and vulnerability while increasing their resilience. 

These programs have kept children in school, maintained children in supportive family environments, kept children safe by 

working with governments to promote child-welfare system 

strengthening, including the prevention of child abuse, genderbased violence, and social protection, and reduced barriers to HIV 

and health and nutrition services, to name a few. Over the last 4 

years, more than 5 million children worldwide have been supported 

by PEPFAR’s orphans and vulnerable-children programs. 

Second, conflicts in Africa, including those in the Central African 

Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, 

Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and 

Uganda, which you mentioned, have provoked an increase in the 

number of children recruited or used as child soldiers. 

We take very seriously the issue of unlawful recruitment and use 

of children as soldiers in government or government-supported 

armed groups, as the Department is responsible for producing a list 

of these governments as mandated by the Child Soldier Prevention 

Act, CSPA. 

In accordance with that act, we continue to work with African 

governments to address child soldiers in their countries, encourVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:30 Oct 08, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\071614\88733 SHIRL
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aging the signing and implementation of joint action plans with the 

U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children 

and Armed Conflict. 

We also support the work undertaken by UNICEF to demobilize, 

disarm, and rehabilitate former child soldiers. This year alone, 

UNICEF has secured the release of 1,000 child soldiers in the Central African Republic. 

We have seen that these action plans can be effective. The actions taken by the Government of Chad to remove children from 

the armed-forces ranks were so successful that a verification mission undertaken by UNICEF found no child soldiers at all, and 

Chad was not listed this year on the CSPA list or the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. 

I have also seen firsthand how engaging with former child soldiers can make a difference. When I visited Liberia with Deputy 

Secretary of State Higginbottom in June, we met former child soldiers who had formed nongovernmental organizations and had created small businesses to help themselves and others reintegrate 

into society. One of these stressed the importance of healing, behavioral change, and economic opportunities, which underscored to 

me how crosscutting this issue is. Grassroots African efforts like 

this, people helping people, need to be encouraged and supported. 

Third, we know children can be vulnerable to international and 

domestic human trafficking, whether through sex trafficking, forced 

child soldiering, or forced labor. AIDS orphans, including those 

from Swaziland and Lesotho, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Children throughout the continent are exploited in domestic 

servitude, forced begging, and forced labor in a variety of sectors, 

including mining, fishing, cattle herding, and harvesting coffee, 

cocoa, and rice. Armed conflict and other instability, poor economic 

conditions, food insecurity, rural poverty, and lack of social safety 

nets can also leave children vulnerable to trafficking in Africa. 

Our Embassies in Africa do not just report on trafficking; they 

aggressively engage with governments and civil society, lobbying 

for anti-trafficking laws to be passed, for governments to prosecute 

traffickers, and for the protection of victims of trafficking, especially child victims. 

Protection is a critical component of the United States’ 3–P strategy for fighting trafficking in persons, the three P’s being prosecution, protection, and prevention. Both the Africa Bureau and the 

Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons fund victimassistance programs that are designed specifically to respond to the 

comprehensive needs of child victims of trafficking. Beneficiaries 

are provided with safe and secure shelter, medical, paralegal, psychosocial counseling, and educational support. Furthermore, continuity of care is provided through ongoing case management and 

economic reintegration assistance to reduce the risk of re-trafficking. 

One of the pillars of the U.S. Action Plan for Children in Adversity is strengthening families. When efforts to keep families together fail, domestic and international adoption may be one way to 

help children who have lost parents. Orphans constitute a large 

vulnerable population in Africa, and it is important for us to ensure 

16

that they are adopted in an ethical and transparent manner in accordance with international norms. 

That is why we work with our Bureau of Consular Affairs to encourage countries to join and implement The Hague adoption convention to further ethical and transparent inter-country adoptions. 

Moreover, we have encouraged countries to align their child welfare systems and adoption practices with convention standards. 

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, through a range of activities, the 

Department of State works to support education, security, social, 

and child welfare systems to provide humanitarian assistance and 

to develop capacity for governance, rule of law, and the protection 

and advancement of human rights across the globe. 

There are so many ways for us to help children in Africa, and 

it is important for us to work collaboratively to address the issue 

with a survivor-centered approach, pressing countries for laws to 

protect them, supporting efforts to implement those laws, and establishing protective services in conjunction with civil society. We 

look forward to continuing to work with our U.S. Government colleagues and with this subcommittee to address this important 

issue. 

I would be pleased to take your questions, and I thank you very 

much. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Ambassador Jackson. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Jackson follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. And let me just ask both of you, what are your time 

limitations? Again, we thought we would be in late last night, and 

then they unexpectedly ended the session, and now we have votes 

until about 3:45 p.m. What is your availability? Because I will ask 

some questions and risk missing the first vote. While you are figuring that out, I will just ask the first question. 

Ms. Lindborg, you mentioned, and I thank you for your work on 

the first 1,000 days of life, from the moment of conception to the 

second birthday. As you may or may not know, I have worked on 

child survival since my first term in 1982—I got elected in 1980—

and have worked on it ever since, every year offering amendments 

to increase, you know, vitamins, increase especially the issue of immunizations and oral-rehydration therapy for those suffering diarrheal disease, and all the rest. But we now know beyond any reasonable doubt those first 1,000 days of life are absolutely pivotal 

to a child, and I thank you for your work on that. 

My question is, compared to other children in Africa, are the orphans disproportionately left out of programs that include the first 

1,000 days of life, which would mean that they will be healthier, 

have a better immune system, or at least immunity capabilities, or 

are there very special efforts made to include them? 

Secondly, you spoke about the failure to thrive. I remember being 

in Nicolae Ceausescu’s orphanages right after his fall in Romania 

after being there many years, and all of a sudden we found 50 or 

60 kids lined up, with one nurse or helper, and those kids were 

dying because they weren’t even being picked up. And I am wondering if you could just maybe spend some time on the importance 

of, you know, this failure to thrive. I don’t think enough people understand that. 

And, Mr. Ambassador, my first question to you would be: The DR 

Congo, what is the glitch there? What does the administration do 

to try to reverse it? And how quickly can we expect any results? 

Do we think we will have results soon, especially for the families 

that are waiting so desperately to get their children and to begin 

bringing them home? 

Ms. LINDBORG. Thank you. 

On the efforts to include orphaned and vulnerable children, you 

know, there has been, fortunately, an important focus, through the 

efforts of this Action Plan for Children in Adversity, to make a special effort to reach out for orphans and vulnerable children. 

One of the challenges that we have, especially in conflict settings, is we don’t always know where they all are or how many 

there are. So one of the things that we have been doing is working 

with partners to improve our understanding of what is the pool of 

need, how to get a better understanding of who is not being included in the program. So that is an important ongoing development. 

We also have a greater ability to target those who are orphans 

as a result of HIV/AIDS than those who are orphans through conflict or other means, simply because of the way that the funding 

is structured. 

Finally, on the failure-to-thrive issue, I mean, this is really 

heartbreaking, and it has led us to really work hard on the second 

21

objective of trying to deinstitutionalize children and get them into 

more nurturing environments. 

And there have been some very important successes on this. 

Like, for example, in Ethiopia, we have worked with the government. They did a review of all of their institutions, about 100 institutions, and they found that 45 of them were simply substandard. 

They closed them. And with USAID support, we worked to get 

those kids back into their families, in some instances, reunited, or 

with foster care or other places where they could get better care. 

This is probably one of the areas where we need to spend the 

greatest additional focus. We are very determined to increase our 

ability to do these kind of programs. And the evidence is just overwhelming that you really have to take a whole-of-child approach. 

So even as we have increased substantially our ability to feed 

children more nutritious food more effectively in those early days 

and work with pregnant and lactating women, we really need to 

keep focusing our attention on this second bit, on the failure-tothrive issue. 

Mr. SMITH. How is your time? And I know you have busy schedules. 

Ms. LINDBORG. Well, I have a 3:30 that will be very hard to 

change. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. I understand. 

And how about you? 

Ambassador JACKSON. I am available, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. SMITH. You are? Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. If you could 

hold that then, and if I could ask you one other question. I have 

a dozen, but we are out of time on the floor. 

I am the prime author of the Combating Autism Act. Started in 

1997, it became law in 2000. Our reauthorization bill is pending 

over on the Senate side. 

One of the things that the IACC Committee, headed up by NIH, 

found was that if women are getting folic acid 3 months before and 

they are getting prenatal vitamins, in other words, even before 

they think they might become pregnant, that the impact on both 

mother and child is significantly enhanced, and it mitigates the 

possibility—it is not de facto, they haven’t proven it, but they believe it does—of the issue of autism and a whole lot of other maladies that could occur. 

This is relatively new. And, you know, we have had hearings, we 

have another one in about a week or so, on autism globally here 

in our subcommittee. 

And the question is, is there an understanding that reproductive 

health ought to be inclusive? Very often, it is seen as, you know, 

no babies, how does someone go about not having a child, rather 

than how do we enhance the prospects of a healthier mother and 

baby. 

And now this new component of, if you start earlier, reproductive 

health, it means that your child is less likely to get autism. And 

tens of millions of Africans have autism, and it is an epidemic that 

parallels HIV/AIDS, but largely unrecognized and unfocused upon. 

Your thoughts? 

And when you are done with your comments, we will stand in 

recess, and I will have to read them. Be right back. 

22

Ms. LINDBORG. So, first of all, thank you for, you know, your passion and commitment on these issues. 

The focus of the first 1,000 days is very much about reproductive 

health issues and ensuring that you have healthy mothers and 

healthy babies, both tackling the issue of ending the preventable 

death of children under 5 and also ensuring that, through better 

science, through better ability to have access to healthcare services, 

through better nutrition, that we are able to continue to make 

gains in this realm. 

So that is absolutely a strong focus through a whole variety of 

programs that we do that are focused on women who are in community situations as well as those who are in conflict environments 

where it becomes more difficult to provide those services but just 

as much of a priority. 

Ambassador JACKSON. So, in terms of DRC adoptions, they were 

suspended last September due to the DRC Government’s concerns 

about fraud, corruption, and potential child-buying and their lack 

of capacity to manage the adoption program. 

We have been engaged continuously since then. We have met 

with Ministers of Foreign Affairs; Interior; Gender, Family and 

Children; and the Minister of Justice. On May 4th, Secretary Kerry 

met with President Kabila and made a personal plea for him to lift 

the suspension. Subsequent to that, we were able to secure exit 

permits for a small number of children. 

Dr. Biden, the Second Lady of the United States, was in 

Kinshasa earlier this month. She also made a plea for new exit permits to be issued. And, this afternoon, some of my colleagues are 

meeting with the Congolese Ambassador at the State Department. 

So my basic message is that we remain very engaged in attempting to secure exit permits for these children, while supporting the 

Congolese efforts to strengthen their own internal controls to assure that children are being adopted by families who will give them 

loving, caring homes. 

[Recess.] 

Mr. SMITH. The subcommittee will resume its sitting. 

And I do want to welcome our distinguished witnesses and apologize profusely for that very long delay, which was attributable to 

votes. Like I said earlier, we thought that there were going to be 

a whole cluster last night and that we would have been relatively 

free today. That didn’t happen, so I do apologize. 

We are joined by Congressman Steve Stockman, who, frankly, 

just led a delegation to Abuja, to Nigeria, and he has freshly returned. And thank him for his leadership on these issues. 

And I will now go to the introductions of our distinguished panelists, beginning first with Kelly Dempsey, who is the mother of 

three children, two of them adopted. She is an attorney, practicing 

primarily in adoption law in her own firm in North Carolina. 

After overcoming her own struggle to bring home her daughter, 

adopted from Vietnam, her legal practice expanded from civil litigation to focus on immigration issues with the international adoptions of children living abroad. Ms. Dempsey has represented hundreds of families in dozens of countries to ensure that the adoption 

process was completed and they were able to return home with 

their children. 

23

She also works to promote international adoption as a viable option for unparented children and to identify and implement solutions that enable more children to find permanent, loving homes. 

We will then hear from Ms. Shimwaayi Muntemba, who is from 

Zambia and founded Zambia Orphans Aid in the United States. 

She was instrumental in the creation of the St. Peter Claver Society for African orphans at St. John’s Catholic Church in Virginia. 

She worked at the World Bank on Africa-related issues, such as 

microfinance, women’s empowerment, and the environment and development balance. Indeed, it is because of her dedication to orphans affected by AIDS that she gave up her position at the World 

Bank to dedicate herself to this important cause. 

We will then hear if from Ms. Jovana Jones, who is part of a 

military couple who are adopting a 5-year-old Congolese girl who 

is several hearing-impaired. Her adopted daughter is currently residing in a very poor orphanage, and while they are being billed 

for her medical expenses, she and her husband are unable to take 

her home with them. The prospects are limited for the Joneses’ 

daughter if she is forced to stay in the DRC, and they are afraid 

for her life and wellbeing. 

And, finally, we will hear from Muluemebet Chekol Hunegnaw, 

who is a senior director of Save the Children’s global monitoring 

and evaluation and knowledge management unit. She is responsible for providing leadership for setting the vision and strategy of 

the monitoring and evaluation and the knowledge management 

system of its international programs in more than 50 countries. 

She has more than 20 years of experience in international development and served as director of programs for the Africa region of 

Save the Children’s South Sudan program. She also worked as a 

USAID mission monitoring and evaluation advisor in Ethiopia. 

And I thank you again for your patience and look forward to your 

testimony. 

If you could begin, Ms. Dempsey. 

STATEMENT OF MS. KELLY DEMPSEY, GENERAL COUNSEL 

AND DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH, BOTH ENDS 

BURNING 

Ms. DEMPSEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I first want to thank 

you for the opportunity to appear today before this subcommittee 

and to talk about an important tool of protection for the orphan 

child in Africa, and that specific tool is international adoption. 

I have prepared a written statement, and I also ask that that be 

entered into the record. 

Mr. SMITH. Without objection, it will be made a part of the 

record. 

Ms. DEMPSEY. I am here on behalf of Both Ends Burning today, 

and we are a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to promoting and protecting every child’s right to live in a permanent 

family. 

Family is the bedrock of our society. There is nothing more important in a child’s life than his or her connection to their parents. 

When that connection is threatened, we need our foreign policies 

to help strengthen it. When it is severed, it should be repaired. And 

when it can’t be repaired, we should help form a new connection, 

24

and that connection should be formed through international or domestic adoption, when possible. 

This is the central role, I think, of child protection and child welfare that is missing today in our foreign policies. Far too often, we 

relegate adoption to a simple immigration issue, and we are missing an opportunity to serve children well. 

Department of State, through the Embassies in Addis Ababa and 

in Kinshasa, as well as the Office of Children’s Issues, plays a key 

role in international adoptions. However, instead of aiding American families and advocating for orphaned children, the Department of State has become an obstacle that must be overcome in 

order for children to come home to their families. Instead of engaging the foreign governments in partnerships that promote permanency for children, the Department of State instead institutes policies that slow or stop adoptions. Instead of engaging the American 

adoptive parents, their adoption agencies, and advocate organizations, such as Both Ends Burning, we are regarded as adversaries. 

This approach is damaging children, and we have seen it over and 

over again. 

I want to focus my remarks today on Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo because those are the countries with 

which I have the most experience. 

In Ethiopia, in 2010, we saw 2,500 children come home to the 

United States. It was an all-time high and just barely touching the 

need that exists in that country. What has happened since is a 60-

percent decline. 

And part of that is because, in 2010, when the growth was at an 

all-time high, the Department of State made the decision to try to 

close Ethiopia to adoptions. Luckily, there was resistance, and a 

team was sent in from USCIS and Department of State to investigate the problems that the Department of State believed existed 

in adoptions. And they reviewed more than 4,000 cases, all of the 

cases that had happened in the prior 2 years. And what that team 

found was that, overwhelmingly, these adoptions were good, ethical 

adoptions. 

They found a cluster of factors, when present, that would warrant further investigation, and they found that cluster of factors to 

exist in about 5 percent of the cases. Everyone walked away believing that when those factors were present, adoptions would be 

looked at more closely to ensure ethical, transparent adoptions. 

And, instead, what happened is the U.S. Embassy started putting files in a drawer. Instead of adjudicating cases, which is their 

mandate, they started putting files in a drawer. And what that 

meant for children is that they languished in an orphanage. They 

did not tell families, they did not tell USCIS, they did not tell the 

Ethiopian Government authorities; they simply put files in a drawer. 

Time passed. Families banded together, as they often do. They 

reached out to Members of Congress because you all have become 

necessary players in the adoption process. And we are very grateful 

for the work you do. And what was discovered was that these cases 

weren’t being adjudicated. 

Another team went over from USCIS, and they conducted a review of those cases, and, in the end, all but one was approved. But 

25

what that cost families and children was anywhere from an extra 

6 months to 1 year of their life, extraordinary financial expenses, 

and the emotional toll that cannot be repaid. And what has happened since then has been an astonishing chilling effect on international adoptions from Ethiopia—again, a 60-percent decline since 

the high of 2,500 in 2010. 

Similarly, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we saw a period of growth. In 2010, there were 41 adoptions, and that number 

has slowly increased over the last few years. 

In 2013, unable to handle the influx of cases, several hundred, 

the Department of State, again, began seeking ways to slow or stop 

adoptions from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They implemented a policy of 100-percent mandatory field investigations despite the fact that over 97 percent of all cases coming out of Democratic Republic of the Congo had been approved. So that is a 3-percent denial. I would say it doesn’t justify the allocation of resources. 

And what they told families and what they told the Democratic 

Republic of the Congo was that that would lengthen the adoption 

process but it would ensure integrity, which we certainly all support. However, there was no increase in the allocation of resources, 

and, instead, there were unsubstantiated allegations of fraud. 

Shortly thereafter, the suspension that now exists went into 

place, and over 800 families became stuck in a process and over 

800 children became stuck in orphanages, unable to come home to 

their families. 

And what we saw immediately following the suspension was, 

frankly, not much. The Department of State, instead of becoming 

advocates for these families and their children, instead of sharing 

their experiences of 90-percent approvals, began to sit quietly and 

to encourage the families to do the same. More than 10 months 

passed, and, still, families are not getting answers to their questions. 

In April, recognizing the size of this crisis and the lack of response from the Department of State, Both Ends Burning became 

engaged in an advocacy campaign and Congress became engaged in 

an advocacy campaign. And we have had tremendous support, both 

from you and from this subcommittee and from the entire House, 

and we are very grateful for House Resolution 588 that was recently passed. 

It is not enough to bring these children home. And so the families—I would like to acknowledge the ones that are here today. In 

addition to Ms. Jones, who will speak, we have families who are 

here. 

I also have affidavits from six of the families that I would like 

to be entered into the record, as well. 

Mr. SMITH. Without objection, so ordered. 

Ms. DEMPSEY. Thank you. 

And what we learned from their affidavits and from these families is that there has been a total lack of response, a total lack of 

urgency, and a total lack of meaningful engagement to resolve this 

crisis. 

We ask for urgency to move forward in this and that we find a 

solution that allows these kids to come home before any more die. 

26

We are aware of 10 that have perished during the wait, and we believe that many more will. In fact, one of the affidavits——

Mr. SMITH. Perished from what? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. From waiting. I mean, dehydration, malaria, malnutrition, easily avoidable diseases, when they could have been 

home in this country. 

We have had siblings separated, biological siblings separated, 

due to errors at the Embassy. One kid is home; one kid is stuck 

in Congo waiting for processing and the suspension to lift. Really 

astonishing and outrageous tragedies that could and should be 

avoided. 

And so what I think is of paramount importance and what Both 

Ends Burning is advocating for and asking for is a foreign policy 

solution that creates a tool by which permanency can become a central tenet of child welfare and child protection. 

When I listened to the speakers earlier today, I didn’t hear that. 

And, in fact, I didn’t hear anybody talking about finding family solutions for kids when their own families and kinship care wasn’t 

available. 

It shouldn’t be relegated to a last-place idea. It should be 

planned for and advocated for so that children are getting their 

most basic needs met. And, today, in the Department of State, 

through the Office of Children’s Issues and Consular Affairs, it 

simply isn’t happening. 

I would be happy to answer any questions. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you so very much for that testimony, disturbing, extremely disturbing, as it is. And we will get to questions 

when our other panelists are concluded, but I thank you for that. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Dempsey follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Ms. Muntemba? 

STATEMENT OF SHIMWAAYI MUNTEMBA, PH.D., FOUNDER, 

ZAMBIA ORPHANS OF AIDS 

Ms. MUNTEMBA. Good afternoon. I am a Zambian citizen, as the 

chair has said, who has personally been touched by the orphan 

problem, having lost 5 younger sisters and brothers, leaving a total 

of 11 children, some as young as 3 and 5. 

The good thing is that my nieces and nephews have helped me 

appreciate the orphan phenomenon and have spurred me to both 

focus on HIV and AIDS and social protection as part of my work 

and to be proactive in seeking assistance to reach those orphans 

whose families cannot provide for them adequately. 

We have heard that there are 56 million orphans in Africa, but 

this is an official figure. In Africa, official numbers do not capture 

all orphans. Many deaths occur in rural areas, and these are not 

recorded. 

The definition of ‘‘orphans’’ has also distorted their numbers. For 

example, to UNAIDS, an orphan should have lost both parents and 

is under 15 years of age. UNICEF’S definition embraces children 

zero to 17 years old who have lost one or both parents. African governments have adopted this definition. 

With so many armed conflicts raging in Africa, some civil society 

institutions—and I tend to agree with them—are advocating the 

definition to include abandoned and alone children. And these are 

many in most of the countries in central and western Africa. 

On the causes, we can identify five major causes of orphanhood 

in Africa: Armed and civil conflict, natural disasters, weak and unequal health systems, abject poverty, and HIV and AIDS. 

I have been asked to say a few words on HIV and AIDS. HIV 

and AIDS has hit eastern and southern Africa the hardest. Seventy 

percent of Africa’s 15.1 million orphans of AIDS are in the eastern 

and southern subregions, most of them in the southern. 

But southern Africa reports the highest uptick of antiretroviral 

treatment in Africa. It leads national governmental budgetary allocations to HIV and AIDS. Yet, in 2012, more infections and AIDSrelated deaths occurred in this subregion. Orphan numbers have 

risen exponentially in the last 2 decades and are poised to grow 

over the next few years and decades. 

The question is, why is this? I suggest that interventions seem 

to focus disproportionately on treatment and away from prevention. 

The gender dimension of HIV and AIDS and its treatment and the 

generational unequal access to treatment are impacting negatively 

on AIDS management outcomes. As well, poverty is undermining 

the effectiveness of treatment among the majority poor in most of 

our countries. 

A look at the impact on orphans: Children are firstly hit emotionally, as we have heard. When AIDS is the cause of death, stigma 

affects younger children within their communities and at school. 

Children have lost educational opportunities either because 

caregiving families are too poor or are not near schools. 

Another impact has been that of abuse in hosting families. In 

such situations, girls are treated as indentured labor and/or sex objects. 

34

Another is the phenomenon of child-headed households, some 

heads as young as 7 years old but many around 10 and 11. Those 

heads who contract HIV are hardly on treatment. 

Response: I wish to focus on two groups, close or extended family 

members. Initially, they responded positively, but as orphan numbers grew alongside entrenched poverty, families became overwhelmed. Today, many extended families have difficulties taking 

on that responsibility. And this is why I am very much touched by 

what is being tried in the way of adoptions. What was normal in 

our cultures in Africa has become a burden to many. 

Second, within the international community, Africans in the diaspora have responded by mobilizing financial and technical support in the countries where they live and work. I will give two examples from the Washington area. 

In 2000, supported by former Ambassadors and Embassy staff in 

Zambia and other African countries, we formed Zambia Orphans of 

AIDS, now Zambia Orphans Aid. We now operate in the UK as 

well and are registered in Zambia. Through community-based organizations and community schools, we have reached over 10,000 orphans—a drop in the ocean, perhaps. 

In 2004, St. John Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia, formed 

the St. Peter Claver Society for African Orphans. Through four institutions in Kenya and Zambia, the Society has assisted many orphans in Kenya and Zambia over the last 10 years, offering them 

the means for HIV testing, for being looked after by 

physiotherapists, for access to education, and for general food and 

nutritional needs. 

In both cases, individual Americans have rallied in support of the 

orphans. But I must underline, though, that despite the goodwill 

and hard work, the demand outstrips the supply. What then, Mr. 

Chairman? 

Previous contributions from him and probably from her may offer 

some of what we have to look at. But I feel that there are other 

opportunities for a minimum humanitarian response. 

Number 1) greater political will is needed at the national level 

on behalf of orphans. 

Number 2) higher-education funds are needed for orphans, to include technical and entrepreneurial skills training, specifying a 

proportion for girls. 

Number 3) cash and in-kind support for child-headed families 

need to be intensified, but—and I underline this—for a specified 

timeframe, after which alternative care options must have been 

identified and offered to the children. However, this support must 

be flexible enough to respond to the shifting orphan care priorities. 

I thank you for offering me the opportunity. 

Mr. SMITH. Ms. Muntemba, thank you so much for your testimony. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Muntemba follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Ms. Jones, if would you proceed. 

STATEMENT OF MRS. JOVANA JONES, ADOPTIVE MOTHER OF 

A CONGOLESE CHILD 

Ms. JONES. Yes. Thank you for having me here. 

We first saw our daughter, who we will name Ana Lei when she 

arrives, we first saw Ana Lei in April 2013 on a special-needs adoption Web site. 

We decided early on to adopt an older child internationally with 

a hearing impairment because we read many cases where deaf 

older children are often overlooked and grow up without a language 

or the ability to communicate. 

A few months ago, we were pleased to hear that Ana Lei’s orphanage was within walking distance from a school, only to be disappointed that she was unable to attend and learn with the other 

children because of her hearing impairment. The idea of being 

trapped inside your own mind, frustrated with the inability to express your thoughts and feelings and ostracized from your 

friends—it is heartbreaking to even think about. 

My family and I are the solution, if just for Ana Lei. We are willing, able, and ready to bring this princess into our home, to give 

her endless opportunities to love, communicate, share her dreams, 

fears, and excitement. 

I love to educate myself in what would be her first language, 

American Sign Language. Over the last several years, I have taken 

courses and volunteered at Gallaudet, the deaf university just minutes from here. My family has participated in deaf events and attended deaf church services—anything we can do to immerse ourselves and increase our knowledge and skills in the deaf culture. 

We also attend adoption conferences and take prep classes for 

adoptive parents so that we are fully aware of the good, bad, and 

ugly for when Ana Lei comes home. 

Our children have been eagerly waiting, especially our biological 

daughter, for their sister to come home so they can have tea parties, show her dance moves, and sign bedtime stories. As a family, 

we enjoy signing during meal times, using captions whenever we 

watch TV, and having a weekly movie time where we watch an alldeaf, 30-minute educational kids show. 

We homeschool our children, and we have Ana Lei’s school desk 

and preschool supplies ready for her when she comes home. I have 

read books about teaching deaf children and have an awesome support group of moms homeschooling their deaf children. 

My husband and we have been an Active Duty Air Force family 

for over 15 years. For the last 3 years, we have made it our mission 

to prepare financially and logistically for this adoption. We have 

sacrificed family vacations and held several fundraisers for this 

costly adoption. Our church was instrumental not only in giving 

but also in emotional and spiritual support. 

Painstakingly but gratefully, we have raised all the funds needed 

for the adoption. We have bought furniture and prepped and painted Ana Lei’s room. As a military-trained technician, my husband 

has planned to upgrade and install strobelight smoke detectors, 

doorbell signals, and other home devices for the hearing-impaired. 

48

The nearby military bases will also offer family support through 

classes and workshops. And with the natural diversity that the 

military brings, our Congolese-American daughter will blend right 

into play groups, sport teams, and homeschool groups. 

We are more than ready for Ana Lei’s arrival. After years of 

studying, enduring financial burdens, not to mention the countless 

hours of reading, completing, and mailing reams of adoption forms, 

indeed, my family has sacrificed much. We realize, though, that our 

hardship is well worth Ana Lei’s education, her happiness, and her 

life. 

As adoptive parents, we have spent years preparing, and it is imperative that our children come home immediately. We have done 

our part. Our families have done all we can, and we are at our 

limit. We boldly ask for the backing and the support of our President, our Congressmen, and our elected officials, that you all draw 

your focus on removing any further delays of the adoption process 

within the countries of Africa. 

We sincerely appreciate the efforts that have been made thus far, 

but, frankly, it is not enough. It is not enough until we have each 

orphan home with his or her American family. Each moment of 

delay makes it more difficult for them to adjust and more challenging for the parents to provide care. 

Our arms are open now, and our homes are ready to receive 

them today. We pray that our Government mirrors our dedication 

and does its due diligence to bring our children home. 

Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. Ms. Jones, thank you very much. I pray that also and 

hopefully we will all do our due diligence and accelerate our efforts 

on your behalf and all the others have that have been left behind, 

so thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Jones follows:]

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Mr. SMITH. Ms. Hunegnaw?

STATEMENT OF MS. MULUEMEBET CHEKOL HUNEGNAW, SENIOR DIRECTOR, MONITORING & EVALUATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM QUALITY AND IMPACT DEPARTMENT, INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS, SAVE THE CHILDREN 

Ms. HUNEGNAW. Thank you. 

On behalf of the Save the Children, I thank you for the opportunity to testify today on this critical issue and request that my full 

statement be submitted for the record. 

Save the Children is a nonprofit, child-focused organization 

working in the U.S. and in more than 120 countries and is considered a global leader in humanitarian and development assistance. 

We build capacity for countries to deliver and provide support for 

health, education, protection, and disaster relief services for more 

than 125 million children every year. 

We are on the ground in countries across Africa, programming 

and advocating for those policies, programs, and funds that 

strengthen families and government systems to care for children. 

There are a range of factors that drive the vulnerability of orphans 

and children throughout Africa, including HIV/AIDS, maternal 

mortality, conflict and violence, and extreme poverty. 

The term ‘‘orphan,’’ consistent with PEPFAR’s definition, is defined as a child who has lost one or both parents. In almost all 

cases, the other parent or close family members are alive and 

present in a child’s life. Throughout Africa, kinship care is a powerful and important concept. 

In this testimony, I will highlight and elaborate on four approaches that are key to an effective U.S. response to protect and 

support these children: First, strengthening families who are the 

frontline support systems for children; and, second, strengthening 

protection systems which can address the range of needs for families and communities; and, third, addressing the growing problem 

of children becoming the caretakers; and, lastly, continuing to develop better strategies for supporting children in families who are 

affected by conflict. 

The crisis of Africa’s orphans has been fueled over the last 15 

years by HIV/AIDS, altering more than 20 million children’s lives 

through loss of a parent or being infected themselves. In addition, 

their situation is compounded by threats associated with armed 

conflict and terrorism, including trafficking, sexual violence and exploitation, abduction, and recruitment into armed forces. With 

weak child-protection systems in many African countries, children 

are becoming more vulnerable, especially in countries affected by 

ongoing violence and conflict. 

Orphans and vulnerable-children services include holistic care 

and support services per OVC guidance, including psychosocial care 

and support, household economic strengthening, social protection, 

child protection, education, and health and nutrition. Strengthening the systems that support vulnerable children and families 

ensure that children who are infected with HIV receive the support 

they need and that children who are affected do not become infected as they grow up. 

52

One element of OVC programming that we are increasingly focused upon because of the success and importance is strengthening 

families. Looking at the child in the context of his or her family 

and community has shown to be the most effective approach and 

indicates the need to further integrate those programs that address 

the needs of children and their caregivers holistically, including 

maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS treatment, home-based care, 

economic resilience, and child protection. We understand the role 

that strong families, including extended families, play, ensuring 

that children can grow and develop healthy and reduce the risk of 

harm to children. 

Another positive trend in orphans and vulnerable-children programming is an increased awareness and focus on the value of social protection to support Africa’s orphaned and vulnerable children. Strong social welfare systems are critical to ensuring that investments to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS and poverty on Africa’s orphaned and vulnerable children are sustained. 

Our work builds the support for vulnerable children within their 

own communities, assisting them in getting protection, food security, economic strength, and access to basic health and education. 

We identify children who are orphaned and vulnerable and link 

them to an appropriate service that meets their needs. 

A challenge but critical component of OVC programming is support for the needs of children as caregivers. Evidence shows that 

children in Africa, most of them become the dominant caregiver to 

family members when living with HIV/AIDS-infected parents who 

have chronic illness and may be approaching death, caring for increasingly frail grandparents, or leading households and caring for 

young siblings. The precise scale of child-caring remains unknown 

but is likely to be widespread and impacts many parts of their 

lives, including their ability to get an education. 

Finally, one of the biggest challenges for OVC programming for 

an implementer is protecting and supporting children located in 

conflict-affected or fragile states. For these children, the already 

difficult circumstances and complexity of needs is compounded with 

the fragility, uncertainty, and unsafe environment. 

In these areas, Save the Children has seen a rise in sex trafficking, street children, and children being placed in institutions. 

This presents a significant child-protection concern, as these children are often without the guidance of an adult caregiver, and the 

situation is compounded by increased exposure to threats associated with armed conflict. With child-protection systems weak or 

completely destroyed due to conflict, protecting orphans living in 

fragile states is complex. 

Looking forward, Save the Children would welcome the subcommittee’s support to address the plight of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa, and we would like to highlight two areas 

where congressional involvement would have a powerful impact on 

children’s lives. 

First, Save the Children is a strong supporter of USAID’s 2012 

OVC guidelines and their comprehensive approach to care, including child protection, education, health care, and early childhood development and family strengthening. We are profoundly appreciative and supportive of the funds that Congress included as a reVerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:30 Oct 08, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\071614\88733 SHIRL
53

quirement that programs for orphans and vulnerable children continue to be 10 percent of all PEPFAR program funds. Any dilution 

or reduction of those funds or commingling of those funds with 

those for treatment should be discouraged, and it would threaten 

our ability to provide this essential service for children. 

Second, we strongly support the codification of the whole-government Action Plan for Children in Adversity. The action plan and 

its primary three objectives—strong beginnings, protective family 

care, and reduction of violence against children—are all goals that 

I hope we can share. Codifying these priorities through legislation 

would support a more comprehensive approach, encourage efficiencies and coordination across government agencies, shared outcomes, and accountability. 

In conclusion, we thank the subcommittee for its continued leadership on U.S.-African global issues and would like to continue to 

be a resource for you in the future. We ask for your continued partnership with us to invest in children so that they have what every 

child deserves: The right to not just survive but thrive. 

Thank you. 

[Ms. Hunegnaw’s prepared statement was submitted after the 

hearing and appears in the appendix.] 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you so very much, Ms. Hunegnaw. Let me ask 

you a question with regards to—does your organization consider 

adoption a form of protection? 

And I say that because there is a huge gulf between people who 

view adoption, inter-country adoption especially, as a form of 

human trafficking, which I find absolutely unconscionable. 

And I can give you an example. When Romania ended its intercountry adoptions—I mentioned earlier that I had worked on 

human rights vis-a`-vis Romania from my very first days in the U.S. 

Congress in 1981. And when Nicolae Ceausescu lost his reign of 

terror as the President of that country, unelected, huge numbers of 

orphanages were discovered where kids were literally abandoned. 

And adoption flourished, on and off, but it did flourish, and there 

were a large number of inter-country adoptions. 

A woman by the name of Lady Nicholson, who was the 

rapporteur for the EU in terms of ascension into the EU from Romania, made it very clear that a prerequisite for ascension into the 

European Union was an end to inter-country adoption. And she 

construed all inter-country adoptions as a form of human trafficking. 

And I would note parenthetically, as the author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the landmark law to combat 

human trafficking at home and abroad, I take a backseat to no one 

in my absolute abhorrence of human trafficking. And that is why 

The Hague Convention was formulated as a way of facilitating it’s 

end. 

But I am just wondering if your organization does look at adoption as a form of protection for children. 

Ms. HUNEGNAW. Thank you. 

Save the Children supports enabling families to care for children. 

We believe unnecessary separation of children from their families 

should be prevented. 

Mr. SMITH. Yes. 

54

Ms. HUNEGNAW. We promote appropriate and permanent family 

care for children. But we believe that inter-country adoption should 

be an option only when it follows the standards and regulations 

contained within The Hague Convention. 

Our primary focus is making sure that children are cared for in 

a family context, as much as possible in their country of origin, and 

inter-country adoption is taking up only as an option when that is 

not available. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Stockman wanted to comment, and then——

Mr. STOCKMAN. Yeah——

Mr. SMITH [continuing]. Ms. Dempsey, I think you might want 

to——

Mr. STOCKMAN. Yeah, go ahead. 

Mr. SMITH. Or——

Mr. STOCKMAN. Well, I have, actually, a question for Ms. 

Dempsey. 

Ms. DEMPSEY. Yes? 

Mr. STOCKMAN. And I get to ask this because it is asked of me, 

quite frankly, often, because we shipped medical supplies to DRC. 

In fact, one of the most dangerous trips I think I ever took was 

from Brazzaville to Kinshasa on that little boat. 

And I am wondering, what motivated you to get involved in this? 

And how often do you go to Africa? And how do you describe your 

personal experience? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. I come to this work as an adoptive mom. And 

overcoming the obstacles I encountered in my own Government to 

bring my daughter home from Vietnam is the reason I do this 

work. I came, realizing that there was a deficit in advocacy for families, and I shifted my practice, frankly. And it has become my life’s 

work to help bring orphaned children into families when they need 

it. 

The DRC crisis started in September, and at Both Ends Burning 

we were monitoring it. And when it became obvious to us that the 

Department of State wasn’t meaningfully engaged—and the way 

that it became obvious to us was that they couldn’t even tell us 

how many people were impacted, how many children were impacted, how many sick kids were at risk, they couldn’t give us basic 

information—we decided that we needed to step in and help the 

families become organized and advocates for themselves. 

So my interest is in helping these families. I come to this work 

from a very personal commitment to kids, but it has become my 

life’s work. 

I haven’t actually traveled to Africa. I hope to do that very soon. 

So most of our efforts have been focused on engaging Members of 

Congress and the administration to help Department of State find 

its way to make this an urgent humanitarian crisis and find a solution to it. 

Mr. SMITH. If my friend would yield? 

Mr. STOCKMAN. Yes, I will. 

Mr. SMITH. We have with us today Whitney Reitz from the 

USCIS, who actually did the investigation of Ethiopia when those 

allegations were made. She led the interagency delegation to Addis 

Ababa in early 2011. She reviewed many cases on site at the Embassy and then analyzed a database of over 4,000 cases. 

55

And her team’s finding was 75 percent of the cases were clean 

and nonproblematic, 25 percent had problems generally of a clerical 

nature, and just 5 percent presented factors that would warrant a 

closer investigation, which, clearly, indicated a far better record 

than the holdups and for the lack of responsiveness would indicate 

and, of course, I would say on behalf of our subcommittee, we are 

very grateful for the work that you did on that, Ms. Reitz. 

But you say, Ms. Dempsey, in your testimony, again, getting 

back to Kinshasa, that when the numbers exploded—‘‘explosive’’ 

was the word you used—from a handful to several hundred of 

adoptions in the DRC, that their inability to handle the casework 

led to mandatory field investigations for all cases. 

Were there other proximate causes? Were they genuinely concerned about other mitigating factors that might say there is a 

problem here? Or was it just a matter of this slows the process? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. Well, I wish they were here to answer that question. I——

Mr. SMITH. Well, you know, before you answer it, we did invite 

the Office of Children’s Issues to be here. And we have turned this 

hearing into part one of a two-part hearing process. We will invite 

Ambassador Susan Jacobs to be here. She has testified before my 

subcommittee on previous occasions, particularly as a relates to 

child abduction. 

And I would note parenthetically, I have a bill that is pending 

in the Senate right now that passed on December 11th in the 

House which the Department seemingly was against—Secretary 

Kerry changed that position, and now they are for it—on child abduction, another hat that the Office of Children’s Issues handles. 

And it was all from what I learned in dealing with the case of 

David Goldman, whose child was abducted to Brazil. Five years 

later and a whole lot of mistakes later, he finally got his son back. 

So it incorporates all the lessons learned there. 

And I think we need to be moving even more aggressively forward on this issue of child abduction, as well, so that we can get 

this right. So if you could maybe speak to that. 

You also testified that there was a lack of resourcing. And if you 

have any idea of how many resources need to be deployed here. 

And any of you might want to speak to that. 

And you also brought up the issue of where the central authority 

should be housed. And that was a big issue in the year 2000 faced 

by Congress; do we go to HHS, or do we go to Department of State? 

I am not sure that should be revisited, maybe it should, but if you 

could speak to that, as well. 

Ms. DEMPSEY. Well, those are a lot of questions, and I will try 

to do my best to answer them. Please let me know where I fail, because I certainly will. 

With respect to the Department of State’s motives in implementing the 100-percent mandatory field investigations, it is my 

understanding that they deemed the growth itself to be problematic, and nothing more than that. 

And that is a tried-and-true tactic that we have seen from the 

Department of State. Any time a program experiences growth, 

what you and I would regard as a success for children is deemed 

a problem at the Department of State Office of Children’s Issues 

56

and in the U.S. Embassies. And they start to view every case with 

suspicion and mistrust and looking for bad actors and bad actions. 

And while we certainly want them to make sure that these cases 

are ethical, transparent, well-done, that the kids are legitimately 

orphans in need of permanent families—we expect that of them—

what we know is that they don’t use the right tools to do that. And, 

instead, what they are doing is slowing down a system and engaging with foreign governments and adoptive families in a way that 

is, frankly, offensive and ineffective. 

So I look forward to the second round of this, and I look forward 

to their questions on that specific issue. 

With respect to the Office of Children’s Issues as our central authority, what I can say based on the numbers and my personal and 

professional experience with them is that they are failing children. 

They are failing children in need, and they are not advocating for 

permanent solutions for children. 

Part of that is that their mandate is too narrow, I believe. They 

are tasked with enforcing Hague, promoting Hague, and that becomes an inherent conflict of interest in non-Hague countries. And 

our Hague expectations are perhaps unrealistic in developing nations, who simply lack the infrastructure and resources to integrate 

all that is necessary to become a partner under Hague. 

And so what I would suggest is that we engage them in collaboration and we help them build systems that work and serve children well, instead of pointing fingers and making accusations and 

allegations that are unsubstantiated. And that is what we are 

doing today. 

So I believe Children in Families First, the pending bill, does a 

very good job of addressing the solution. It removes the Office of 

Children’s Issues from primary responsibility for child protection 

and child welfare, and it would create a new office to do that. Both 

Ends Burning fully supports it. We are a member of the working 

group, and we would like to see that legislation move forward as 

quickly as possible. 

I don’t think that is the solution for the DRC kids today. I think 

that will take too long, and we can’t make the fundamental change 

that is necessary. And so what we are looking for from Congress 

on the DRC crisis is immediate intervention at the highest levels 

and reaching out to DRC in the way that the Department of State 

has failed to do. 

Mr. SMITH. Would anyone else like to address that? 

And in the case of Kinshasa, was there, in your opinion, Ms. 

Jones perhaps, how long before they informed you of the tardiness 

of this process? 

And you mentioned, Ms. Dempsey, the Department of State could 

and should have been actively involved from the moment the suspension went into effect to find a solution. When did they get involved? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. Well, they announced it 2 days after it went into 

effect. So they issued an alert. It wasn’t until June that they asked 

families with sick kids to come forward and to provide medical 

records and to identify themselves. That is 9 months after the 

adoption crisis began. That is 10 children who perished in the 

meantime. And that was only after Congress called on them to 

57

make that happen. It wasn’t until May that they could provide anybody, in Congress or otherwise, with the number of families who 

were involved in this crisis. 

And so they claim to have been actively engaged from the start. 

I would suggest the results tell us otherwise. It wasn’t until Congress issued a mandate and sent a letter to President Kabila that 

we saw the few kids that have come home come home. 

And while we celebrate every victory and we are so grateful for 

the 21 children who have come home, there are hundreds more 

waiting, and we can’t rest on that and consider ourselves victorious. We have a lot of work to do. 

Mr. SMITH. Did you want to respond, Ms. Muntemba? 

Ms. MUNTEMBA. Yeah, Mr. Chair. I think I want to—I am very 

interested in this subject, but I want to underline that for Africa, 

really, adoption is very, very much a new thing, and it is in its infancy. 

And in terms of addressing the problem of orphans as it is now, 

we can obviously bring that in, but there are so many more issues 

that we are struggling with at the moment, that people are trying 

to deal with. For example, what she says there. There is so much 

push on let families look after their kids, not adoption, not orphanages, not this and that, and yet we are not helping these families. 

So I would like to know, what are we doing to strengthen this? 

What I know and my research has shown me, the extended-family system is really breaking down in Africa. So if we want these 

kids to be with families, to be in the family environment, we have 

to strengthen them. What are we going to do about that? 

Because adoption, unless you really, really push it, it is very—

I mean, I adopted my sister’s son, and it wasn’t easy for me. As 

an, in my culture, I would say mother, older mother, it wasn’t easy 

for me to bring him here. So, I mean, it is not a solution that we 

can see in that next 10, 20, 30 years. 

But the breaking down of family systems is where I think we 

have to push for your help at the moment. What can you do to 

push African governments to help at that level? 

Mr. SMITH. None of us ever said that adoption was the only solution; it is just part of a comprehensive approach. 

I will never forget, 10 years ago, a decade ago, Greg Simpkins, 

who is our staff director on this subcommittee, and I were in Addis 

Ababa and went to an AIDS orphanage, and we had five kids on 

each arm as we walked through the place. Big smiles. Just kids 

looking for a place to go. And we know that some of those kids 

were not adoptable because it was an economic and—you know, the 

extended family could not care for these AIDS orphans. 

But it underscored to me—and this is an experience I will never 

forgot—the desperate need for affection and love and a stable home 

where they could grow up in. 

And the people who ran it were obviously absolutely committed. 

It was faith-based. It was backed by USAID. But, you know, there 

was only so much they could do. 

But it is just part of the solution. None of us are ever saying this 

is a panacea. But your point is well-taken. 

Mr.——

Mr. STOCKMAN. Yeah. 

58

Ms. Jones, can I ask a question? Two things. You mentioned you 

would take her to church. And are you from here locally, and which 

church is it? 

Ms. JONES. No. My children—we have never met our adopted 

child. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. And which country? 

Ms. JONES. So she is from DRC, so she is from Congo, so we have 

never met her before. But we are just preparing to have her here, 

so we do attend different services, you know, that have deaf children and deaf services. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. Yeah, I have a deaf staffer on staff. But I am 

wondering, when I was over there—and I guess, have you been—

you obviously——

Ms. JONES. We have never been. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. Okay. Well, I was wondering—I am actually 

going to ask the committee on this—have any of you been to DRC? 

Because the problem there is just more than—there are a lot of 

problems there. It is very problematic in so many ways. It is the 

size of Western Europe; it is a very large country. And in the eastern half, there is guerilla warfare, on and off for many years, so 

many people have been killed there. And the government seems to 

be thriving on bribes. When you leave, they ask for money. So it 

is inherently a challenging country, not just for adoptions but even 

for travel. 

And I am wondering if you could tell the committee or us what 

you think we could do to facilitate more pressure on the government. Because I understand that the President actually will be 

here in about 2 weeks, so I will bring this topic up with him. But 

I also think he is probably meeting with the chairman. 

Are you meeting with the—yeah, well, he is coming here in 2 

weeks. Yeah. 

So I guess my question to you is, what message would you like 

us to carry to the President? 

Ms. JONES. I would like to say that, you know, that we—you 

know, there are a lot of criteria that the adoptive parents have to 

go through. And we are going through each one, even if there are 

new things that are brought to us after we have finished, you 

know, 6 pages and 30 pages of, you know, different forms. You 

know, so we are doing all that we have to do. 

And so we just want to, I guess, have things—you know, get 

things in writing, you know, to say, okay, well, these parents have 

done this. You know, there should be no reason why these kids are 

waiting. So we need explanation on why we are waiting. 

I think one thing that we have to do, we have to pay for when 

the children come home. Our agencies have to come out and do 

post-adoption and make sure that the kids are happy and we are 

taking care of them and we are doing what we said we were doing. 

And so then I asked our agency, I said, well, if we have to do these 

things and we are paying for this service, why is it a question to 

the other country? And then she says to me, well, they never see 

the post-adoptions; that is only for the agency. 

So if there is any way that we can or the President can make 

sure that all the post-adoptions that we are paying for, all the pictures and the questions that are being asked, if we are taking care 

59

of them, if they are happy, if they are thriving, you know, can 

those countries, can DRC, can they have that information? Is there 

any way that they can have that information so that is not a question so that is one less thing that we have to worry about? 

Mr. SMITH. Let me, if I could, Ms. Dempsey, you made a point 

that adoptions have declined 69 percent over the last 9 years and 

that the Department of State has simply continued in its primary 

role as gatekeeper instead of building a base of child welfare and 

child protection expertise. 

We know that Russia obviously cut off adoptions in 2012, so included in that figure would be—you know, we still had countries 

of origin that were willing to provide a means of adopting children. 

That number, you know, a cynical take on that would be that there 

might be a bias against adoption. What is your take on that? Is it 

a lack of——

Ms. DEMPSEY [continuing]. Being cynical. 

Mr. SMITH [continuing]. Foreign Service Officers having too 

many cases? 

On the child abduction case, parenthetically, and in a parallel 

fashion, in hearings that I held here with the Office of Children’s 

Issues, a big question I would often ask is, what do you do with 

the files? What kind of action, advocacy do you take to make sure 

things actually happen, particularly when there are obstacles 

strewn in the path of an adopting parent or, in that case, an abducted child and a left-behind parent? What do you do to really 

navigate that and make sure the country is facilitating it with 

their government authority so that, you know, children are protected but, you know, these delays, interminable delays, are overcome? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. We have seen a tremendous decline in the number 

of adoptions. Part of that is attributable to the sending countries’ 

unilateral decisions, as we saw in Russia. China has a concentrated 

effort to reduce the number of adoptions, and it was a large sending country. 

But we have also seen programs close for reasons that I have already discussed. Similar to what we see in Ethiopia and what we 

see in DRC, Nepal closed in 2010, and that was a decision made 

by the Department of State and USCIS. Absent a statutory mandate to do so, they suspended the processing of adoptions, closing 

the door to hundreds, if not thousands, of orphaned children based 

on suspicion. 

I will tell you that that program closed under allegations that all 

the children were trafficked. All 56 cases in the pipeline at that 

time were investigated, and not a single one of them had been trafficked. Every single one of them was a legitimate orphan, and 

every single one of them now lives here in the United States. We 

are now approaching the fourth anniversary of the closure of that 

program, and it remains closed, inexplicably. 

And so I would say that there is a bias against international 

adoption in the Department of State and that child welfare and 

child permanency is not on the dance card of the Office of Children’s Issues. Instead, they are focused on processing cases and 

doing so in a way that slows the process for families and children. 

Mr. SMITH. Anything else? 

60

Yes, ma’am? 

Ms. HUNEGNAW. Thank you. I just wanted to answer. We are 

gathered here to talk about the Africa orphan crisis. It is a crisis 

because millions of children are in this state now—and I do personally agree, sincerely appreciate that inter-country adoption may be 

one option to address this issue. 

But in terms of looking at the magnitude of this crisis, Save the 

Children believes in looking at a systemic approach to this, focusing on families, and especially in Africa, where kinship care is the 

system and the custom. What we focus on is what is in the best 

interest of the child and how we prepare these families, who are 

already overstretched, from meager resources to care for an additional child, an additional family member in their families. 

So I would like to just highlight again those two focus areas that 

I have made in my earlier comment that resources—Congressman, 

you mentioned about what kind of resources are needed. I think 

protecting the commitment is very much important. We do appreciate the commitment that is already made, but protecting that 

commitment and increasing those resources to help us support 

those families to protect the children is very important, and also 

looking at the holistic needs of those children, because of the magnitude that we have in Africa today. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. 

Ms. Jones, if I could ask you—first of all, thank you for your 

service to the Air Force and to this country. As you point out, 15 

years, you are an Air Force family. 

You point out that, ‘‘My family and I are the solution, if just for 

Ana Lei. We are willing, able, and ready to bring this princess into 

our home to give her endless opportunities to love, communicate, 

share her dreams, fears, and excitement.’’ And you talk about the 

hearing impairment and how, you know, you want to make the difference in her life to really help her with that. 

Has that impairment grown worse? If you could elaborate on 

that. Because delay is often denial, and even though she is not as 

young as some others who are adopted, when it comes to a medical 

or any other condition, delay can mean further impairment that 

does not get turned around. 

So if you could just speak to that issue, and anyone else who 

would like to touch that—again, the idea that if the care is not 

being provided and your home is ready, willing, and able to provide 

it, that seems to be a huge setback for the child. 

Ms. JONES. Yes. As I mentioned, you know, she is deaf. And the 

orphanage there has a school within walking distance, and these 

children are learning English and they are learning basic skills just 

so that they can have some type of skill. And so, for her, she 

doesn’t have that option. 

We don’t get updates of how great she is doing. The only time 

we get an update is when we get invoiced when she is sick with 

malaria or she has a toothache that needs to be paid for. So those 

are the only updates that we get. 

Our agency let us know, when we bring our home, she will be 

on the developmental level of an 18-month-old. Even though she is 

5 on paper, we believe she is about 7, but there is—I want to say 

there is no hope for her. She understands how to walk, talk, and 

61

use—I mean, walk, use the bathroom, and gesture of what she 

wants but cannot fully communicate. 

We send picture books over, and we have pictures of her looking 

at our family book and videos, but she has no clue. When she 

waves—she repeats what she sees. And she would wave the whole 

video until someone takes her hand and put it down. And she just 

has this look of, ‘‘I don’t know what is going on,’’ you know? 

So she needs to be home so that she can begin to express herself 

and let us know what her needs, her wants are. And she is just 

not getting that there. 

Mr. SMITH. Yes? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. I would just like to add, with respect to the children who are ill and life-altering conditions, life-threatening conditions, the DGM recently announced last week that they would not 

consider the medically fragile cases anymore. And the Department 

of State’s response to these families was, too bad, you just need to 

sit and wait until the suspension is lifted. 

And I would expect more urgency from them. On behalf of these 

children, on behalf of these families, I would expect them to say, 

we are going to be doing everything in our power to change or reverse this decision so that more children don’t die. 

I know I don’t need to remind you, but I want to say again for 

the record that children are dying during this wait. Children who 

have families here ready to provide for them are perishing needlessly. And we need our Government to act with a sense of urgency. 

Mr. SMITH. Your point has been very well-taken. 

And you said you have knowledge of at least 10——

Ms. DEMPSEY. Yes. 

Mr. SMITH [continuing]. Who have passed away, for whom that 

would have not have been the case? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. Yes, sir. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. I would just thank you for coming out. I appreciate it. And it has opened my eyes. But anybody that has worked 

with the DRC on any level, including humanitarian aid, it is a 

challenge. And I think the chairman and I will be dedicated to 

making sure that this hopefully will be resolved. Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. Yeah. 

Just one question, Ms. Dempsey, you might be able to answer. 

What part of the Department of State addresses international child 

welfare and protection? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. I am not aware of any part of the Department of 

State that addresses child welfare and child protection, which I 

think is a fundamental flaw. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. Who is the—you said you talked to Department 

of State. Do you want to tell us after the hearing who that was, 

or——

Ms. DEMPSEY. I will tell you in the hearing. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. Okay. 

Ms. DEMPSEY. I am talking to the Office of Children’s Issues. The 

primary communications are coming from the desk——

Mr. STOCKMAN. Okay. 

Ms. DEMPSEY. She is simply the messenger. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. Yeah. 

62

Ms. DEMPSEY. But it is coming from the Office of Children’s 

Issues and the Embassy in Kinshasa. 

Mr. STOCKMAN. The Embassy. Okay. Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. Anything you would like to add before we conclude 

the hearing? And, perhaps, in that, if you would like to, if Susan 

Jacobs was sitting here rather than down at her office, what would 

you say? And, again, we will convey your testimonies to them in 

the spirit of encouragement and part-admonishment, but if there is 

anything you would like to say before we close? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. I would just like to thank you sincerely for the opportunity to appear today and to share this information with you 

all and for all that you have done already for the children in need 

and all that you are committing to do going forward. The crisis 

can’t be solved today, but it needs to be solved, and we need to be 

working toward that. 

With respect to Ambassador Jacobs, I welcome the opportunity 

to sit with her and to discuss these issues with her and to help the 

Department of State do their job better. I have been rebuffed in my 

personal——

Mr. SMITH. Did you say rebuffed? 

Ms. DEMPSEY. Yes, when I have offered to share my learnings 

and findings. 

And so I would ask—what I would like to know from the Department of State is why they are doing 100-percent field investigations, in what number of cases are they finding fraud—my guess 

is it is a very small number—what amount of resources they need 

to be more effective in doing their job, and why they are not advocating with a sense of urgency on behalf of these families. 

Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. 

Ladies? 

Ms. HUNEGNAW. I also want to thank you for this opportunity. 

And I would like to say that Save the Children would be happy to 

be a partner with the subcommittee or your staff to help them 

work on this issue. Thank you for the opportunity. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. 

Ms. JONES. And I would like to thank you, too, for the opportunity to be the voice not only for my child but for the other adoptive moms and dads and parents out there that are ready to bring 

their children home. 

Mr. SMITH. Ms. Muntemba? 

Ms. MUNTEMBA. Thank you for the opportunity. And I look forward to continuing discussions and broaden help for African orphans, of AIDS especially, and for children in conflict areas. 

And, one of these days, I would like to really say, how are you 

going to help us beyond adoption? Because, really, the need is great 

out there. 

Mr. SMITH. No, I hear you. 

Ms. MUNTEMBA. And maybe, as Congresspeople, you can help 

push for that help to come from the U.S., the USAID and national 

country offices, and maybe we can get more help that way. 

Thank you. 

Mr. SMITH. That point is well-taken. 

63

And the larger scope of the hearing today, again, we would have 

loved to have had the Office of Children’s Issues here, and we will 

make that request again. But Nancy Lindborg, who is a very competent and very effective person with whom I personally and this 

subcommittee in toto have had a very good working relationship 

with, she is very committed, as is her staff, on that larger issue 

that you mentioned, which is why I opened up with the first 1,000 

days of life as being absolutely transformative for the next 30,000 

days of that child into adulthood, individual person. 

And if it doesn’t start in the womb, the susceptibility to malaria 

and a host of other diseases is greater, the immune system is far 

less efficacious in fighting off diseases than if you start while he 

or she is still an unborn child. And that needs to grow exponentially in Africa, in Latin America, elsewhere, Asia, and this country 

as well. 

So I would like to thank—Steve, if you have any further comments? Or are we——

Mr. STOCKMAN. No. 

We just have a great chairman, that is all. It is unanimous. 

Mr. SMITH. Well, we will follow this up with a part two, and we 

will invite Ambassador Jacobs, or her designee, but I do hope she 

will come, especially to hear, you know, testimonies the likes of 

which we heard today. But we will give her your testimonies, as 

well. 

So thank you. 

And the hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 5:10 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

(65)

A P P E N D I X 

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PROGRAM QUALITY AND IMPACT DEPARTMENT, INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS, SAVE

THE CHILDREN


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MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY THE HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, 

A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, AND CHAIRMAN, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS


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