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"The US has imposed financial sanctions and visa restrictions on two Ugandan judges and two lawyers over their part in an international adoption scam involving more than 30 children," says this article from the Guardian. "A US State Department statement said [lawyer Dorah Mirembe] had promised vulnerable Ugandan families their children would go to schools in Kampala, but instead they were taken to an unlicensed children’s home for adoption by American families. Mirembe and [lawyer Patrick Ecobu] then facilitated bribes to Ugandan judges and other government officials…
LONDON/KAMPALA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Ugandan families have been bribed, tricked or coerced into giving up their children to U.S. citizens and other foreigners for adoption, a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation has found.
Across Uganda church-backed orphanages and private child care institutions are springing up.
“Fifteen years ago there were just two dozen orphanages, now there are as many as 400 such institutions,” said Stella Ayo-Odongo, executive director of the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network.
Lawmakers passed a bill this week that requires foreigners seeking to adopt Ugandan children to live in the country continuously for at least one year before applying, thus ending the quicker route of claiming legal guardianship. Previous "fast track" adoptions allowed foreigners to adopt Ugandan children (often with living parents) in a matter of days. The new bill also provides that inter-country adoption will only be permitted in cases where the child has no known relatives, legal guardians or foster parents.
In recent years, hundreds of Ugandan children have been…