Marking 2 years of delay, US urges Congo to allow 1,000-plus stalled adoptions to go through

NEW YORK, N.Y. – State Department officials have intensified their criticism of the government of Congo as they mark Friday’s two-year anniversary of that African country’s decision to block the departure of children adopted by American and European families.

At stake are more than 1,000 adoptions that were legally approved by the Congolese courts before the government announced that the issuing of exit permits was being suspended as of Sept. 25, 2013. According to the State Department, about 440 U.S. families are among those waiting for their adopted children to be allowed to travel.

State Department spokesman John Kirby, at a news briefing Thursday, said many of the children “are living now in institutional conditions, which potentially causes irreparable harm.”