(By Stefania Fumo)
An Italian Air Force jet carrying 31
Congolese children adopted by families in Italy arrived
Wednesday from the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, marking the
happy conclusion to a painful affair.
For eight months, 24 Italian couples had been unable to
bring their adopted children home from the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC) despite completing the adoption process, due to
lack of final clearance by Congolese authorities.
The government in Kinshasa in September suspended
permissions on all international adoptions citing suspected
irregularities, but admitted that none of the procedures in
question concerned Italy.
Former integration minister Cecile Kyenge, who was also in
charge of international adoptions - and is herself DRC-born - in
November went on a mission to the African country and garnered
reassurances of a positive outcome.
But as the standstill continued the Italian government sent
a delegation to the African country, and it recently made a
breakthrough.
Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi, who has worked on the
case and went to the DRC to complete the mission, walked down
the steps from the aircraft at Rome's Ciampino airport holding
hands with two of the children.
"The children are well, they are happy to be with their
adoptive families and in the airplane they braided my hair",
Boschi told reporters.
"During the flight the children slept a lot because they
were tired. They went mad with joy once we landed at Ciampino
and they recognised their parents from the cabin windows", the
minister added.
Another seven Italian couples are still waiting for their
kids to be authorized to leave the DRC, Internal Adoptions
Commission President Silvia Della Monica told ANSA as she
stepped off the plane.
"We will request priority evaluation for these cases, but
we must proceed with extreme caution and patience", explained
Della Monica.
"We are just overjoyed. It feels like they have been here
all our lives," said 40-year-old Enrico Floridi, who with his
wife Chiara adopted a boy and a girl aged five and three from a
DRC orphanage.
Their arrival was hailed by Premier Matteo Renzi.
"Benvenuti #acasa", Welcome #home", the premier tweeted in
greeting, adding that international adoptions will soon be made
easier by his planned reform of the volunteer sector.
MP Khalid Chaouki, who is from the ruling Democratic Party
and sits on the Lower House foreign affairs committee, called
for "a radical simplification" of the red tape surrounding
adoption procedures in Italy.
"We need to place children's rights to a family at center
stage", he said.
"The time has come for parliament to address the needs of
all those Italian families who make us proud to be such a
generous country, one with the highest number of adopted
children", Chaouki concluded.
The adoptive mother of two of the children who arrived
today, seven-year-old Lea and eight-year-old Rachel, also called
on authorities to keep the pressure on.
"I brought the two most beautiful little girls in the world
to Italy. I'm so happy, but don't forget we're just the tip of
an iceberg: another 130 couples are still waiting", said Laura,
who did not give her last name.
"A new life is beginning for us, but we hope things will
work out very soon for everyone else as well".
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