Background
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Bordering Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam in southeast Asia, Cambodia has a population of over 12 million people. Although the history of Cambodia stretches back many thousands of years, most people focus on the horrendous civil war of the 1970s. After Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge gained control of Cambodia following the civil war, they tried to eliminate everything that had to do with the way life that existed before the war. Millions of people starved to death or were executed by the Khmer Rouge during this time. In 1978, Vietnamese forces launched a massive invasion of Cambodia, taking over the capital of Phnom Penh and pushing the Khmer Rouge from power. The United Nations sponsored free elections in the 1990s, which helped restore order and return some political stability to Cambodia.
In 2002, Americans adopted 254 children from Cambodia. However, the USCIS (formerly known as the INS and the BCIS) has stopped processing all orphan visa petitions from Cambodia because there have been cases where Cambodian children were stolen from their birthparents and sold to adoption agencies. The U.S. Embassy in Cambodia is currently working with officials in the Cambodian government to develop policies and procedures which will allow the suspension to be lifted. Until safeguards can be agreed upon by both the U.S. and Cambodian governments, all international adoptions from Cambodia are halted.
Credits: The International Adoption Guidebook, © Mary M. Strickert
