Congo's ambassador to the United States says 82 children soon will join their adoptive parents abroad in the latest cases to be cleared by the government after more than two years of waiting.
Ambassador Francois Balumuene said that the latest adoptees bring the total number of cases resolved to about 300 in four months. But as many as 1,000 other children still await resolution on their cases so they can leave the country and join adoptive families in the United States, Canada and Europe.
The Congolese government halted international adoptions in 2013, saying the nation's adoption system was beset by corruption and falsified documents. Children who already had been adopted by international families were not given the exit permits they needed to leave the country.
