12.1 Background
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit1 orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself uncorrupted2 from the world” James 1:27
1 [visit and help and care for] Amplified New Testament
2 Literally ‘unspotted’ in NKJV
‘Compassion for Orphans’ is a Christian non-profit organisation established to carry out the Bible verse above by facilitating the adoption of legally adoptable overseas children into loving New Zealand families, recognising that the child, for the full harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding. (Provided that in all adoptions, international standards have been scrupulously applied and that there has been no corruption or improper financial gain).
We will only intermediate intercountry adoptions with countries that have ratified or acceded to the 1993
Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The main reason for this being that the Hague Convention has safeguards to ensure that intercountry adoptions are conducted in the best interests of the child.
‘Compassion for Orphans’ is a New Zealand accredited body under the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (1993).
An overview of how ‘Compassion for Orphans’ operates at all levels, is illustrated in the following diagram.
The functions of governance and risk management are key responsibilities of the Board of Trustees. Operational management is designated to the Chief Executive whose responsibility it is to ensure that ‘Compassion for Orphans’ objectives are achieved.
‘Compassion for Orphans’ is committed to the best possible practices of prudent financial management throughout all aspects of ‘Compassion for Orphans’. Sound financial management is ensured through detailed planning, budgeting, cash flow management, record keeping, internal controls, managing costs and the provision of monthly financial statements, variance analysis and reports. Financial viability is achieved through careful financial planning, cash flow analysis and contingency planning.
‘Compassion for Orphans’ is explicitly oriented to understanding the best interests and needs of the child, understanding the value of our relationships with applicants and adoptive parents, staff and others (e.g. staff of the Central Authorities), committing to striving for excellence in our service delivery and understanding the true nature of relationships and how they are built and strengthened.
‘Compassion for Orphans’ performance management system focuses on ensuring staff fully understand and agree with what is expected of them and have the skills and resources available to deliver to expectations. ‘Compassion for Orphans’ recognises that all staff should have clearly defined roles and responsibilities, accountabilities and lines of authority as well as a good match of skills, interests and motivated abilities with the requirements of the position.
‘Compassion for Orphans’ standard policies, procedures and internal controls are available to all staff through an operations manual that provides explicit details of every work activity and related documentation.
Our overseas representatives are known to, and have good standing with, the New Zealand Central Authority and SENAME. ‘Compassion for Orphans’ applies strict measures of control to ensure that our overseas representatives adhere scrupulously to the requirements of our contract with them, including that they:
Adhere scrupulously to the requirements of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (1993) and all other international conventions and regulations.
Comply fully with agreed standards of performance, including ‘Compassion for Orphans’ code of ethics and code of conduct, and all legislative and regulative requirements applicable.
Only charge fees that are reasonable and fully transparent.
Remain in compliance with any and all relevant licensing laws in the country of origin.
The following diagram shows ‘Compassion for Orphans’ organisation structure and the functional responsibilities of each position.
In addition, ‘Compassion for Orphans’, through a contractual arrangement with an accredited social services provider, offers nationwide access to qualified and experienced social workers for the provision of post-placement reporting and pre/post adoption counselling services.
