Our structure

General Meeting

Representatives of the member organisations of EurAdopt meet every two year for a General Meeting. The last meeting was in Venice (Italy) in April 2008 (link). The meeting was arranged by the local EurAdopt member organization CIAI (link a www.ciai.it), in co-ordination with the EurAdopt Executive Board (link a executive board). At the General Meetings the members discuss topics of common concern, meet the new Executive Board and Council, approve of annual reports and accounts, plan their activities and determine the budget for the two coming years. At the meeting in Venice Mr. Angelo Moretto from Italy was appointed as the new chairperson of EurAdopt. Ms. Pia Brandsnes from Denmark and Ms. Ina Hut from the Netherlands joined Mr. Moretto in the Executive Board of EurAdopt.

The next General Meeting will take place in Norway, April 2010. The preliminary program will be available in autumn.

Open Day

In conjunction with every General Meeting an "Open Day" is planned on issues of common interest. The "Open Day" at the meeting in Venice in April 2008 had "Scenarios and challenges of intercountry adoption" as its headline. The year 2008 marked a number of important anniversaries: 15 years since the Hague Convention "on child protection and cooperation on international adoption" was drawn, 10 years since Law 476/98, that ratified the Hague Convention, was issued in Italy, and  40 years since CIAI, the meeting organizer, was founded in Italy. The Conference was an appropriate setting for discussing the changes occurred since then and the challenges we stand. It was also an occasion for properly celebrate those anniversaries.

Council, Chairperson and Executive Board

The governing body of the association between the General Meetings is the Council. The member organizations in each country elect a council member and a substitute before the General Meeting.  The Council nominates two members of the Executive board, whereas the chairperson is elected by the General Meeting. The present Council has 13 members, including the chairperson, and meets in April every year. The 2009 Council Meeting was held in Luxembourg 18-19 April.

In coordination with the Council, the Executive Board is responsible for furthering EurAdopt's objectives between the General Meetings.

Secretariat

The permanent secretariat of EurAdopt is provided by the Dutch member organization Wereldkinderen. The countries and member organizations that have the chairperson and the two other members of the Executive Board provide additional secretarial help.