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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian authorities say families who want to adopt a child will no longer be able to make a choice based on the child's ethnicity.
Gabriela Coman, head of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and Adoption, presented a new adoption law Wednesday. She said ethnicity has been eliminated as a criteria for adoption.
Some Romanians don't want to adopt a Roma child. Coman also said prospective adopters are allowed to refuse a maximum of five children.
A new adoption law came into effect Aug. 12, aiming to speed up the adoption process from the current average of 18 months to less than a year.
Around 57,500 children are in state care. Of those, 3,250 are eligible for adoption, and 456 are under 3.
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