Article 1.
THE NAME OF THE ASSOCIATION SHALL BE INORADOPT, and it shall operate in compliance with the convention on children’s rights, approved the UN General Assembly on November 20th, 1989, and the Hague convention, ratified by Norway, in force as of January 1st 1998, and it shall be a politically neutral association.

Article 2.
OBJECTIVE: The Associations main objective shall be to mediate adoptions from foreign states.   This operation is founded on a permission to mediate adoptions, granted for each individual country, by the Norwegian adoption authorities and in compliance with the current legislation in Norway and applicable nations. The mediations shall always be in favour of the child and to be carried out without any kind of economic benefits.

Another objective of the Association shall be to aid children in their native countries, through charity work and sponsorship programmes. This work may be carried out by InorAdopt on its own, or in cooperation with established charity organizations.

Article 3.
MEMBERSHIP: All individuals or families supporting the objective of the Association may become members of InorAdopt. A member is one who has paid the membership fee. Families are counted as one member. All members are automatically included in the closest local branch. Anyone holding positions in the Association must be a member. At all times there shall be an updated list of the members of the Association.

If a member has acted in defiance of the statutes or interest of the Association, he or she may be discharged, excluded or released from his/her positions of trust in the Association, if any.

To decide on such action at least 2/3 of the Board must approve.

Prior to deciding on such action, the involved member(s) shall be given the opportunity to give an explanation. Anyone involved in such a matter may bring the case in front of the General Meeting.

To maintain the initial decision, 2/3 of the General Meetings as well must agree.

Article 4.
THE GENERAL MEETING: this is the highest authority of the Association and it is held before the end of April. The members shall be notified in writing about the General Meeting no later than 14 days in advance, assuming the date has been announced prior to January 1st, enclosing the annual report, annual accounts, draft budget and a membership fee proposal. Moreover, information concerning the election committee’s suggestions for candidates for positions of trust shall be enclosed. The Board prepares the General Meeting agenda and announces this together with the summons. The agenda shall also include all items which members in writing to the Board have requested to be dealt with by the General Meeting. Such written requests must have been received by the Board within 4 weeks before the General Meeting.

The General Meeting shall deal with the following matters:

  1. Constitution
    a) opening of meeting
    b) presentation of participants
    c) approval of agenda
    d) election of chairmaN
    e) election of referent(s)
  2. Annual report
  3. Accounts
  4. Proposals both from members and the Board
  5. Determine membership fee6
  6. Draft budget
  7. Election.

Members who have registered and paid the fee within a fixed deadline the previous year are eligible to vote. All family members are entitled to speak and forward suggestions.

Members who are unable to attend in person at the General Meeting are permitted to vote by proxy. The letter of proxy shall be submitted to the Board prior to the General Meeting has been declared open, and shall contain the name of the member who has issued the letter of proxy. The person who has been assigned proxy must comply with the rules concerning the eligibility to vote, and each participant may only vote on behalf of one provider of proxy.

The General Meeting may only decide upon issues which have been included in the summons.

An extraordinary General Meeting may be called by the Board when its members find it necessary or when requested by at least 10 % of those eligible to vote. The summons shall be in writing at least four weeks in advance. The Board prepares the agenda to be enclosed with the summons.

Article 5.
THE BOARD: The Board shall be summoned at the request of the Chairman or two of the Board members. The Board forms a quorum when at least three members attend. Upon an equality of votes the double vote of the Chairman becomes effective.

The Board consists of the Chairman, four Board members and two alternates. The Chairman is elected to his post, whereas the Board constitutes itself. The Chairman is elected for one year, Board members for two years and alternates for one year.

The Board shall:

  1. Establish guidelines for the administration of the Association.
  2. Ensure that all administrative work is carried out in compliance with regulations, General Meeting decisions and government provisions.
  3. Make decisions and take action in all matters concerning the Association and carry out all work which is viewed useful for promoting the objective of the Association, including the establishment of applicable bodies and committees.
  4. Carry out employment of co-workers.
  5. Administer the funds of the Association, present draft budgets and be responsible for accounting and revision.

 

Article 6.
PROFESSIONAL SECRECY: Anyone providing services or work for the Association in connection with adoption cases is subject to professional secrecy. He/she is obliged to prevent people, other than those who by legislation or provisions work within this field, from obtaining access to or knowledge about anything which he/she in the course of his/her work learns to know about the personal relations of another person.

Article 7.
BRANCHES: Branches may be established if the number of members makes it necessary, and they shall be subject to approval by the Board.

Article 8.
MODIFICATION OF STATUTES: Suggestions for modification of the statutes of the Association shall be decided at the ordinary or the extraordinary General Meeting. Suggestions for modification to be decided by the ordinary General Meeting shall be forwarded to the Board within 4 weeks before the General Meeting. See article 4. Suggestions for modifications to be decided by the extraordinary General Meeting shall have been received by the board no later than 14 days following the forwarding of summons for the extraordinary General Meeting. A 2/3 majority is required to modify the statutes of the Association.

 Article 9.
DISSOLUTION: The Association may be dissolved at the extraordinary General Meeting by a  ¾ majority of the participants at the General Meeting, after a proposal of dissolution has been forwarded at the ordinary General Meeting. All adoption cases must, if possible, be completed before dissolution, or transferred to another adoption mediator. Upon dissolution and after completion of the adoption cases, unused funds, if any, will be applied for relief work in countries of cooperation which the Association were to have at the point of dissolution.

In force of the General Meeting, 6th of April 2019.