A conference to examine the status of international adoptions in Israel five years after passage of the amended adoptions law by the Knesset was held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, May 7, in the Litwinsky Senate Hall on the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University. The conference was open to interested professionals and the general public. Eliezer Jaffe, Professor Emeritus at the Paul Baerwald School, was instrumental in securing passage of the amended adoption law; it which removed the monopoly held by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare over international adoptions and turned them over to non-profit organizations that were equipped to deal with the issue. The law also put a stop to private, individual adoptions by Israelis seeking children abroad. As a result of the new law, said Prof. Jaffe, many more parents have been able to adopt children from abroad, and the waiting period has also been reduced. However, he added, "We must still work towards improvement of the law." In particular, he said, it would be advisable to revise the adoptions law so that the non-profit organizations can deal with adoptions of children within Israel as well as those adopted from abroad. Also, there is a problem of a payment ceiling within the law that is inadequate to enable adoptions from some countries, he noted. The conference on adoptions - a subject which has engaged Prof. Jaffe professionally for many years - was initiated by him to mark his retirement after 40 years of teaching and research. The conference was arranged, at his request, in place of the usual retirement party for staff members. It featured presentations by physicians, social workers, leaders of adoption organizations, public figures and adoptive parents.