June 2017

June 19, 2017. CAP Partners with Duke Law School on New Conference. We are delighted to announce that the Center for Adoption Policy, together with Duke University School of Law is presenting a conference on "The Rights of the Child in a Globalized World." The Conference will be held at the Duke Law School Campus in Durham, North Carolina on Friday, November 17, 2017. We will post more details soon.

June 16, 2017. Department of State Update on Ethiopia. What follows is the State Department's update on the Ethiopian adoption suspension which we received today. "Since June 1, Ethiopia's Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWA) resumed issuing documents to allow some adopted children with Federal First Instance Court (FFIC) approval to initiate their U.S. immigration processes. Those adopted children were able to obtain Ethiopian passports. The State Department has not received information from the Ethiopian government about which additional cases may be allowed to continue. To date, the Ethiopian government has not released an official statement on the suspension or the future of intercountry adoption from Ethiopia. The State Department will continue to advocate for intercountry adoption as an option for Ethiopian children in need of permanent homes. However, given the uncertainty of the future of adoptions in Ethiopia, we strongly encourage prospective adoptive parents to consider other countries. If you have questions about your pending case, please contact your Adoption Service Provider."

June 14, 2017. Supreme Court Rules Unwed Mothers and Unwed Fathers May Not Be Treated Differently As Regards Citizenship Rights of Their Children. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the majority said: "The scheme permits the transmission of citizenship to children who have no tie to the United States so long as their mother was a U.S. citizen continuously present in the United States for one year at any point in her life prior to the child's birth," ...The transmission holds even if the mother marries the child's alien father immediately after the child's birth and never returns with the child to the United States... [but] "the legislation precludes citizenship transmission by a U.S.-citizen father who falls a few days short of meeting the law's "longer physical-presence requirements, even if the father acknowledges paternity on the day of the child's birth and raises the child in the United States." Ironically, the effect of this decision will be to make it more difficult for non-citizen children to become citizens because until Congress acts, children of citizen mothers will no longer receive preference and will have to meet the higher burden imposed on children of citizen fathers. More Information.

June 13, 2017. Vulnerable Children and Family Legislation Reintroduced. We are delighted to report that Senators Roy Blunt and Amy Klobuchar and Representatives Kay Granger and Brenda Lawrence have introduced the Vulnerable Children and Families Act. This bipartisan legislation will help children without permanent loving families or living in institutional care around the world by increasing U.S. diplomatic child welfare initiatives to maintain international adoption as a viable option for unparented children. As Senator Blunt (Republican, Missouri) explains: " Every child deserves a permanent, safe, loving home no matter where they are born... Unfortunately, there are millions of children across the world who are growing up without the security and stability that comes with family-based care. This bill will help connect more children in need of permanent homes with families in the United States and around the world that are eager to adopt." Senator Klobuchar, (Democratic Senator, Minnesota), concurs: "I have seen firsthand the power of adoption...We can and must do more to help countries abroad develop their own domestic adoption programs while also strengthening opportunities for international adoption." We proudly support this bill. More Information.

June 12, 2017. Ethiopian Adoption Situation Remains Perilous. We were delighted to learn last week that U.S. families who had legally adopted their Ethiopian-born children are receiving the documents necessary to bring their children to the United States. However, we have also learned that the Ethiopian government has decided to prioritize domestic adoption and has not yet indicated what its stance will be on pipeline PAPs who have not yet passed Ethiopian court. For these reasons we urge families who have not yet begun an intercountry adoption process to consider the tenuous nature of the Ethiopian adoption program at this time. We also suggest that adoption agencies advise any process families of the serious issues putting the future of intercountry adoption from Ethiopia into question.

June 7, 2017. "How Many Infants Were Relinquished to Adoption?" Today's headline comes from a blog post by Rudy Owens, adoptee and author. His essay highlights something that those of us who work in the field of adoption are well aware of: the limited amount of statistics about adoption in this country. The only numbers we can be sure of are the numbers of internationally adopted children who enter the U.S. each year because their visas are recorded by USCIS. As for domestic adoptees, which long and still are the majority of adoptees, there are no reliable statistics. A 1984 paper by Penelope Maza for the U.S. Children's Bureau covers the years 1944 through 1975 but those statistics are clearly outdated. The U.S. Census only began counting adoptees in 2000 and the questions lack precision and reliability. It is difficult to understand social issues when you don't know the size of the population that you are discussing. More Information.

June 6, 2017. Adoptee Citizenship Act: Honor the Promise. While most internationally adopted children who arrive in the United States today are automatically citizens, this was not always the case. There are thousands of international adoptees, usually over 30 but not always, who are not citizens. For years the Center for Adoption Policy, alongside other groups, has been urging Congress to rectify this situation. Children adopted by U.S. citizens should be citizens. The fact that many did not become citizens is largely due to ignorance, misinformation, or deliberate action by adoptive parents. These adoptees should not be punished for their parents' omissions. Please read the material cited below and support retroactive international adoptee citizenhip. More Information.

June 5, 2017. Ohio Attorney General Files Suit Against EAC. The state of Ohio has filed suit against European Adoption Consultants, Inc., charging the agency with violating Ohio's consumer protection laws and its statutes governing charitable organizations. The suit seeks dissolution of the agency as well as restitution for clients. This past December, the Department of State banned EAC from accreditation for intercountry adoption for a period of three years. More Information.