March 2021

March 31, 2021. State Department Addresses Discrimination and Racism. We print in full the Office of Children's Issues message to adoptees: "At this moment in our history, the news is full of reporting about discrimination and racism, and social media is full of personal stories about the impact of this on individual human lives. In the past several months, there has been a spotlight on hatred and violence against Black and Asian-Americans, and we know that others have long experienced these behaviors as well. In particular, Yahoo News and NPR both published articles last week about adoptees from Asian countries and the challenges many have faced in processing and responding to this. Many of you spoke to us in November at the virtual town hall about your experiences with racism. We know the problems are systemic, and we want to convey a message of concern and support. We want to acknowledge your experience and assure you that we heard you and that we care. If you would like to tell us more about your personal experience in this regard, we will listen.

March 30, 2021. Nebraska Supreme Court Recognizes Rights of Lesbian Mothers. The Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously reversed a lower court ruling and ruled in favor of a married, same sex couple who sought to adopt the three-year-old child they had raised from birth. Dixon County Judge Douglas Luebe had refused to permit the adoption because "his law dictionary defines 'wife' as "a woman who has a lawful living husband." Furthermore, Luebe said that law's "plain ordinary language" of the law banned "wife and wife" from adopting. Adding insult to injury, Luebe added that any court that disagreed with him was an "imagination station." More Information.

March 29, 2021. Anti-Asian Violence and Asian Adoptees. This linked story discusses the reaction of Asian-American adoptees to the recent Asian-American violence. Kimberly McKee, a professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan who specializes in Asian American and Critical Adoption studies, observes that in her experience, "If your parents applied a color-blind philosophy and said that they only see you as you, they don't see you as Asian, you may just lack the language to have certain kinds of conversations," More Information.

March 25, 2021. Senate Bill for Adoptee Citizenship Reintroduced. We are delighted to share that Senators Roy Blunt, Mazie Hirono, Lisa Collins, Amy Klobuchar, Lisa Murkowski, and Tammy Duckworth have reintroduced the Adoptee Citizenship legislation we have long sought. As we stated today: For too long thousands of American international adoptees have been denied rightful U.S. citizenship. While the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 granted automatic citizenship to most foreign-born adoptees, it failed to cover all international adoptees. We must seize this opportunity to pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 which would give all adoptees who were lawfully brought to the United States by U.S. citizen parents the U.S. citizenship which, as the sons and daughters of American parents, they are rightfully owed.

March 17, 2021. Surrogate's Bill of Rights. The New York Child-Parent Security Act which legalized compensated surrogacy in New York state includes, among other things, a "Surrogate's Bill of Rights." Among other things, it gives the surrogate the right to make all health and welfare decisions both for herself and for her pregnancy, gives her the right to independent counsel, paid for by the intended parents and gives her the right to psychological counseling, also paid for by the intended parents. More Information.

March 16, 2021. In Memory of Tsega Lemma. Members of the adoption community will remember the case of the Ethiopian siblings who were adopted by the Bradshaw family in 2006. The agency, Christian World Adoption, which went out of business after an investigation into its process, had told the Bradshaw family that the girls were double orphans and were seven, six and four. In reality Tarikuwa, Meya, and Tsega were 13, 11 and six and had a father who had cared for them in Ethiopia. The Bradshaw family had sought to adoption small children and could not accommodate itself to the older daughters. The Bradshaw family ultimately sent Tarikuwa to live with her adopted grandmother; later both Tsega went to live with the Day family in Vermont. This past Friday, Tsega committed suicide. We have urged transparency, ethical practices, preadoption training, and postadoption support for every member of the adoption relationship. For Tsega, it is too late. More Information.

March 15, 2021. Sri Lankan Birth Mothers Reach out for Reunion with Adoptees. During the two decades between the 1960s and 1980s, thousands of Sri Lankan children were adopted by European families, including hundreds to the Netherlands. These adoptions were highlighted in the recent Dutch report that triggered the Netherlands' international adoption ban. By contrast, the BBC story linked below highlights the stories of Sri Lankan birth mothers who knowingly made adoption plans for their children because of Sri Lanka's poverty as well as the devastating civil war that wracked the country for over three decades. More Information.

March 4, 2021. Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 Introduced. Congressman Adam Smith (D-Wash.), and Congressman John Curtis (R-UT), introduced the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021. The Center for Adoption Policy is proud to have endorsed this bill. We have long advocated for this bill which will give adult international adoptees who, through no fault of their own, are not American citizens because their adoptive parents failed to complete the necessary steps to make their children U.S. citizens. We look forward to seeing the Senate take up a similar measure. More Information.

March 3, 2021. Dutch Government Report Which Prompted Dutch Shutdown. As we previously discussed, the Dutch government has now closed international adoption, the first Western government to ever issue such a blanket ban. The report that prompted this decision sums up its conclusions as follows: "The current system of intercountry adoption cannot be maintained... Not only have there been many abuses in the past, the system of intercountry adoption is still open to fraud and abuses continue to this day. The committee therefore recommends suspending intercountry adoptions. [Further] the committee has serious doubts about whether it is possible to design a realistic public-law system under which the abuses identified would no longer occur." Download the Press Release.

March 2, 2021. Bethany Christian Services Announces It Will Provide Adoption and Foster Care Services to LGBTQ Community. For decades Bethany Christian Services, the nation's largest Protestant adoption and foster care agency, has restricted its services to Christian, heterosexual couples. Yesterday, Chris, Palusky, Bethany's President and Chief Executive Officer, announced a major national policy shift, writing to all 1,500 staff members, "We will now offer services with the love and compassion of Jesus to the many types of families who exist in our world today....We're taking an 'all hands on deck' approach where all are welcome." In 2019, Bethany oversaw 1,123 adoptions and 3,406 foster placements. According to a report from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, 20 percent of same-sex couples have adopted, as opposed to three percent of straight couples. More Information.