November 2021

November 18, 2021. Senators Blunt and Klobuchar Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Marking National Adoption Month. For the Seventh consecutive year Senators Roy Blunt (R. Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (D. Minn.) have introduced a resolution making November as National Adoption Month and Saturday, November 20, as National Adoption Day. As Co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, Senators Blunt and Klobuchar have been two of the most stalwart supporters of adoption as a way of creating permanent families for children. To read the resolution, please click here.

November 17, 2021. New Book on U.S. International Adoption and Immigration. We are proud to announce the publication of International Adoption And Other Immigration Options For Children, 2D Ed. (Ebook), published by the American Immigration Lawyers' Association. The chapters cover topics such as the history and trajectory of American international adoption, the relationship between Hague Adoption and Hague Abduction law, citizenship issues, questions pertaining to habitual residence and U and T asylum cases. CAP's Co-Executive Director Diane Kunz wrote the chapter on the history and trajectory of American international adoption. To obtain a copy, please click here.

November 15, 2021. DOS Moving Forward on Search for New Accrediting Entity. The Department of State, which is responsible for the accrediting of adoption service providers ("ASPs") engaged in international adoption, relies on outside entities to actually accredit and monitor ASPs. Currently, the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME), which is currently the sole designated accrediting entity for U.S. ASPs. Now the State Department has informed us that "it will be moving forward in discussions with the non-profit Center for Excellence in Adoption Services (CEAS) on being designated as an accrediting entity (AE) to accredit, approve, monitor, and oversee the work of U.S. adoption service providers in intercountry adoptions. CEAS submitted a Statement of Interest in response to The Department's Request for Statements of Interest in October 2020. The Department published the request with the intention of designating a second accrediting entity pursuant to the Hague Adoption Convention, the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, the Universal Accreditation Act of 2012, and applicable regulations at 22 CFR Part 96."

November 4, 2021. Chinese Province Thinking of Offering One Year of Maternity Leave to Encourage Couples to Have More Children. Shaanxi Province, in Northwest China, is considering doubling its paid maternity leave from 168 days to almost one year. The authorities' goal is to encourage families to have more children, in line with Beijing's newly implanted policy that married couples may have three children. These new policies mark a drastic revision from the Chinese one child policy which led, among other things, to China's robust international adoption programs of the 1990s through 2006. More Information.

November 3, 2021. Landmark Case in Belgian Courts Filed. Five women, now in their seventies, have filed suit in Belgium, suing the Belgian government for crimes against humanity. Their suit stems from Belgian government policy during the period prior to 1960, when Belgium administered the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. Children who had white fathers but African mothers, were placed in Convents and orphanages, where they charge they were mistreated, denied their African identity and, in the worse cases, abandoned to grave mistreatment at the hands of rebels when Belgium abruptly left the Congo in 1960. The Belgian government apologized for these actions in 2019 as did the Catholic Church and Parliament. However, the women are seeking direct monetary compensation for what happened to them, in the amount of 50,000 Euros each. Emmanuel Jacubowitz, who represents the Belgian government, acknowledged that "the policy was racist and segregationist," but it could not be seen as "violating fundamental rights at that time." Professor Eric David, also questioned calling the practice "crimes against humanity" because "there were no slavery, murder or systematic rapes in those schools." More Information.