October 2021

October 26, 2021. New Vaccine Requirements for All Immigrant Visa Applicants, Including Adoptees. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has instituted new visa vaccination requirements, which will affect adoptees as well as others. These requirements pertain to COVID-19 shots, specifically: "If the medical exam is completed prior to October 1 and is valid, the vaccine will not be required. If the medical exam is completed on or after October 1, 2021, or expires before the applicant travels, the immigrant visa applicant will be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC requires the COVID-19 vaccine to be approved through either the World Health Organization (WHO) or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)." The age requirements are dependent on which vaccine is available in the applicant's home country. Any visa applicants should consult the CDC and Department of State websites because these requirements are very specific. The CDC website link may be found by clicking here.

October 21, 2021.Another Article on Adoption. "The New Question Haunting Adoption" is an article in this month's Atlantic magazine. The new question is whether "adoption is meant to provide babies for families or families for babies." Of course, this is not a new question at all but one that lies behind many of the debates over adoption during the last century. The answer is that adoption affects all members of the adoption triad: the children, the birth parents, and the adoptive parents. More Information.

October 20, 2021. New Netflix Documentary Focuses on Chinese American Adoptees. Netflix today released a new documentary entitled Found. It is the story of three girls adopted to the United States from an orphanage in Guangdong, China. Through DNA testing, they discovered that they were biological cousins. Together, they returned to China; Found records their journey. To learn more, please click here.

October 19, 2021. Article Points Out Perils in Independent Adoption. We have linked to an article from this week's New Yorker magazine describing in disheartening detail the crimes of a woman named Tara Lee who ran a fraudulent adoption placing agency called Always Hope. For several years Lee cheated potential adoptive parents out of millions of dollars and their hopes and dreams. For those prospective parents who wish to form their families through adoption, we can only urge that they investigate agencies and facilitators as thoroughly as possible. More Information.

October 18, 2021. NCFA Announces 2021 Awardees: Honors Dr. Elizabeth Bartholet. We are delighted to share the news that the National Council for Adoption is honoring Dr. Elizabeth Bartholet as their 2021 inductee to the Adoption Hall of Fame. As NCFA's Chuck Johnson explained, "For decades, Dr. Bartholet has worked tirelessly on behalf of orphans around the world and children in foster care in the United States. For the past 15 years it has been my privilege to work alongside Dr. Bartholet in various ways and see firsthand her commitment to the right of every child to have a permanent, loving family. She is one of the most passionate, articulate, and effective advocates for children's rights and solid adoption policies that I know." More Information.

October 14, 2021. New Book by Naomi Schaefer Riley Examines Worsening Threats to Foster Children. Author and commentator Naomi Schaefer Riley's new book, No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activities Are Wrecking Young Lives, examines all levels of the American foster care system. She reveals its failures but also worries that some of the solutions, such as the "Abolish Carceral Foster Care" movement will actually make matters worse for the children, who everyone wants to protect. More Information.

October 13, 2021. The End of an Era. The National Council for Adoption has announced that Chuck Johnson, its president and CEO for the last eleven years, will be retiring. Chuck has been a valiant advocate for children, leading NCFA as it advocated for the best interests of children, in the fields of domestic and international adoption, as well domestic child welfare. NCFA has launched a national search for the a new president. Anyone who has questions or wishes to apply should enquire at contact@adoptioncouncil.org.

October 7, 2021. Will the Indian Child Welfare Act Come Before the Supreme Court Again? In 2013 the Supreme Court ruled on the applicability of the Indian Child Welfare Act ("ICWA") in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (570 U.S. 637 (2013)). Now the Supreme Court may hear another challenge to ICWA in the form of the Brackeen v. Haaland case which challenges the constitutionality of ICWA. Linked below is an NPR story that defends ICWA and advocates for its importance. To hear the story, please click here.

October 6, 2021. International Adoptees Need the Adoptee Citizenship Act. Once again we are advocating for the Adoptee Citizenship Act, which has languished in Congress for years. Over 20,000 internationally adopted children, the majority of whom are adults, through no fault of their own, lack U.S. citizenship. As they are the legal children of American citizen adoptive parents, these (former) children are owed nothing less. Please click here to read more.