On June 8, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs held a hearing on U.S. policy on adoptions from Asian nations.
Noting that “U.S. citizens adopt more children from abroad than the citizens of all other countries combined,” Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) expressed her hope that the U.S. would ratify the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, an international treaty designed to protect adopted children worldwide. Sen. Murkowski noted the current U.S. moratorium on adoptions from Cambodia because of concerns about baby trafficking. She also commended the State Department for their work to help Romania reform their adoption laws, which currently prohibit intercountry adoptions except by biological grandparents. She acknowledged China as the “number one source of adopted foreign children by U.S. citizens,” but said that processing adoption petitions in China often takes longer than the allocated 18 months.
Sens. Larry Craig (R-ID) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA), co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, testified at the hearing. Stating that the “federal government has a critical role in the adoption process,” Sen. Craig lauded the ICARE amendment, which was passed by the Senate as part of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (see The Source, 5/26/06). The amendment would establish an Office of Intercountry Adoptions at the State Department and would grant automatic citizenship for adopted children born outside the United States. He commended China for its “transparent, efficient, and predictable” handling of international adoptions and stressed the need to help nations such as Cambodia and Vietnam “fight corruption while allowing legitimate adoptions to proceed.” Sen. Landrieu stressed the importance of avoiding moratoriums on intercountry adoptions. “When a bank is robbed in Chicago, we don’t shut down the banking system,” she stated, “we find the robber…We need to keep the system open, it’s a literal lifeline for children.”
State Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Catherine Barry highlighted two significant developments in intercountry adoptions from Asia: a bilateral adoption agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam signed in June 2005, and the Chinese government’s ratification of the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention in September 2005. “China’s Hague Convention ratification bolsters even further our level of confidence in China’s commitment to equitable, legal, and transparent adoption procedures that meet the best interests of children, nearly 8,000 of whom came to the United States last year,” she said. Detailing U.S. efforts to address concerns “about baby-selling and rampant document fraud” in Cambodia, Ms. Barry explained that child welfare legislation, written by UNICEF and supported by the U.S., is now under consideration there. Regarding U.S. ratification of the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention, Ms. Barry stated that the State Department is taking steps to prepare for this goal by 2007.
Speaking on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Acting Deputy Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Robert Divine explained that, under the 2001 Child Citizenship Act (CCA), certain adopted children may enter the U.S. as citizens: “Under the CCA, children with a full and final adoption abroad who immigrate to the United States with a U.S. citizen parent automatically acquire U.S. citizenship upon entry. Children who emigrate and have their adoption finalized in the United States become citizens at the time of the final U.S. adoption. A ‘full and final adoption’ exists, for immigration purposes, if (1) the adoptive parents completed the adoption abroad according to the laws of the child’s country, so that the adoptive parents are now the child’s legal parents for all purposes, and (2) BOTH parents saw the child either before or during the adoption proceeding abroad.” Mr. Divine described the automatic citizenship provision in the ICARE amendment as “troubling” because it would give foreign governments “a larger role in the decisions about which adopted children automatically acquire U.S. citizenship.” He agreed that the adoption process needs to be less complex, but warned that introducing the centralization specified in the ICARE amendment at this time could delay ratification of the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention.
Thomas Atwood, president and CEO of the National Council For Adoption, stated that intercountry adoptions by Americans are increasing, with 22,710 occurring in 2005. He detailed the “complex and demanding” regulations, issued by the State Department in February 2006, which the adoption community must put in place to prepare for U.S. ratification and implementation of the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention. These include the formation of a central authority in the State Department and “the complete accreditation of adoption agencies and approval of persons who may make adoption placements under the Hague Convention.” In reviewing the policies of Asian countries on intercountry adoption, Mr. Atwood noted that, despite the large number of orphans in India, Indian law does not technically allow foreigners to adopt Indian children, though foreigners may petition a court to gain legal custody of a child for adoption. With the U.S. implementation of the Hague Convention, this situation may improve, he said.
During the question and answer period, both Mr. Atwood and the final witness, Ms. Susan Soon-keum Cox, vice president of Public Policy and External Affairs at Hold International Children’s Services, said that implementing the provisions of the ICARE amendment at this time would be unwise. “Now is not the time for such dramatic changes,” Mr. Atwood stated.
