International Adoption

Nothing personifies the basic compassion of Americans like the tens of thousands of overseas orphans rescued each year by US families.  By opening our homes and hearts, we offer hope to kids born into despair.

But it's not easy.  The international adoption process is so complex, expensive and emotional that it's a miracle when things actually work out. 

I know.  My youngest daughter, who is now a healthy and happy adult, was one of the last infants to escape the fall of Saigon during the 1975 airlift.

This experience introduced me to a universe of remarkable people involved, personally and professionally, with international adoptions.  It also opened my eyes to ways that US policy can help, or hinder, the process. 

Working closely with a bipartisan group of Congressional colleagues, we've made real legislative progress.  We changed the law that made American parents jump through hoops to vaccinate their new children .  Ensured that citizenship is conferred automatically on adopted children. And, won ratification of the 50-nation Hague Convention ,  an historic stride to protect the children and streamline the process.  

More detail on inter-country adoptions is available online from the US State Department and Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS).

As I continue to monitor the implementation of these reforms, in the US and around the world, I recently traveled to Guatemala on a fact-finding missions with the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.