Tools and Resources to Equip Adoption Advocates
Every child, everywhere, has the right to thrive in a nurturing, permanent family.
Together, we can create change that makes that right a reality for more children.
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Legislative Agenda
Utilizing research and stakeholder input, we have developed legislative priorities for the 118th session of Congress that focus on adoption ethics, affordability, and access.
This legislation would modify the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to provide a limited accreditation option for performing certain adoption services.
Lead Sponsors. Sen. Roger Wicker and Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Accreditation helps ensure compliance with adoption standards and helps adoption agencies attract families seeking to adopt. The lack of a limited accreditation option has caused led many smaller adoption agencies to lose business or go out of business relinquish their accreditation due to existing requirements to meet standards that do not apply to them, and this bill would help provide more options for adoption for the American people.
This legislation would require the Children’s Bureau to collect and maintain information regarding all private adoptions, and for other purposes.
Lead Sponsor: Rep. Doug Lamborn
“This legislation will ensure policymakers have accurate and useful information about adoptions in the United States,” said Ryan Hanlon, president and CEO of National Council For Adoption. “The federal government already reports on the number of intercountry adoptions and foster care adoptions; it’s time we add private domestic adoption as well.”
This comprehensive legislation protects adoptive families, children, and expectant mothers from exploitation by unlicensed adoption intermediaries and ensures that adoption providers and attorneys operate only in states where they are licensed to do so. Read our FAQs here.
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Annie Kuster, Rep. Doug Lamborn, Rep. Robert Aderholt
“This bill name says it all: adoption deserves oversight, protections, and transparency. This bipartisan legislation provides safeguards and protections for all the parties involved with an adoption, most especially for the expectant parents considering adoption,” said Ryan Hanlon, the president and CEO of National Council For Adoption. “By eliminating the online, for-profit brokers, it will also reduce the cost of adoption and ensure that the service providers involved are licensed and overseen by proper authorities.”
This bill (House bill / Senate bill) would make the preexisting Adoption Tax Credit refundable, making thousands of adopting families newly eligible for the full credit and helping more families afford the costs of adopting a child. This would help families—especially low and moderate income families—recoup the thousands they incur in court and attorney’s fees, traveling expenses, and adoption fees.
Lead Senate Sponsors: Sen. Bob Casey, Sen. Kevin Cramer
Lead House Sponsors: Rep. Danny Davis, Rep. Blake Moore
The Protecting All Parents and Adoptees (PAPA) Act would link states' responsible father registries, essentially creating a comprehensive national resource that would:
1) Empower men and protect their parental rights by enabling them to register in one state to obtain notice of a proceeding in a different state.
2) Take the burden off women to identify potential fathers, protecting a woman’s privacy, especially in cases of rape or domestic violence; and
3) Enable children to find a permanent home as quickly as possible.
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish an annually updated list of adoption agencies in good standing in each state across the United States. The bill will also require HHS to conduct a report on any disciplinary actions that states are taking against licensed agencies, providing further transparency across the U.S.
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Doug Lamborn, Rep. Annie Kuster, Rep. Lloyd Smucker
“It can be challenging to discern who the authorized, licensed adoption agencies are in each state,” said Ryan Hanlon, President and CEO of the National Council for Adoption. “Unfortunately, there are bad actors whose websites and online ads falsely claim they are licensed. This bipartisan legislation will allow for hopeful adoptive parents as well as pregnant parents seeking adoption information and support to determine which are licensed agencies in their state.”
The majority of ob-gyn nursing staff are uninformed or misinformed when it comes to adoption, and how to provide ethical, compassionate care to expectant, birth, and adoptive parents. H.R. 1475 directs the development of programs to close the gap in adoption education and standardize healthcare practice to ensure that the well-being and rights of everyone involved in an adoption situation are protected and respected.
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Lloyd Smucker, Rep. Don Davis
“Health care workers often play a key role in helping individuals with an unintended pregnancy, yet too often these health care workers don’t know how to provide accurate, non-directive information about adoption. We’re grateful to Rep. Smucker and Rep. Davis for their leadership on this bipartisan effort to ensure that health care workers have the ability to support expectant parents to understand and make a decision about adoption,” said Ryan Hanlon, President & CEO of the National Council for Adoption.
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