Intercountry
Adoption Act of 2000
What is happening with the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, now nine
months after it became law?
The State Department is trying to write regulations to implement it. As
is typical, it has outsourced the job to an outside consultancy.
Unfortunately, the consultancy appointed, Acton Burnell Inc., has little
experience with adoption (or even human services in general) and,
instead, delegated the task to a group of individuals dominated by social
workers and lobbyists representing the adoption industry. Industry
lobbyists, such as the National Council for Adoption and the American
Academy of Adoption Attorneys, as well as trade associations representing
the largest of adoption agencies, such as the Joint Council for
International Children's Services, continue to work behind the scenes to
weaken the protections required by the statute. By influencing the way
the administrative procedures required by the law are actually
implemented, they want to turn intercountry adoption into a truly
"self-regulated" enterprise with respect to everything from adoptee
records to financial practices, thereby enabling themselves to go about
"business as usual" as if the law had never been passed at all.
What has BN been doing?
Bastard Nation is continuing to work at the federal level with other
advocacy groups to ensure that the new Act, which we helped to pass, is
actually implemented in the way it was intended to be by Congress -- as a
means of protecting the rights of adopted persons, first and foremost.
Alongside other non-industry groups representing adoptees, adoptive
parents and academia, we have been working with the State Department, the
agency in charge of implementing the statute, to make sure that our
collective trade-group-independent voice is heard. BN is consulting with
organizations such as the American Adoption Congress, the National
Adoption Foundation, Also-Known-As, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption
Institute, the University of Massachusetts Center for Adoption Research,
and others.
What lessons should adoption activists draw from this process?
That it's not over when the law is passed. Even if a state government or
the federal government passes a law affirming adoptee rights, lobbyists
for the other side can still prevail, and not merely through the courts.
A state
open records law, for example, would not be terribly useful for adoptees
if the administration of the records under the law was handed over to the
NCFA. Activists need to remain engaged, to monitor both legislative
implementation
and the actual administration of the new law.
Has BN issued any official statements on the Intercountry Adoption Act of
2000?
The
referenced statement
includes detailed recommendations to change
proposed regulations regarding the Intercountry Adoption Act (available
at
www.hagueregs.org) so that
they more accurately reflect legislative
intent. The statement was signed by Bastard Nation, The Amercian Adoption Congress, the National Adoption
Foundation and the University of Massachusetts. The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute issued
its own statement, which said essentially the same thing.
Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 Enacted!
* US Senate Press
Release: Helms Hails Approval
of Intercountry Adoption Pact
* Congressman
Delahunt's Press Release: HOUSE & SENATE CLEAR DELAHUNT
GLOBAL ADOPTION TREATY BILL Senate Also Poised to Enact Delahunt Bill for Automatic
Citizenship (Sept. 20, 2000)
History of Bastard Nation's Involvement in
the Hague Convention:
* U.S. FEDERAL
ACTION REQUIRED ON INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION ACT! (April 17, 2000)
* NJ
Representative Chris Smith is holding up the Hague Convention! (April 22, 2000)
* Bastard Nation Urges Congress to Proceed
with Hague Convention Ratification (March 20, 2000)
What you Can Do Today
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