Leave your Comment on the Proposed Regulations!

14
Oct

defend-international-adoption4Recently, the Department of State proposed new regulations that, if passed, will significantly and negatively impact international adoption.

Read

Familiarize yourself with the legislation at Regulations.gov to learn what is at stake. You can read more about our concerns about the proposed regulations on our blog.

Leave a Comment by November 7th!

Share your family’s personal testimony about how these proposed regulations could have affected your child or could affect your adoption process. The most influencial comments are the compelling personal stories of international adoption. Share photos if you have them.

We’ve included some sample language below that you could use in your comment. Hopefully these sample comments give you a good starting place as you think about what you want to write.

Sample Comments

Child Care Related: “Our family adopted from COUNTRY in YEAR. Once we were matched with our son or daughter, he/she was moved into a foster home where he/she was able to received better care than the orphanage could provide. Our family willing paid child care fees to ensure that he/she came to the United States with fewer health concerns than if he/she would have remained in an orphanage in COUNTRY. If the proposed regulations include the provision of child care fees being disallowed, other families will not be able to choose to have their referred child receive better child care. We strongly oppose these regulations.”

Country-Specific Authorization Related: “Our family has started the international adoption process from COUNTRY. We oppose the country-specific authorization provision of these proposed regulations. We are already working with a Hague Accredited Adoption Service Provider who has been approved by COUNTRY to provide adoption services. We fear what could happen to our case should our agency not be selected and not able to appeal this decision. Our choices of adoption providers and country of adoption took much thought and prayer. These regulations could threaten our entire adoption journey. We strongly oppose these regulations.”

Additional Education Related: “Our family adopted from COUNTRY in YEAR. Throughout the adoption process, we received adoption education specific to international adoption and specific to the child we were matched with including the effects of institutionalization, how to parent a child who has experienced trauma, and COUNTRY culture. These proposed regulations would require that our education be completed before we were able to officially enter into our COUNTRY program, meaning that most of the state-provided education would not necessarily be applicable to our situation. While we know how important education is for adoptive families, state-provided foster care education before beginning the process is not beneficial for families adopting internationally. We strongly oppose these regulations.”

Cost to Adoption Service Providers: “Before beginning our adoption process, our family carefully evaluated the cost of international adoption from COUNTRY. While the cost of an international adoption is high, it is for a service that we value. As a family, we believe that every child has the fundamental right to be raised by parents in a forever home. This belief moved us to begin an international adoption from COUNTRY. Raising the requirements for adoption service providers will lead to additional costs to them, and ultimately additional costs to adoptive families. We are concerned that these additional costs will greatly deter families from beginning the international adoption process, and with no proposed in-country solutions, children will remain in orphanages in COUNTRY while willing U.S. citizen families are unable to adopt them.”

It’s not too late to chance the course of this legislation! Please use the link above to make a comment by November 7th! 

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Caitlin Snyder works as the Director of Marketing and Outreach for MLJ Adoptions. Working in international adoption has given Caitlin the unique opportunity to pursue both a passion to advocate on behalf of vulnerable people and a profession at the same time.

Caitlin Snyder works as the Director of Marketing and Outreach for MLJ Adoptions. Working in international adoption has given Caitlin the unique opportunity to pursue both a passion to advocate on behalf of vulnerable people and a profession at the same time.