{
  "id": "RL31769",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31769",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 307915,
      "date": "2005-09-09",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:32:20.429029",
      "title": "Immigration: International Child Adoption",
      "summary": "United States citizens adopt more children from abroad than the citizens of all other countries\ncombined, and the number of foreign children adopted annually by U.S. citizens has more than\ndoubled in the last decade from 8,333 to 22,884. Over the previous five years, the largest number\nof children adopted have come from China (28,690), followed by Russia (24,561), and Guatemala\n(10,938).\n \n Under statute, international adoption is a two-step process. First, the parents\u2019 eligibility\nto\nadopt must be verified, and then once the child is identified and the parents have complied with the\nlaws of the sending country, the adoptive parents apply for a visa for the child so that the child can\nlegally immigrate to the United States. The application for the visa triggers an investigation into the\nchild\u2019s background to confirm that the child has not been bought or stolen, and meets the\ndefinition\nof orphan under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The Department of Homeland\nSecurity\u2019s Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) verifies the eligibility\nto adopt\nwhile the Department of State (DOS) processes the visa application for the child. Once the\nprospective parents have been deemed eligible to adopt, USCIS policy states they have 18 months\nto complete the adoption. If the adoption is not completed in that time, the prospective parents must\nrestart the application process.\n \n In 2000, the Senate approved the ratification of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children\nand Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention) and Congress enacted the\nInternational Adoption Act of 2000 (IAA), which is the implementing legislation for the Convention. \nThe purpose of the Convention is to establish uniformity in the standards and procedures for\ninternational adoption, and to achieve this goal, the legislation mandates the establishment of a\ncentral adoption authority in DOS and an adoption accreditation program. The IAA requires that the\nchild\u2019s eligibility to immigrate be determined before adoption or placement for adoption in\ncountries\nparty to the Convention. This is important as there are instances when a child has been adopted in\nthe home country by U.S. citizen parents and yet is unable to immigrate to the United States because\nthe child does not meet the definition of an orphan under the INA.\n \n The Convention seeks to alleviate some of the perceived abuses of the international adoption\nsystem. Abuses range from charging exorbitant fees by \u201cfacilitators\u201d in some\ncountries to cases of\nkidnaping and baby selling. There have also been cases where deception is used to get parents to\nrelinquish their children. For example, parents may turn over their children to an orphanage for what\nthey assume is a limited time period, and when they return to claim their child, the child has been\nadopted internationally. Proposed regulations to implement the IAA were released on September\n15, 2003, but DOS has not released the final regulations.\n \n Due to questions about the integrity of adoptions in Cambodia, in December 2001, a\nmoratorium was issued by USCIS on processing adoptions from that country.\n In addition, Romania has suspended international adoptions except for those by the\nchild\u2019s grandparents. This report will be updated to reflect legislative changes.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL31769",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}