September 8, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 154 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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Intercountry Adoption (Executive Session); Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 154
(Senate - September 08, 2020)
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[Pages S5432-S5433] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Intercountry Adoption Mr. WICKER. Madam President, I take to the floor of the Senate this afternoon to call Senators' attention to the worsening crisis in intercountry adoptions. I must say, it saddens me to have to do this because much of the crisis in foreign adoptions--or intercountry adoptions--is happening as a result of policies of our own Federal Government. I am fortunate to have had two loving parents and a loving family. My dad is 96 years old. I visited with him yesterday. My mom, sadly, passed away several years ago. But I was fortunate. I was among the fortunate people on the face of this planet to have two loving parents and a loving family. That is not the case all around the world. Internationally, in particular, there are countless children who have no mom, no dad, no family, no extended family to care for them. They reside in the most deplorable conditions, in orphanages, and as wards of the state. Americans have always been compassionate for these children without a forever family, and that compassion extends to children not only orphaned in the United States but also outside of our borders. For decades, Americans have led the world in welcoming children from around the globe to come to the United States and be part of a forever family. As a result, more than 150,000 children adopted from foreign countries are now growing up in the United States--150,000. These children and their adoptive families are examples of America at its best. I am here to say to my colleagues today that intercountry adoption is in real trouble, and much of the reason that intercountry adoption is in trouble is coming from our own Federal policies, from unelected bureaucrats, particularly at our own Department of State. The number of international children finding an American home has plummeted in recent years. Listen to this statistic. In the year 2004, Americans adopted 23,000 children from foreign countries--23,000. Last year, 2019, that number had fallen below 3,000, an 87-percent drop from 23,000 only 15 years before to 3,000 in 15 short years. Now, people who have been looking into this issue are well aware of what is causing the decline, and one of the reasons is Russia. Because of foreign policy disagreements, Russia has shut its doors to intercountry adoption. We have pleaded with the Russian Government about this, and we have not made much progress. That is one of the factors--not the only factor and not even the principal factor, but that is on the Russian Government. It saddens me that they have done that. The biggest reason for the decline in intercountry adoptions by Americans comes within our own government, our own State Department. For years, the State Department and its adoption accrediting entity have demonstrated a clear and consistent bias against intercountry adoption. It saddens me to say this. It is unbelievable that I have to say this, but career bureaucrats in the State Department have deliberately obstructed the adoption process with new fees, new requirements that amount to redtape, and unrealistic standards on foreign governments. These bureaucrats have placed burdensome regulations on adoption provider agencies. These regulations make it nearly impossible for adoption-providing agencies to maintain accreditation. This has been done by design, and the results are devastating. In the last year and a half, more than 30 adoption-providing agencies have left the intercountry adoption space, and we are losing more agencies every month. The bias of our Federal Government's State Department against intercountry adoptions is unmistakable. In 2018, for example, the Department directly intervened to prevent three well-respected adoption agencies from being reaccredited. A Federal judge dismissed the Department's reasoning as ``quite unconvincing'' and ``simply illogical.'' That is what a Federal judge had to say about the reasoning of this little part of the State Department that seems determined to end foreign adoptions. During that same year, 2018, a journalist quoted a State Department insider who confirmed that the Office of Children's Issues, the OCI, in the State Department is biased against intercountry adoption. Why they would take this position is beyond me. Adoption advocates followed up by requesting Freedom of Information Act documents about this claim by the journalist who quoted the State Department insider, but the Department of State has resisted this Freedom of Information Act request and has still yet to produce any documents 2 years after the statutory FOIA deadline has passed. There are plenty more examples. Last year, the State Department hosted an adoption symposium that may as well have been called the international anti-adoption symposium. This is funded at our State Department by our own taxpayer dollars. Our own tax funds funded a conference that featured radically anti-adoption speakers who openly denounced the practice of international adoptions. It is hard to believe, and it is hard to imagine a worse use of taxpayer dollars. The adoption community has voiced concerns about the State Department's anti-adoption bias, but it seems that government has not listened. I will say that this has been a problem in State Departments headed by Republican Secretaries and by Democratic Secretaries. When adoption providers privately shared their concerns about the accrediting agency, the Department responded by issuing a public letter threatening the future of intercountry adoption. The Office of Children's Issues, OCI, is slamming the door in the faces of thousands of orphans who need a family, and they are saying no to willing [[Page S5433]] American couples who are pleading to give these international children a forever family here in our great country. It seems that OCI's priorities are out of step with their statutory mandate. Also, they are out of step with the values of this country and basic morality. We need to change the policy of the State Department in this regard, I say to my colleagues. I call on my colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee to hold an oversight hearing to review the State Department's role in intercountry adoption, to examine the allegations of bias against intercountry adoption, and to hear from accrediting agencies and other stakeholders about their experiences in working with the Department of State and its accrediting entity. I think such a hearing would be revealing, and I think the results would be troubling to Members of the Congress. I also call on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate allegations raised against the U.S. accrediting entity in the State Department's Office of Children's Issues. It is time, actually, to transition the U.S. central authority from the Department of State to a more receptive, more compassionate, and more understanding home, such as the Department of Health and Human Services. This would allow experienced child welfare professionals to oversee intercountry adoptions. We have a great Secretary of State. I have known Mike Pompeo for years. I think he has got all he can preside over, and I don't for a minute think that the Secretary of State understands what this small entity in his State Department is doing. I think he must have no idea that this is going on, but I think the solution is to move this function from the State Department. I would call on the Secretary of State to put a hold on planned changes down in this little agency populated by unelected bureaucrats who are hostile to adoption. I think we should put a hold on planned changes in the accreditation compliance system until there has been a full review of OCI's bias against adoption. The competence of their staff needs to be investigated, and we need to look, we need to give an open assessment, shining the light of day on the impact that this small group of bureaucrats is having on something that I think most Americans support. The American people believe in adoption. They believe in giving orphans anywhere in the world an opportunity to have a forever family. They believe in giving couples here in the United States the opportunity to provide a home for these children who are less fortunate than most of us have been, most of us within the sound of my voice have been. I think the American people believe in a change in this inexplicably anti-American and anti-family policy. Today, I am on the floor of the U.S. Senate to shine a light on this tragedy, on this outrage. I ask my colleagues to remember the teaching of the Psalmist: ``Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.'' I think Americans believe in the sentiments of the Psalmist in that regard. I think we are ready to heed the plight of the fatherless. Let's not neglect our duty in correcting the situation we find ourselves in and, once again, becoming the country that provides welcoming, loving outreach to children to be part of a forever American family. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader. ____________________
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