Alert

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, announced that they have introduced a resolution marking November as National Adoption Month and November 20 as National Adoption Day. This is the seventh consecutive year that Blunt and Klobuchar have led legislation to recognize National Adoption Month and National Adoption Day.

“Every child deserves a stable, loving home and the foundation for a successful future that it provides,” said Blunt. “As an adoptive parent myself, I’m proud to introduce this resolution recognizing November as National Adoption Month, and I hope it will encourage more Americans to consider expanding their families through the gift of adoption. In the Senate, I remain committed to working with parents, advocates, and colleagues to promote adoption and raise awareness for the 400,000 children in our foster care system who are in need of families.”

“National Adoption Month is an opportunity to support adoptive families who open their hearts and homes to children,” said Klobuchar. “As Senate co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, Senator Blunt and I continue to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to help make the adoption process better for children and families across our country. I’ll keep working to increase awareness about the importance of adoption and honor the dedication and commitment of adoptive families.”

For years, Blunt and Klobuchar have been leaders in the fight to give every child a permanent home.

Provisions of Blunt and Klobuchar’s legislation to protect adopted children from unregulated custody transfers, also known as rehoming, passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in June as part of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Reauthorization of 2021.

In May, Blunt and Klobuchar reintroduced the Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee Act to provide the Secretary of State with the authority to establish an Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee to focus on coordinating the development, refinement, and implementation of policy and programs on intercountry adoption.

That same month, Blunt and Klobuchar led a bipartisan letter calling on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to engage in efforts to resume intercountry adoptions with China, which have been indefinitely paused due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Intercountry Adoption Information Act, which Blunt and Klobuchar cosponsored, was signed into law in November 2020. The legislation helps ensure that Americans who are trying to adopt children from other countries are provided with updated, quality information as they navigate the intercountry adoption process.

During that same month, Blunt and Klobuchar encouraged the Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services to raise awareness for National Adoption Month and for the importance of domestic and intercountry adoption.

In October 2020, they sent a letter urging the Department of State to prioritize policies to promote intercountry adoption and to look specifically at the fee schedule for prospective accrediting entities to ensure they do not impose undue financial burdens on families seeking to adopt internationally.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Blunt and Klobuchar sent a letter in April 2020 asking the Department of State to use all available resources to ensure that intercountry adoptions proceed in a safe and timely manner during the pandemic and that American families stranded abroad while completing these adoptions return home safely.

Blunt and Klobuchar in May 2019 reintroduced the Supporting Adoptive Families Act to help provide pre- and post-adoption support services, including mental health treatment, to help adoptive families stay strong.

Blunt and Klobuchar also partnered on the Accuracy for Adoptees Act, which became law in early 2014. This legislation cuts red tape for adoptive families and ensures that corrections made to adoptees’ state vital records would be recognized by the federal government.

The full text of the resolution is available here.