November 17, 2021
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.