U.S. Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 Passes
Bastard
Nation is pleased to announce that the United States Senate enacted the Intercountry
Adoption Act of 2000 and ratified the Hague Convention in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
on Wednesday, September 20, 2000.
The Hague Convention is an international treaty
that establishes a global regulatory framework for what has been, up until now, the
wild-wild-world of intercountry adoptions. The Act empowers the U.S. government to
participate in this regulatory framework and provides specific protections for the rights
of American adoptees placed on countries other than their country of birth.
A Bastard Nation
legislative team has been working since the summer of 1999 to ensure that the rights of
intercountry adoptees are upheld and respected by the U.S. government. We were successful.
Specifically, as enacted, the Act requires that the U.S. government to preserve the
adoption records of intercountry adoptees, and it also provides that such
Federally-controlled records (maintained by the Department of State) will remain
accessible to adult adoptees. Individual states remain free to design their own policies
concerning records under their control. Earlier versions of the
legislation tried to permanently seal Federal adoption records and force the states to
seal their records as well.
Bastard Nation's political adviser, Albert Wei, worked in close
collaboration with Fred Greenman, the American Adoption Congress's
legislative counsel and now a Bastard Nation member, and Maureen Hogan of AdoptAmerica
Advocates throughout the drafting and lobbying process.
The legislation would not have been possible without the
bi-partisan
efforts of Federal legislators and their staff, including, but not limited to, Sens. Jesse
Helms (R-NC) [and his aide, Michele DeKonty], Joseph Biden (D-DE) and
Mary Landrieu (D-LA) [and her aide, Kathleen Strottman]; and Reps.Benjamin Gilman (R-NY),
Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), Bill Delahunt (D-MA) [and his legislative director, Mark Agrast],
Dave Camp (R-MI), Kristen Gilley and David Abramowitz.
For more information, go to Bastard Nation's International Pages.
