Clinton signs 2 new adoption laws

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Clinton signs 2 new pieces of
international adoption related legislation
by Michelle Konieczny

On Friday, October 6, 2000 President Bill Clinton signed into law the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (H.R. 2909) which implements the treaty more commonly known as the Hague Convention on Intercounty Adoption. The US signed this treaty in 1994, and it is meant to set guidelines for international adoptions while restricting child trafficking and fraud.

Upon signing the Act Clinton said, "Adoption is an emotional event. With the complexities of international law and procedures, these cases are often overwhlming for the families involved. The Hague Convention and the implementing legislation will provide protections for children and parents engaged in intercountry adoption and will help ensure a standard of service that all families deserve."

President Clinton also signed the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 which confers US Citizenship automatically upon certain foreign-born children, including those adopted by citizens of the United States, who do not acquire US Citizenship at birth.

President Clinton offered the following words in a White House press release; "Under prior law, foreign-born adopted children could by subject to removal if they did not acquire US Citizenship after being brought to the United States -- even if they had lived their lives since infancy in the United States. While this Act willnot remedy past cases where adopted children were deported, it will ensure that this unfortunate possibility will be eliminated for most non-citizen adopted children under the age of 18 and for all noncitizen children adopted into US households in the future. I welcome this action to support families who adopt foreign-born children by removing an unnecessary impediment to citizenship for these and other foreign-born children."

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