Impacted Adoptee Stories

Adoptees For Justice is aware of individuals living without U.S. citizenship who were adopted from over 28 different countries, and at least 50 adoptees who have been deported since 2000. One of the biggest challenges to advancing passage of the Adoptee Citizenship Act is that most people are unaware that a problem even exists.

Adoptees For Justice believes it is important for people to listen to those directly impacted by this issue. Adoptees without citizenship, including adoptees who have been deported, worked with us to tell their stories. Some of these adoptees live in the United States; some live in their country of birth/deportation. Each adoptee has a unique situation and life experiences, but they all share a single hope - to be able to live with their loved ones in the U.S. with citizenship.

Stories of impacted adoptees without citizenship demonstrate a systemic failure of U.S. adoption, child welfare, and immigration systems with devastating impacts for real people, and which must be corrected by a systemic solution through passage of an inclusive Adoptee Citizenship Act.

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More stories are posted below. These stories may be difficult to watch, read, and hear. Names may have been changed to protect the identities of impacted adoptees without citizenship.