Organizations Applaud the Reintroduction of the Adoptee Citizenship Act in Congress

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Adoptee Citizenship Act was reintroduced in both the House and Senate. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) brought forth the bill in the Senate, while Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) and Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) reintroduced the bill in the House of Representatives. This is the fifth time the bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress.

“We are thankful to the co-sponsors of the Adoptee Citizenship Act for championing the rights of adoptees to obtain the citizenship they rightfully deserve,” applauded Amanda Cho, Policy Manager for the Alliance For Adoptee Citizenship and Korean American adoptee. “We cannot have the better life that was promised to us through our adoptions without citizenship. We must work together to ensure that this vital piece of legislation becomes a reality this year.”

Judy van Arsdale, a Taiwanese American adoptee without citizenship and long-time member of Adoptees For Justice, responded. “The Adoptee Citizenship Act is not just legislation; it's a lifeline. Without it, as we enter our senior years, we cannot access the fundamental benefits we have been contributing to our entire lives, including Social Security and Medicare. Its passage would significantly improve our lives and offer countless intercountry adoptees like us the opportunity to fully benefit from the country we have called home for so long.”

Becky Belcore, co-director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and Adoptees For Justice: “As a network of affiliate organizations based in Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, the NAKASEC network urges our Members of Congress to support the passage of this crucial legislation. We continuously witness the profound need to fix the gap in the law as more adoptees without citizenship contact us each month. Their stories underscore the urgent need for the Adoptee Citizenship Act now.”

Richard Macintyre, partner at the Family Coalition for Adoptee Citizenship (FCAC), a member of the Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship, reacted: "It's appalling that people who offer adoption to children from other countries could find out years later that their children were not provided U.S. citizenship and suffered from that the remainder of their lives, never even being eligible to  receive Social Security benefits they worked toward all their lives.  Thank God we took the steps to secure our daughter's citizenship when it was still possible.  The Adoptee Citizenship Act is necessary to correct this injustice."

Background: For the past ten years, Adoptees For Justice and other advocates have worked diligently to pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act. The federal bill would effectively close a date gap created by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, and grant citizenship to thousands of adoptees who were legally adopted and brought to the U.S. as children by their U.S. citizen parents. If passed, the bill will enable thousands of adoptees to access critical supports like disability benefits, social security, housing, and education loans, and provide a pathway for adoptees who have been unjustly deported to return home and be reunited with their families. Most recently, the bill passed the House in the 117th Congress and continues to amass widespread bipartisan support across both chambers. 

To learn more about the challenges experienced by adoptees without citizenship a

 and take action to advance the passage of the Adoptee Citizenship Act, please visit: www.allianceforadopteecitizenship.org.

Media contact: Amanda Cho, amanda@adopteealliance.org, 404-287-2409

###

Adoptees For Justice is an intercountry adoptee-led organization whose mission is to educate, empower, and organize transracial and transnational adoptee communities to achieve just and humane adoption, immigration, and restorative justice systems. 

Adoptees For Justice is a project of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), and is a co-founding member of the Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship (AAC). AAC is a coalition of 11 local and national organizations dedicated to passage of the Adoptee Citizenship Act.