One of the things that truly hit me flat-footed when researching my book was that many internationally adopted babies and children had never been made naturalized citizens in the US. WHAT? Until legislation was passed in the year 2000, any infant or child adopted into the US was not automatically made a citizen – their parents still had to complete separate naturalization paperwork. And many didn’t. To explain, here is an except from my book:
“Many of these parents relied on their legal advisors and adoption agency personnel to begin this process for them. Some failed to complete the paperwork, and others were told, incorrectly, that adopting their child was enough.
Most of these children grew up going to school, got a social security card, driver’s license and the other common trappings of the modern paper trail. Troubles often only erupted when the adult adoptee tried to get a passport, apply for an SBA loan, or have a need to prove what was assumed—their citizenship.
The fallout for these men and women is a staggering blow. In 2000, President Clinton signed into law the Child Citizen Act, which guaranteed that any adopted child entering the country who met the citizen requirements were automatically made US Citizens. This law took effect in February 2001. However, it left a gap. The law only applied to adoptees already living in America who were under the age of eighteen, and those adopted afterward.
Lawmakers intended to revisit the bill to close the loop. But then, September 11 happened. Little has been accomplished since.”
What’s Happening Now?
Multiple bills have been introduced in congress for the past ten years. None have gained any meaningful traction, and this is wrong. A NEW BILL has just been introduced to the 119th Congress, the The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2025 (HB5492). From the AdopteesUnited.org website they share:
“This is sixth iteration of the Adoptee Citizenship Act, going back to the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2015. This one—the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2025 in the House and the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act (PAAF) in the Senate–is identical to the last three bills introduced in 2019, 2021, and 2024. It continues to be a critical piece of federal legislation that would close a huge loophole in US immigration law, one that has denied U.S. citizenship to thousands of intercountry adoptees who decades ago were legally adopted by U.S. citizen parents. The loophole relates primarily to the age of the adopted person on a specific date in 2001, denying automatic (sometimes called acquired or derivative) citizenship to intercountry adopted people who were born on or before February 27, 1983. Most adoptees born on or before this date must either naturalize or find a different path to secure U.S. citizenship.”
Sign The Petition Here
Anyone from any state can support this bill. PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION HERE. If you’re interested in calling your local representative, there is a script provided HERE.
Why This Matters
It’s important to understand what’s at stake here. It is estimated that there are at least 18,000 adult adoptees facing this situation and potentially as many as 70,000. If you’ve read my book, then you know that one of may disturbing realities is that record keeping on infant adoptions both domestically and internationally has at times been sketchy at best. We have to deal in round numbers and estimations because not all states require that all private adoptions be reported. And those loopholes have created no small amount of chaos in the system.
The families who adopt children internationally enter into a unique covenant. One that must be honored. Many Americans believe that any child adopted into our country is lucky. They have come from, in general, countries where social services were weak or completely unable to respond to the needs of their own children. Sadly, there will always be some humanitarian crisis somewhere in the world, where families and the most vulnerable are at risk.
Adoption professes to be one highly benevolent answer to these often human-caused situations. If adoption is to be used responsibly, or to even pretend to be so, then at a minimum it must fulfill its basic promises. Such as, that if someone is adopting a baby or youngster and taking them into a new country to be raised, that these persons grow up in circumstances keeping these commitments. Citizenship is THE most basic right owed to these youths and the adults they will become.
We promised them protection – but they are at risk. It is estimated that some 35-50 of these adults have been deported back to their former country of origin. We promised them safety and a better life than the one they would have had. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But we are failing them now due to ignorance and indifference. To remain nonchalant or well-intentioned but inactive, is a slap in the face to the adopted adults living with these consequences and what our society believes it provided, but failed to complete.
As long as we continue to remain inactive or ignorant, then we invalidate not just these individuals, but ourselves and our country. If citizenship and sovereignty is supposed to mean something, and that becoming a naturalized citizen of the US is possible or even desirable, then the failings of the system and adoptive parents are not an excuse to deny people the rights which were implicitly implied by their adoptions into their new families. The covenant has been broken, and needs to be set right.
Shame on the United States, and all of us. for allowing this to go so long in fixing what are really, very simple loopholes to close.
