United States law establishes that in order to obtain an Immigrant visa for the child to live in the U.S., the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS, within the U.S. Department of Justice) must determine that the prospective adoptive parents are suitable to adopt. A lengthy screening process is required before such a determination can be made. Parents must submit to the INS a home study, or report based on interviews and meetings with a social worker licensed in their state, which assesses the family's ability to parent an adoptive child. All prospective adoptive parents must submit copies of birth, divorce and marriage certificates and proof of citizenship. Each prospective adoptive parent, and all other adult members within the household, must be fingerprinted, and those fingerprints must be checked for any criminal record by state and United States Federal police authorities (i.e. the Federal Bureau of Investigation - FBI). Police authorities must confirm that the prospective adoptive parents have no record of child abuse. Prospective adoptive parents must submit a physician's report concerning each parent's medical condition and letters verifying their employment and moral character. Furthermore, additional documentation bearing on the parent's fitness to adopt may be required by the state governments and the adoption agency as well. Only after it is demonstrated that both the parents are qualified to adopt may they submit a petition (I-600) to have an Immigrant visa issued to an adoptive child. Much of this screening can be done prior to identifying a specific child for adoption by filing an advance processing petition (I-600A) with the INS. Additionally, as a part of the Immigrant visa application process, a legally binding affidavit of support (I-864), complete with specific, mandatory supporting documents is required.
Furthermore, the Government of the United States has specific requirements regarding the status of the adoptive child which ensure that the child is an orphan under U.S. law, or that the child has been legally and irrevocably released for emigration and adoption in a manner provided for under local foreign law. The U.S. government is particularly concerned with the identity of the child; the child's orphan status and that any release by a sole surviving parent is unconditional and voluntary. Questions concerning legal custody or proper documentation for the child must be resolved in accordance with the law of the country of the child's nationality or residence.
The U.S. government abhors fraudulent adoption procedures and the harm they cause children and families. In the international area, the Department of State consistently takes a strong stand against fraudulent adoption procedures. This policy flows from our general obligation to respect host country laws, to discourage any illegal activities and to facilitate the appropriate international movement of adoptive children. The Department of State has unfailingly expressed its support for measures taken by foreign states to reduce adoption abuses.
Moreover, the child protection laws in the us, at both Federal and State levels, apply to all children whether they are U.S. citizens or not, and whether they are in the U.S. for the purpose of being adopted or they have already been adopted. Although child protection laws vary from State to State, they all provide certain basic protections which are embedded in the U.S. Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and in the child welfare sections of the Social Security Act.
These protections include:
-- Persons in specified occupations are identified as "mandated reporters," meaning that they must report to the local authorities any evidence or reasonable suspicion of either child neglect or child abuse. Typically, mandated reporters include: nurses, physicians and other medical personnel; school teachers and guidance counselors; law enforcement personnel; and others who regularly come in contact with children and may be expected to observe abuse if it occurs, or to learn of neglect or abuse. The reports are made to the local public child welfare agency or, in some instances, to the police. Reporters' names are kept confidential.
-- Local public child welfare agencies maintain a 24 hour-a-day, 365 day-a-year capacity to receive allegations of child abuse or neglect. They publish the agency's phone number or special "hotline" numbers and ensure that the phones are staffed around the clock or that calls are forwarded to a designated person after hours. Child abuse investigators are designated to be on call after hours and on weekends. In some jurisdictions the police receive calls of child abuse, or abuse or neglect.
-- Allegations of abuse are acted on promptly; if there is danger of harm to a child agencies will respond to a report immediately. It is not uncommon for police and social services officials to go together to visit the family. As appropriate, children are taken to medical facilities for examination and necessary treatment. All jurisdictions in the U.S. have a minimum period of time -- usually 48 to 72 hours -- in which non-emergency investigations are to begin. Not all reports of abuse or neglect actually require a field visit, of course, but agencies take every report seriously and analyze each for its urgency.
-- When social workers/child abuse investigators get involved in a case, they first determine whether the allegation is "founded" or "unfounded." Where it is determined that there is no basis for the allegation of neglect or abuse, the case will be closed without action. If the allegation is determined to be founded, the local public child welfare agency may decide on one of a number of options. These include: 1) counseling the family and closing the case; 2) providing in-home services to assure the child's safety while working with the family to resolve the underlying problem(s); 3) removing the perpetrator from the family; or 4) removing the child from the family and placing the child in foster care.
-- When a child is removed from her family, efforts are made to work with the family to resolve problems and correct dangerous behaviors or situations, in order to reunite the child with her family. In cases in which the child cannot be reunited with her family, the agency may then seek to terminate the parents' legal rights, in order to free the child for adoption.
In the U.S. every placement in foster care must be approved by a court, and the public agencies must return to court periodically so the child's case may be reviewed and a judge may determine whether the child is being well cared-for, and whether there are other actions the agency should take to hasten the time a child will be returned home or another permanent placement found.
Child welfare funds provided by the federal government to the States include (for fiscal year 1998):
for Child Welfare Programs $333,240,000 for Family Preservation & Support $255,000,000 for Child Abuse and Neglect $68,015,000
The States and localities, in the aggregate, spend much more than these amounts on child protection and child welfare services. In addition, the Federal government in FY 1998 will provide $4,311,000,000 in financing for foster care, adoption assistance, and independent living services for adolescents in foster care. Again, the States and localities expend considerably more than this in support of child welfare.
Post-adoption services, which States are encouraged to provide, are among the child welfare services for which Federal funds may be expended.
If a child is seen to be at risk of harm or neglect, public child welfare agencies will respond without regard to whether the child is a U. S. citizen, and without regard to whether an adoption has been completed. If it is necessary to remove a child from the custody of his family or other legal custodians, and the child is not a U.S. citizen, the child welfare agency will seek the best placement for the child, usually in the U.S. (In some cases, the child's relatives are in another country and the best placement for that child is with his relatives in that other country.)
Similarly, in the event an adoptive placement disrupts, the local public child welfare agency will take responsibility for the child, and provide a safe environment, whether the child is a U.S. citizen or not. And if the child cannot be reunited with her adoptive parents, the agency will take responsibility for finding another permanent home for that child.
3/17/98