Intercountry Adoption Information Act of 2019

Intercountry Adoption Information Act of 2019

This bill directs the Department of State to include additional information in its annual report to Congress on intercountry adoptions. The reports shall contain (1) a list of countries that have laws that prevent or prohibit adoptions by American parents, (2) various information related to such prohibitions, and (3) what steps the State Department has taken to help such countries reopen intercountry adoptions.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 938 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 938

To amend the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to require the Secretary 
of State to report on intercountry adoptions from countries which have 
   significantly reduced adoption rates involving immigration to the 
                 United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 28, 2019

   Mr. Burr (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Blunt, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. 
Tillis, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Wicker) introduced the following bill; which 
   was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to require the Secretary 
of State to report on intercountry adoptions from countries which have 
   significantly reduced adoption rates involving immigration to the 
                 United States, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Intercountry Adoption Information 
Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN ANNUAL REPORT ON 
              INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTIONS.

    (a) Report Elements.--Section 104(b) of the Intercountry Adoption 
Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14914(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraphs:
            ``(9) A list of countries that established or maintained a 
        significant law or regulation that prevented or prohibited 
        adoptions involving immigration to the United States, 
        regardless of whether such adoptions occurred under the 
        Convention.
            ``(10) For each country listed under paragraph (9), the 
        date on which the law or regulation was initially implemented.
            ``(11) Information on efforts taken with respect to a 
        country listed under paragraph (9) to encourage the resumption 
        of halted or stalled adoption proceedings involving immigration 
        to the United States, regardless of whether the adoptions would 
        have occurred under the Convention.
            ``(12) Information on any action the Secretary carried out 
        that prevented, prohibited, or halted any adoptions involving 
        immigration to the United States, regardless of whether the 
        adoptions occurred under the Convention.
            ``(13) For each country listed pursuant to paragraph (12), 
        a description of--
                    ``(A) what policies, procedures, resources, and 
                safeguards the country lacks, or other shortcomings or 
                circumstances, that caused the action to be carried 
                out;
                    ``(B) what progress the country has made to 
                alleviate those shortcomings; and
                    ``(C) what steps the Department of State has taken 
                in order to assist the country to reopen intercountry 
                adoptions.''.
    (b) Public Availability of Report.--Section 104 of the Intercountry 
Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14914) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection:
    ``(c) Public Availability of Report.--The Secretary shall make the 
information contained in the report required under subsection (a) 
available to the public on the website of the Department of State.''.
    (c) Privacy Concerns.--In complying with the amendments made by 
subsections (a) and (b), the Secretary shall avoid, to the maximum 
extent practicable, disclosing any personally identifiable information 
relating to United States citizens or the adoptees of such citizens.
    (d) Conforming Amendment.--Section 104(a) of the Intercountry 
Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14914(a)) is amended by striking 
``International Relations'' and inserting ``Foreign Affairs''.
    (e) Application Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to reports required to be submitted under section 
104 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14914) 
beginning on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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