In its continuing mission to protect families formed through adoption and assisted reproduction, AAAA issued a press release today urging the Department of State to ease the restriction on the issuance of passports to allow parents to obtain this necessary document for their babies born through gestational surrogacy. To read the full press release, click here.
Libération conditionnelle humanitaire pour les citoyens américains dont l'adoption est terminée
Today, the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA) and National Council For Adoption (NCFA) issued a joint press release calling upon the Department of State to grant humanitarian parole to the children of adoptive families who are unable to receive an adoption visa in a timely manner so that the families may safely return to the United States together as soon as possible. Read the entire Release here.
COVID-19 et la fermeture des agences de passeports par le Département d'Etat américain
The shut down of regional passport issuing offices, and the directives to only issue passports in life or death situations, is creating very concerning delays for parents coming to the US and hoping to return home with their newborns as soon as possible. AAAA sent the attached letter to Secretary of State Pompeo and to the DOS, Bureau of Consular Affairs, expressing our concern. In part, the letter notes lack of health care for newborns and parents who linger in the States, travel visas expiring, and lack of adequate long-term shelter in which to care for a newborn as some of the top issues of concern due to the shut-down. To read the complete letter, click here.
Le droit de l'enfant à la famille
Des centaines de millions d'enfants dans le monde sont destinés à grandir dans la rue ou dans des institutions. L'une des meilleures solutions à cette crise est l'adoption internationale. Cependant, les adoptions aux États-Unis ont chuté de 75 % au cours des 14 dernières années et les adoptions internationales dans le monde ont diminué de plus de la moitié. Cette tendance à la baisse ne se ralentit pas. Les adoptions vers les États-Unis ont chuté de 13 % entre 2017 et 2018. Par conséquent, chaque année, des dizaines de milliers d'enfants se voient refuser une famille.
Malheureusement, le Département d'État met en œuvre des politiques qui réduiront encore le nombre d'adoptions internationales. Un autre facteur contribuant à l'accélération du déclin est la surréglementation. En 2004, lorsque l'adoption inter-comtés a atteint un pic, il a été signalé que le Département d'État employait 10 à 15 personnes dans la division de l'adoption. En novembre 2018, malgré une baisse de 75 % depuis 2004, il a été signalé que la division de l'adoption employait 21 personnes.
Le Harvard Law School Child Advocacy Program (CAP), dirigé par Elizabeth Bartholet, joue un rôle de premier plan dans la lutte contre cette crise humanitaire. Le CAP fait avancer une législation qui "demande au Département d'État de signaler le déni délibéré de la vie familiale, y compris le refus de placer les enfants dans des foyers adoptifs disponibles, comme une violation des droits de l'homme dans ses rapports annuels sur les pratiques des droits de l'homme dans les pays". Vous pouvez en savoir plus sur cette initiative et sur le CAP à l'adresse https://cap.law.harvard.edu/cap-law-reform-projects/.
Vous pouvez également signer une pétition montrant à vos membres du Congrès et du gouvernement que vous soutenez le droit de chaque enfant à une famille sur https://caplawharvard.salsalabs.org/childsrighttofamily/index.html.
- Eric Freeby est l'actuel directeur adjoint de l'Académie des avocats spécialisés dans l'adoption et la procréation assistée.
Explication des accords sur les contacts après l'adoption
A Post Adoption Contact Agreement (PACA) is an agreement the birth parents sign along with the adoption relinquishment. It is also signed by the adoptive parents. It allows for certain, specified contacts between the birth parent(s) and the adoptive family. Some states allow for these agreements and will enforce them, other states do not. Fellows of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys can explain and draft an agreement that works for your particular adoption situation.
What is the Purpose of a Post Adoption Contact Agreement?
Sometimes birth parents will only allow an adoption to go forward if a PACA is included in the adoption plan. Adoptive parents should not view this as a sign of reluctance by the birth parents or an indication that they may change their minds later about the adoption. Rather, birth parents’ requests for a PACA usually means they want to make sure they are making the right decision by placing their child in a loving home.
While laws regarding PACAs vary from state to state, the breach of a PACA will not usually be grounds to revoke consent for the adoption or the adoption decree. However, if the adoptive family fails to comply with the PACA’s terms, adoption courts can fashion other forms of relief to correct these failures. The terms of the PACA are usually not permitted by law to expand or increase the amount of contacts. However, most states that allow PACAs will permit a court to reduce or eliminate specified contacts upon a finding of the best interests of the child.
What Does a Post Adoption Contact Agreement Look Like?
There is no single format for a PACA and there are no set contacts that you need to include. Some PACAs require adoptive parents to provide a birth parent with pictures and written updates about the child’s developments. Other PACAs may allow the birth parents to visit their biological children. PACAs often provide for pictures and written updates on a monthly basis for the first year. Then, this may decrease over time. PACAs more often include visitation requests in cases involving adopting older children compared to newborns.
No matter what the PACA includes, it must be in writing and signed by the birth parent(s) or legal guardian, as well as the adoptive parents. It then often becomes part of the decree of adoption. The PACA typically stays in place until the child is 18 years old unless the Court terminates it before that time or, by its terms, it ends sooner. However, termination would only be at the request of the adoptive family and the family would need to show that the PACA is not in the child’s best interest.
Do I Need a Lawyer to Draft a Post Adoption Contact Agreement?
To find out if a PACA is necessary and/or permitted for your adoption plan, schedule a consultation with a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys today. There are probably things that are very important to you that you want to include, but we will also help you address important provisions you may not have considered. An Academy attorney can help you draft a document that addresses your most pressing concerns about adoption. Additionally, we can discuss how to enforce the document moving forward.
— Eric Stovall is a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and Immediate Past President
Nouvelle législation fédérale sur la procréation assistée soutenue par l'AAAA
Representatives of AAAA recently gathered in Washington DC to support the RESOLVE Advocacy Day. RESOLVE is the National Infertility Association (www.Resolve.org), advocating on behalf of the millions of Americans suffering from infertility. AAAA’s President, Catherine Keefe; Deputy ART Director, Nidhi Desai, and Past President, Deb Guston, attended meetings with Members of Congress and staffers on Capitol Hill along with RESOLVE volunteers. On the agenda: the Access to Infertility Treatment and Care Act that would extend IVF and gamete preservation coverage to veterans and federal employees; the Women Veterans and Families Health Services Act that provides for permanent funding for fertility treatment and adoption assistance for wounded veterans; and the Every Child Deserves a Family Act that would make it illegal to utilize federal funding provided to adoption service providers who discriminate based on religious affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity. AAAA also advocated for an increase in federal funding for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the division of the National Institutes of Health that does research on diseases affecting fertility and child and maternal mortality and morbidity. For more information on AAAA’s legislative agenda, please contact ART Director, Margaret Swain at artdirector@adoptionart.org.
–Debra Guston is a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and a Past President of the Organization