Many adoptions from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been held up for years since adoptions from the DRC were halted in 2013
Klobuchar, a co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, has been a strong advocate for adoptive families and children and has worked closely with adoptive Minnesota families to help them bring their children home from the DRC and other countries abroad
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Today, Senator Amy Klobuchar is welcoming home Mardoche, a nine-year-old boy adopted from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by a Rochester family who finally came home to Minnesota over the weekend. Many adoptions from the DRC have been held up for years since adoptions from the DRC were halted in 2013. Klobuchar, a co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, has been a strong advocate for adoptive families and children and has worked closely with adoptive Minnesota families to help them bring their children home from the DRC and other counties abroad.
“I’m thrilled that the Pierson family of Rochester was finally able to bring home their adopted son Mardoche from the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Klobuchar said. “With more families in Minnesota and across the country waiting to be united with their adopted children from the DRC, I will continue my efforts to bring these adoptees home.”
Klobuchar, a co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, is a strong advocate for adoptive families and children. She has worked closely with adoptive Minnesota families to help them bring their children home from countries such as Guatemala, Nepal, and Uganda. Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, her office worked with 25 Minnesota families to help unite 39 Haitian children with their new families in Minnesota.
Last August, Klobuchar and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) sent a letter to leaders of the Senate and National Assembly of the DRC requesting support for an expedited review of the 400 estimated pending adoption cases where the suspension of exit permits have prevented families from bringing their legally adopted child home to the United States. A total of 135 Members of Congress co-signed the Klobuchar/Cornyn letter. The senators sent a similar letter to leaders of the DRC National Assembly and Senate in October 2014 requesting their assistance in resolving the adoption crisis.
She also joined lawmakers last year in sending a letter offering to help support the DRC’s efforts to follow up on the well-being of Congolese children adopted by U.S. citizens. She also signed a letter urging President Obama to personally intercede with Congolese President Joseph Kabila on behalf of U.S. families whose children have been trapped in the DRC due to the exit letter suspension. Last Congress, Klobuchar was an original cosponsor of S. Res. 502, which urged the Congolese government to lift its suspension on exit permits for adoptees. It passed the Senate in July 2014.
She has helped families who adopt abroad correct errors to birth certificates through the Accuracy for Adoptees Act, which was signed into law in January 2014. She also led the International Adoption Simplification Act, which was signed into law in November 2010, to help siblings stay together during an international adoption. This Congress, she reintroduced the bipartisan Supporting Adoptive Families Act to help provide pre- and post-adoption support services to adoptive families, and the Adoptee Citizenship Act which would make citizenship automatic for all international adoptees, regardless of how old they were when the Child Citizenship Act passed. The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 guaranteed citizenship to most international adoptees, but the law did not apply to adoptees who were over 18 at the time the law passed despite being adopted as children. This loophole denies some adult adoptees the right to citizenship even though they were legally adopted by U.S. citizens and raised in the United States.
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