WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Co-Chair of the Congressional Adoption Caucus, recognized the University of Minnesota’s Adoption Medicine Clinic (AMC) as an honoree of the 2018 National Angels in Adoption Program. The AMC was founded in 1986 and has provided adoptive parents for children in over 40 countries with clinical services. Through large-scale clinical studies, the AMC also published pioneering research on the health care of adopted and foster children, who were found to have unique physical and therapeutic needs due to a history that had often included institutional care and neglect.

“In Minnesota, we have a strong tradition of making sure all children are in loving families. For over 30 years, the Adoption Medicine Clinic has been an important part of that tradition, providing families of adopted children with the specialized support they need,” Klobuchar said. “Every kid deserves so much more than just a roof over their heads and a bed to sleep in—they deserve nurturing families, bright futures, and of course a loving home. I am glad that the Adoption Medicine Clinic received this well-deserved honor for their tireless work to ensure that every adopted child is healthy and happy.”

In her role as Co-Chair of the Congressional Adoption Caucus, Klobuchar has been a leader in the fight to give every child a permanent home. In August, Klobuchar and her Congressional Adoption Caucus Co-Chair Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced legislation to improve the intercountry adoption process. The bipartisan Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee Act provides the Secretary of State the authority to establish an Intercountry Adoption Advisory Committee within the Bureau of Consular Affairs to focus on coordinating the development, refinement, and implementation of policy and programs on intercountry adoption. In June, they sent a letter urging the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the U.S. Department of State (DOS) to ensure that the dialogue between the DOS, Congress, and the Adoption Service Providers (ASPs) continues and that members and experts in the adoption community are consulted in efforts to develop and implement policies that advance intercountry adoption. In 2015, they introduced the Supporting Adoptive Families Act to help provide pre- and post-adoption support services, including mental health treatment, to help adoptive families stay strong. In addition, Klobuchar authored the International Adoption Simplification Act to help siblings stay together during an international adoption and protect adoptees from unsafe immunizations in foreign countries, which was signed into law on November 30, 2010. Klobuchar and Blunt also introduced the Accuracy for Adoptees Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in early 2014. This legislation cuts red tape for adoptive families and ensures that corrections made to adoptees’ birth certificates by state courts would be recognized by the federal government. 

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