[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4986 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4986

   To develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from North 
                     Korea, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 25, 2010

 Mr. Royce (for himself, Ms. Watson, and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from North 
                     Korea, 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 ``North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 
2010''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) thousands of North Korean children do not have families 
        and are threatened with starvation and disease if they remain 
        in North Korea or as stateless refugees in surrounding 
        countries;
            (2) thousands of United States citizens would welcome the 
        opportunity to adopt North Korean orphans; and
            (3) the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland 
        Security should make every effort to facilitate the adoption of 
        any eligible North Korean children.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Foreign-sending country.--The term ``foreign-sending 
        country''--
                    (A) means--
                            (i) the country of the orphan's 
                        citizenship; or
                            (ii) if the orphan is not permanently 
                        residing in the country of citizenship, the 
                        country of the orphan's habitual residence; and
                    (B) excludes any country to which the orphan--
                            (i) travels temporarily; or
                            (ii) travels as a prelude to, or in 
                        conjunction with, his or her adoption or 
                        immigration to the United States.
            (2) Hague country.--The term ``Hague countries'' means a 
        country that is a signatory of the Convention on Protection of 
        Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, 
        done at The Hague on May 29, 1993.
            (3) Non-hague country.--The term ``non-Hague country'' 
        means a country that is not a signatory of the Convention on 
        Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of 
        Intercountry Adoption, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993.

SEC. 4. STRATEGY ON ADOPTION OF NORTH KOREAN CHILDREN BY UNITED STATES 
              CITIZENS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, shall develop a comprehensive strategy for facilitating the 
adoption of North Korean children by United States citizens.
    (b) Considerations.--In developing the strategy under this section, 
the Secretary shall--
            (1) consider the challenges that United States citizens 
        would encounter in attempting to adopt children from North 
        Korea who are currently living in Hague countries and non-Hague 
        countries regardless of their legal status in such countries;
            (2) propose solutions to deal with the situation in which a 
        North Korean child does not have access to a competent 
        authority in the foreign-sending country;
            (3) propose solutions to deal with North Korean children 
        who are not considered habitual residents of the countries in 
        which they are located;
            (4) evaluate alternative mechanisms for foreign-sending 
        countries to prove that North Korean children are orphans when 
        documentation, such as birth certificates, death certificates 
        of birth parents, or orphanage documentation, is missing or 
        destroyed;
            (5) provide suggestions for working with South Korea to 
        establish pilot programs that identify, provide for the 
        immediate care of, and assist in the international adoption of, 
        orphaned North Korean children living within South Korea;
            (6) provide suggestions for working with aid organizations 
        in Southeast Asia to identify and establish pilot programs for 
        the identification, immediate care, and eventual international 
        adoption of orphaned children from North Korea;
            (7) identify other countries in which large numbers of 
        stateless, orphaned children are living who might be helped by 
        international adoption; and
            (8) propose solutions for assisting orphaned children with 
        Chinese fathers and North Korean mothers who are living in 
        China and have no access to Chinese or North Korean resources.
    (c) Reporting Requirement.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to 
Congress a report that contains the details of the strategy developed 
under this section.
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