[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 915 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 915

 Urging the Government of Ukraine to review and modify its decision to 
  suspend adoption by foreign nationals with a view to resuming such 
   adoptions, particularly in cases where the mutual concerns of the 
 Governments of Ukraine and of the United States can be substantially 
                               addressed.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 6, 2023

 Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. Norcross) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Urging the Government of Ukraine to review and modify its decision to 
  suspend adoption by foreign nationals with a view to resuming such 
   adoptions, particularly in cases where the mutual concerns of the 
 Governments of Ukraine and of the United States can be substantially 
                               addressed.

Whereas adoption, including the adoption of child nationals of one country by 
        adult nationals from another country, can be a profoundly beneficial way 
        to unite children in need of parents with families that are eager and 
        able to open their hearts and homes to children, providing the benefit 
        of a permanent family to children who are orphaned or whose biological 
        parents are otherwise unable to care for them;
Whereas adoptions require government safeguards to insure that they promote the 
        best interest of the child and in order to prevent the abduction, sale, 
        exploitation, or trafficking of children;
Whereas the Government of Ukraine has not acceded to the Hague Convention on 
        Intercountry Adoption, and the circumstances of Russia's unprovoked war 
        against Ukraine render its accession currently difficult;
Whereas, since at least 1992, the Government of Ukraine has facilitated the 
        adoption of Ukrainian children by United States citizens through its 
        domestic law and process, and in the ensuing decades both Ukraine and 
        the United States demonstrated that they shared the concern to protect 
        and ensure the best interests of the child;
Whereas, as a direct result of the Russian Federation's unprovoked invasion of 
        Ukraine in February 2022, the Government of Ukraine temporarily 
        suspended any adoption proceedings and protocols for the placement or 
        adoption of its children with foreign nationals, on March 13, 2022;
Whereas the Government of Ukraine had very significant reasons to suspend 
        intercountry adoption in March 2022, including that it was faced with 
        the urgent and temporary displacement of Ukrainian children, including 
        those who had been previously placed in institutional settings and 
        orphanages, and the impossibility or extraordinary difficulty of 
        conducting official business to protect and ensure the best interests of 
        the child while under the shock of invasion and occupation of Ukrainian 
        territory;
Whereas the Government of Ukraine has substantially restored its ability to 
        conduct official business, including resuming the process of adoptions 
        by Ukrainian nationals since May 31, 2022; and
Whereas the Government of Ukraine has not lifted its suspension of the 
        processing of adoptions by foreign nationals, including United States 
        citizens, nor has it identified a time-frame or protocol for doing so: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) urges the Government of Ukraine to review and modify 
        its decision to suspend adoptions and preadoptive placements of 
        Ukrainian children by United States citizens, and to actually 
        and in good faith resume such adoptions in cases where the 
        mutual concerns of the Government of the United States and of 
        Ukraine to protect and ensure the best interests of the child 
        can be substantially addressed;
            (2) recommends as particularly urgent cases in which 
        prospective adoptive United States parents have already 
        complied with the requirements under Ukrainian domestic law for 
        the adoption of Ukrainian children and that process has 
        confirmed the legitimacy of the adoptability of these children, 
        and cases in which the prospective adoptive United States 
        parents have completed the process set forth under domestic 
        Ukrainian law and have had their dossiers vetted and approved 
        by the Ukrainian Government before the suspension of the 
        adoptions by foreign nations on March 13, 2022;
            (3) recommends that in those cases in which Ukrainian 
        children had already participated in ``hosting'' programs 
        facilitated by the Government of Ukraine and placed with 
        individual families within the United States prior to the 
        suspension of adoptions by foreign nationals, that regarding 
        those children which have already been determined by the 
        Ukrainian Government to be legally adoptable, the United States 
        parents be permitted to initiate the process for adoption and 
        be permitted to receive the preadoptive placement of such 
        children during the Ukrainian domestic adoption process; and
            (4) recommends that in those cases in which Ukrainian 
        children had already participated in ``hosting'' programs 
        facilitated by the Government of Ukraine and placed with 
        individual families within the United States prior to the 
        suspension of adoptions by foreign nationals, that regarding 
        those children whose status regarding legal adoptability 
        remains uncertain at this time, the United States parents be 
        permitted to make application to receive such children in 
        preadoptive placements until the Ukrainian Government either 
        establishes their adoptability or locates or identifies their 
        biological parents.
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