[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 4, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S11630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    ENSURING THE HEALTH OF INTERNATIONALLY ADOPTED CHILDREN UNDER 10

  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise to express my support for H.R. 
2464, legislation to exempt internationally adopted children under age 
10 from the immunization requirement that was contained in last year's 
immigration bill.
  Mr. President, in my view it is important that the Federal Government 
not unnecessarily burden American parents who adopt foreign born 
children. The process of adopting a child abroad is already quite 
arduous and involves great emotional risk. The Federal Government 
should not make that process yet more difficult. It is particularly 
important that we not endanger the health of these children.
  Last year's immigration bill unnecessarily and unintentionally made 
the process of adopting foreign born children more difficult.
  I am, however, concerned that this bill did not go far enough. There 
are adopted children 10 years of age and older who do not need to be 
treated differently than those under 10 years old. Moreover, the 
problems with infected needles in many countries should give us serious 
pause as to whether immigrant children who are not adopted are 
undergoing undue risk.
  I also want to call attention to a provision that I would have 
preferred not be in this bill--the provision requiring that parents of 
the exempted adopted children must sign an affidavit promising to 
vaccinate their children within 30 days or when it is medically 
appropriate. I think we do not want to imply in this or other 
legislation that the Federal Government cares more about children than 
parents do and, unfortunately, I think that is what this provision 
says.
  Despite these reservations, I think that this is a good bill and it 
is an important bill for the many Americans who will be adopting 
children internationally both this year and in the years to come. I 
want to commend the sponsors of the bill and commend the leadership on 
this issue of the two Senators from Arizona, Senator Kyl and Senator 
McCain, who have helped see to it that this important correction in law 
will become a reality and thus help ensure the safe adoption of 
foreign-born children by American citizens.

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