Category: Adoption Policies
Alexandria, VA - The team at National Council For Adoption (NCFA) endorses legislation (S. 1458/H.R. 2833) introduced this week that, if enacted, would support more families who adopt children in n...
Download the PDF Version Adoption on Capitol Hill As we look to the new Congress, the National Council For Adoption team is ready to educate and advocate for our policy priorities. Thos...
Updated January 2025 The Adoption Tax Credit can significantly offset the costs and fees of an adoption process, but prospective adoptive parents need to ensure they understand the basics before de...
Download the PDF Version Addressing infertility as part of educating, orienting, and assessing prospective adoptive parents is an ongoing part of my clinical practice in adoption. Whi...
The effects of adoption are widespread. Six in ten Americans have had personal experience with adoption, meaning they themselves, a family member, or a close friend was adopted, had adopted a child...
Introduced in November 2023, and endorsed by NCFA, the ADOPT Act would reform existing law and strengthen ethical practices to better protect everyone involved in a private, domestic infant adoptio...
Introduction The ever-increasing cost and unpredictability of private domestic adoption have recently garnered significant media attention. While responses from members of the adoption community ha...
History and Impacts The Adoption and Safe Families Act, better known as "ASFA," is considered by many to be the most significant child welfare system reform legislation of the 20th century. Pri...
The U.S. Department of State has released the FY2022 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption. This covers the period of time from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. In the report, the Depar...
Originally published in the Opinion section of the Washington Post, November 30, 2022 and is available here. The Nov. 19 Made by History essay, "Our adoption policies have harmed families and child...
The U.S. Department of State has published its annual report on intercountry adoptions completed between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. During this time, there were 1,785 intercountry...
Adoptions that take place across state lines often involve the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), an important legislative agreement to facilitate interstate child welfare rela...
Improving the adoption process and long-term outcomes for everyone impacted by adoption will require legislative action by Congress to address key issues. In the January 2022 issue of the Adoption ...
Renewed discussion of racial inequality throughout the U.S. has revitalized attention to racial disproportionalities in the child welfare system and how they might best be addressed. The Multiethni...
Access to adoption and birth records for adoptees sits at the intersection of ethics, privacy, confidentiality, and adoptee rights. Carefully navigating these delicate topics requires an understand...
On Friday, July 9, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided case No. 20-5158, in which National Council For Adoption (NCFA) was appellant. The matter centered ar...
ALEXANDRIA, VA, June 9, 2021 - National Council For Adoption (NCFA) supports the passage of S. 1156 and H.R. 3031, the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2021 (ATCRA). The proposed legislatio...
America's foster care system is in crisis. Despite real efforts to effect change, over 120,000 children remain in the system awaiting a permanent family through adoption. Finding the right families...
In many adoption processes, prospective adoptive parents are asked to agree in advance to comply with post-adoption reporting requirements. This is especially true for intercountry adoptions, as ma...
By Crystal Kupper Subtle yet steady, a culture war has been slowly brewing in the child advocacy world. It boasts no herald to announce its merits to the nation, and few outside its fields of battl...
Each November, we recognize National Adoption Month as an opportunity to raise awareness and celebrate adoptive families and their children who have benefitted from both domestic and intercount...
Prioritization of Adoption Visa Adjudication & Granting Humanitarian Parole for U.S. Citizens with Completed Adoptions March 27, 2020 - Alexandria, VA - Many U.S. families in the midst of inter...
NCFA is celebrating 40 years of advocating for children, birth families, and adoptive families. We continue to see adoption practice evolve, including new or expanded opportunities for famil...
The start of any New Year is usually considered a milestone for people and organizations alike, but for National Council For Adoption (NCFA), 2020 takes on even more significance than usual. Not on...
National news outlets have reported on the arrest this week of Arizona attorney Paul Petersen, who has been indicted on numerous charges related to the alleged trafficking of pregnant women and chi...
I. Introduction The work of intercountry adoption agencies has always been larger than simply the placement of children with families. In addition to the placement of children, these agencies- as a...
Editor's Note: Adoption Advocate No. 152, issued in February 2021, provides updated information on the Adoption Tax Credit and is available here. While Americans have a very positive view of adopti...
Adoption. The real problem of intercountry adoption is that there is too little of it. Adoption is the only institution whereby unparented children become legal daughters and sons by force of a d...
"Children who are unaccompanied or have been separated from their parents or guardians at the U.S. border are not—nor should they be considered—candidates for adoption by American citizens. Thi...
The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, commonly referred to as the Hague Convention on Adoption, went into force internationally in...
Ethiopia's parliament has passed legislation banning intercountry adoption. NCFA's Ryan Hanlon joined BBC World Service Radio to discuss how this decision places unparented children at risk. NCFA ...
It is critically important that parents who have adopted through intercountry adoption keep their promises and submit post-adoption reports as they committed to during the adoption process. NCFA bel...
Thirty years of research shows that positive interactions between a child and primary caregiver(s) significantly impacts brain development. Studies show that children raised in family-based care (b...
Editor’s Note: While it is often easier to focus on the majority of successful adoptions, it is important for adoption and child welfare advocates to look closely at the cases in which adoption di...
Yesterday, the Supreme Court released an opinion on Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. The facts in this case are not simple. Summarily though, a man enrolled in the Cherokee tribe and a non-native Ame...