II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 938 

To amend the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to require the Secretary 

of State to report on intercountry adoptions from countries which have 

significantly reduced adoption rates involving immigration to the United 

States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2019 

Mr. BURR (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. 

TILLIS, Mr. BROWN, and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To amend the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to require 

the Secretary of State to report on intercountry adoptions from countries which have significantly reduced 

adoption rates involving immigration to the United 

States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Intercountry Adoption 

5 Information Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN 

2 ANNUAL REPORT ON INTERCOUNTRY ADOP3 TIONS. 

4 (a) REPORT ELEMENTS.—Section 104(b) of the 

5 Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14914(b)) 

6 is amended by adding at the end the following new para7 graphs: 

8 ‘‘(9) A list of countries that established or 

9 maintained a significant law or regulation that pre10 vented or prohibited adoptions involving immigration 

11 to the United States, regardless of whether such 

12 adoptions occurred under the Convention. 

13 ‘‘(10) For each country listed under paragraph 

14 (9), the date on which the law or regulation was ini15 tially implemented. 

16 ‘‘(11) Information on efforts taken with respect 

17 to a country listed under paragraph (9) to encourage 

18 the resumption of halted or stalled adoption pro19 ceedings involving immigration to the United States, 

20 regardless of whether the adoptions would have oc21 curred under the Convention. 

22 ‘‘(12) Information on any action the Secretary 

23 carried out that prevented, prohibited, or halted any 

24 adoptions involving immigration to the United 

25 States, regardless of whether the adoptions occurred 

26 under the Convention. 


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1 ‘‘(13) For each country listed pursuant to para2 graph (12), a description of— 

3 ‘‘(A) what policies, procedures, resources, 

4 and safeguards the country lacks, or other 

5 shortcomings or circumstances, that caused the 

6 action to be carried out; 

7 ‘‘(B) what progress the country has made 

8 to alleviate those shortcomings; and 

9 ‘‘(C) what steps the Department of State 

10 has taken in order to assist the country to re11 open intercountry adoptions.’’. 

12 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REPORT.—Section 104 

13 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 

14 14914) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

15 subsection: 

16 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REPORT.—The Sec17 retary shall make the information contained in the report 

18 required under subsection (a) available to the public on 

19 the website of the Department of State.’’. 

20 (c) PRIVACY CONCERNS.—In complying with the 

21 amendments made by subsections (a) and (b), the Sec22 retary shall avoid, to the maximum extent practicable, dis23 closing any personally identifiable information relating to 

24 United States citizens or the adoptees of such citizens. 


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1 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 104(a) of 

2 the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 

3 14914(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘International Rela4 tions’’ and inserting ‘‘Foreign Affairs’’. 

5 (e) APPLICATION DATE.—The amendments made by 

6 this section shall apply with respect to reports required 

7 to be submitted under section 104 of the Intercountry 

8 Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14914) beginning on the 

9 date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

10 Act. 

Æ 


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