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

<DOC>
H. Res. 915

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                     November 21, 2024.
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.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.
```