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; 
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•HRES 915 EH 

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 
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•HRES 915 EH 

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 
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•HRES 915 EH 

(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.