a world in which all children grow up within protec-
tive family care and free from deprivation, exploi-
tation, and danger. To effectively and efficiently ac-
complish this goal, it is necessary to realign the 
United States Government’s current operational sys-
tem for assisting orphans and vulnerable children 
and processing intercountry adoptions. 
(7) Significant resources are already dedicated 
to international assistance for orphans and vulner-
able children, and a relatively small portion of these 
resources can be reallocated to achieve more timely, 
effective, nurturing, and permanent familial solu-
tions for children living without families, resulting in 
fewer children worldwide living in institutions or on 
the streets, more families preserved or reunified, and 
increased domestic and international adoptions. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to support the core value that families are 
the bedrock of any society; 
(2) to protect the fundamental human right of 
all children to grow up within the loving care of per-
manent, safe, and nurturing families; 
(3) to address a critical gap in United States 
foreign policy implementation by authorizing a 
whole-of-government strategic approach to ensure 
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coordination within and among the relevant Federal 
agencies for international policy and operational 
structures so that seeking permanent families for 
children living without families receives more promi-
nence, focus, and resources (through the reallocation 
of existing personnel and resources); 
(4) to harness the diplomatic and operational 
power of the United States Government in the inter-
national sphere by helping to identify and implement 
timely, permanent, safe, and nurturing familial solu-
tions for children living without families through ef-
fective implementation of the three core and three 
supporting objectives of the Action Plan on Children 
in Adversity; 
(5) to ensure that intercountry adoption by 
United States citizens becomes a viable and fully de-
veloped option for creating permanent families for 
children who need them; 
(6) to protect against abuses of children; and 
(7) to harmonize and strengthen existing inter-
country adoption processes under United States 
law— 
(A) by ensuring that the same set of proce-
dures and criteria govern suitability and eligi-
bility determinations for prospective adoptive 
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parents seeking to complete intercountry adop-
tions, whether or not the child is from a foreign 
state that is a party to the Hague Adoption 
Convention; and 
(B) by aligning the definitions of eligible 
children for Convention adoptions and non-Con-
vention adoptions to the maximum extent pos-
sible. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ACTION
PLAN
ON
CHILDREN
IN
ADVER-
SITY.—The term ‘‘Action Plan on Children in Adver-
sity’’ means the policy document entitled ‘‘United 
States Government Action Plan on Children in Ad-
versity: A Framework for International Assistance: 
2012–2017’’, released on December 19, 2012. 
(2) AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE.—The term ‘‘Am-
bassador-at-Large’’ means the individual appointed 
pursuant to section 101(b). 
(3) APPROPRIATE, PROTECTIVE, AND
PERMA-
NENT FAMILY CARE.—The term ‘‘appropriate, pro-
tective, and permanent family care’’ means a nur-
turing, lifelong, commitment to a child by an adult, 
or adults with parental roles and responsibilities 
that— 
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(A) provides physical and emotional sup-
port; 
(B) provides the child with a sense of be-
longing; and 
(C) generally involves full legal recognition 
of the child’s status as child of the parents and 
of the parents’ rights and responsibilities re-
garding the child. 
(4) CENTRAL AUTHORITY.—The term ‘‘central 
authority’’ has the meaning given the term in sec-
tion 3 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 
U.S.C. 14902). 
(5) CHILDREN IN ADVERSITY.—The term ‘‘chil-
dren in adversity’’ means children and youth— 
(A) who are younger than 18 years of age; 
(B) who live outside of family care; and 
(C) whose safety, well-being, growth, and 
development are at significant risk due to inad-
equate care, protection, or access to essential 
services. 
(6) CONVENTION ADOPTION.—The term ‘‘Con-
vention adoption’’ has the meaning given the term in 
section 3 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 
(42 U.S.C. 14902). 
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(7) CONVENTION COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘Con-
vention country’’ has the meaning given the term in 
section 3 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 
(42 U.S.C. 14902) and for which the Hague Adop-
tion Convention has entered into force. 
(8) GUARDIANSHIP.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘guardian-
ship’’ means a permanent legal relationship be-
tween an adult and a child, in which the adult 
is lawfully invested with the power, and charged 
with the duty, of taking care of the child. 
(B) PERMANENT
GUARDIANSHIP.—While 
some forms of guardianship are not truly per-
manent, the form of guardianship referred to 
and supported under this Act is permanent 
guardianship. 
(C) KEFALA
ORDER.—A Kefala order 
issued by a country that follows traditional Is-
lamic law does not qualify as an adoption under 
United States law, but may be a form of guard-
ianship in some circumstances. 
(D) FAMILY-LIKE
GROUP
HOMES.—Indi-
vidual parent-child relationships in a small, 
family-like group home in which caretaking is 
provided only by one or more unpaid caretakers 
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