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 or-
phaned 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 traf-
ficking of children; 
Whereas the Government of Ukraine has not acceded to the 
Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, and the cir-
cumstances 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 pro-
tect and ensure the best interests of the child;
•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 adop-
tion proceedings and protocols for the placement or adop-
tion of its children with foreign nationals, on March 13, 
2022; 
Whereas the Government of Ukraine had very significant rea-
sons to suspend intercountry adoption in March 2022, in-
cluding 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 dif-
ficulty of conducting official business to protect and en-
sure the best interests of the child while under the shock 
of invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory; 
Whereas the Government of Ukraine has substantially re-
stored 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 sus-
pension of the processing of adoptions by foreign nation-
als, 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 citi-
zens, and to actually and in good faith resume such 
adoptions in cases where the mutual concerns of the
•HRES 915 EH 
Government of the United States and of Ukraine to pro-
tect 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 adopt-
ability of these children, and cases in which the prospec-
tive 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 ini-
tiate the process for adoption and be permitted to re-
ceive the preadoptive placement of such children during 
the Ukrainian domestic adoption process; and
•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 adopt-
ability or locates or identifies their biological parents. 
Attest: 
Clerk.