Protecting vulnerable children from harm and trauma should remain a top priority for Ukraine and the United States.
GREENWOOD, Ind., March 23, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, 73 Members of Congress, led by the co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Adoption Caucus, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Representatives Adam Smith (D-WA) and Robert Aderholt (R-AL), wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Biden Administration to take action to help Ukrainian children currently in the adoption process with American families. The full text of the letter is available HERE.
The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA) is represented by over 500 attorneys from the United States and abroad who specialize in adoption law, assisted reproductive technology law (ART) or both. AAAA provides a credentialed presence in the law of family formation and is the largest professional organization of its type dedicated to advancing the security of children through permanent adoption, the protection of children through safe and secure foster care with appropriate permanency planning, and the recognition of intended parents as legal parents for those using modern medical technology to build families through assisted reproductive technology.
AAAA Attorneys or "Fellows" have been working with many of the families who are seeking to bring the approximately 300 children in Ukraine who are currently involved in the adoption process to the United States to be united with host families. AAAA Fellows have shared with Members of Congress the situation these children are faced with and appreciate the Members of Congress expressing the urgency of this matter to the Administration in their letter.
"Children waiting to be adopted deserve every opportunity to be united with safe, loving families," said AAAA President Genie Miller Gillespie. "Especially as we watch the horror of the invasion of Ukraine unfold, we should do everything we can to help these children."
"Unfortunately for many of these children, the adoption process will take even longer because Ukraine is not in a position to continue the legal process while defending itself from an invasion," said Kelly Dempsey, Co-chair of the AAAA Committee on Intercountry Adoption. "As an Adoption Attorney and AAAA Fellow, I am working closely with many of the families seeking to bring these children into their homes. These children in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe should not be forced to wait longer to be united with safe, loving families when the United States has the ability to provide relief and allow them to travel to the United States now."
AAAA urges the State Department to act swiftly to help unite these children with American families, and to ensure that the adoption process between Ukraine and the United States can be quickly reestablished at the soonest possible time.
AAAA is headquartered in Greenwood, Indiana. For more information, visit us at adoptionart.org.
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Media Contact
Kelly Dempsey, Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, (919) 710-8199, [email protected]
Genie Miller Gillespie, Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, (312) 332-6339, [email protected]
SOURCE Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys
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