International adoptees to the United States didn’t get “automatic” citizenship until the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, and that was only for adoptees 18 and younger. Many international adoptees from many different countries are without citizenship–folks in their 30’s on through their 80’s and beyond, Some know they don’t have citizenship, and they are worried. Some assume they are citizens. Some have been deported because they did not, for whatever variety of reasons, obtain citizenship.
“We’ll discuss ways to increase outreach for the Protect Adoptees and American Families (PAAF) Act and share updates about plans and programs for 2026.
This event is free and open to adoptees, adoptive parents and family members, and allies.”
The Protect Adoptees and American Families Act (PAAF) is the current incarnation of legislation designed to give citizenship to all international adoptees. Info on the PAAF is available here from Adoptees for Justice, and here from Adoptees United.
I hope that many adoptive parents will join this effort, including parents whose children are young, parents whose children are well into adulthood, and parents whose children (whatever age) have full proof of citizenship. We need your help in making sure all international adoptees have citizenship.
President Trump recently announced that immigrant visas from 75 countries are being frozen; “the freeze, which takes effect on 21 January, targets applicants officials deem likely to become a ‘public charge’ – people who they believe may rely on government benefits for basic needs.”
The freeze thus affects international adoptees in the process of being adopted: they are considered immigrants seeking permanent U.S. citizenship.
Temporary visas are not included in the freeze. That’s why visitors for the World Cup will be fine as well as other tourist, student, and business visas.
The freeze affects folks who are looking to be in the U.S. permanently, such as Permanent Residents (green card holders) who can work here, collect Social Security, travel internationally and return to the U.S., file taxes, and obey all laws. Green card holders over the age of 18 must carry their green cards at all times.
International adoptees typically travel with an IR-3 or IR-4 (Immediate Relative) visa or an IH-3/I-H 4 (Immediate Hague) visas.
Those adoptee visas are frozen now.
Of the 75 countries for which immigrant visas are currently frozen, about 20 are currently open to international adoption. The numbers of adoptions from those countries are for the most part small. Some of the countries have signed The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption; some have not. A list of Hague countries is here. Some have signed The Hague treaty and are not open to adoption now.
The bottom line is that the U.S. government has frozen adoption-related visas from countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Ghana, Jamaica, Nigeria, Thailand, Cameroon, Haiti, and others. I have no idea how many children are currently designated for international adoption from any of those countries. It’s probably in the low hundreds, I’d guess.
In any case, their visas are frozen, since adoptees fall into that category of immigrant seeking to be in the U.S. permanently who could become “public charges,” meaning they might need long-term institutional care or care that is otherwise long-term for basic needs, like long-term Medicaid.
Personal photo by Maureen McCauley
Children with special needs, many of whom are adopted to the U.S., could fall into this category of potentially needing long-term care. “Special needs” is a phrase that covers correctable medical conditions (cleft palate, some heart ailments), or physical conditions which may not be correctable but are more easily managed in the U.S. than in countries of origin. These might include limb differences, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, blindness, for example. Special needs can also include emotional and developmental needs, some of which emerge over time. Trauma–such as separation from one’s mother, country, and culture; abuse and neglect; exposure to violence; natural disasters; housing of food insecurity– is often part of adoption. Obviously, not all people with special needs ever become “public charges” or need long-term care.
While international adoption numbers have declined in recent years, due to fraud, corruption, increased costs, trafficking, stricter regulations, more emphasis on in-country adoption, some countries still send children with special needs, often called waiting children (this could include sibling groups) for international adoption). I realize this is not always the case, but many of these children get far better care here than they otherwise would have.
The current visa freeze ends that possibility. There is no suggestion at this point that there will be an exception for adoptees.
What will be the outcry about this?
One reason I am curious is because of a parallel with the deportation of adoptees. International adoptees without U.S. citizenship have not been exempt from deportation.
Our country has shown virtually no interest or compassion about the notion that international adoptees, brought with the legal permission of the sending country and the U.S, to be here forever, should not be subject to deportation.
That we deport international adoptees is, to me, a shameful tragedy. It seems similarly tragic that we are now banning adoptions particularly of vulnerable children. Yet it is also consistent in terms of U.S. policy, supported by our federal government.
Many of us here in the US are worried about adoptees these days, those whom we love and those who are in the adoption community. The ICE raids, the sweeps at schools and courthouses, the characterization of Somali immigrants as “garbage,” the end of Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopians and others, the banning of travelers from 39 countries (most from Africa): it’s a lot to take in. Add to that the tragic death of Renee Good, the divisive rhetoric in our country, and the suspicion with which immigrants are treated, and you can understand why anxiety and fear are in the air.
International adoptees are immigrants, and many are concerned, as are their adoptive parents.
I heard today about an adoptive parent whose young adult child was held by ICE for about 45 minutes, The adoptee, fortunately, had a Certificate of Citizenship, and that ended the time with ICE. Even so, I’d bet it was a scary time for that young international adoptee. I know of a mom who worries about her daughter waiting at a bus stop. I know adopted adults who say they are looking over their shoulder on a regular basis. Those in Minnesota are particularly, understandably, anxious. I heard from an adoptive parent that she didn’t realize that the Enhanced Driver’s License (available in 5 states) provides both identity and proof of citizenship.
Most adoptees have citizenship, but not all, especially those who were over 18 when the Child Citizenship Act was passed, providing automatic citizenship to international adoptees. I highly recommend all international adoptees get their Certificate of Citizenship (CoC), the gold standard to prove they are U.S. citizens.
Even with the CoC, many adoptees and adoptive parents want to be sure they are doing all they can in the event they get in trouble with the law, or they are caught up in a sweep, or are otherwise challenged to prove their citizenship. Maybe they will not have any issues or challenges–that would be wonderful. And there’s nothing wrong with being prepared.
I’ve put together some info about government documents that prove citizenship and identity, about Temporary Protective Status which ends February 13 for Ethiopians, and about ideas for phone security and for carrying around government-issued documents. I hope folks will find it helpful. It has a disclaimer, as I am not an expert nor an attorney. I’ve had a lawyer look at it; any errors are mine. Let me know if it needs corrections–thank you.
We need information, and we need community. We need folks to know that they are not alone, and that includes deported international adoptees. I hope all international adoptees have accurate information, and are safe. I hope all adoptive parents will stay informed and supportive of their children, whether the children are in elementary school or are working, married, homeowners, adventurers, whatever the case may be. As an adoptive parent and as a grandmother, I know there is so much we don’t have control over once our children leave the house, whether to live across the country or to ride the bus to school.
Huge congratulations to Leyla Angelidis, one of our Lions Roaringwriters! As part of her amazing work with Open Hearts Big Dreams (OHBD), Leyla has written several books for early readers in Ethiopia.
Beautiful Dreams, in Amharic and English, was nominated for “Best Illustration,” and features artists from Ethiopia and elsewhere. It was illustrated by the wonderful Nahosenay Negussie, an incredibly talented Ethiopian artist whose work is on the cover of Lions Roaring Far From Home.
“The book’s message is that little girls can dream about becoming anything they want to be—a dream that Leyla holds for children everywhere.”
Open Hearts Big Dreams is a Seattle-based, not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to increasing literacy, inclusion, innovation readiness, and leadership skills in Ethiopia and beyond. Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country, but tens of millions of people there are without literacy skills, and there is a lack of sufficient quality, culturally relevant children’s bilingual books in the local languages, including Amharic, Tigrinya, Afaan Oromo, Somali, Anuak, and more, as well as English, French, Kiswahili, and more. Follow them on Facebook.
Taken from OHBD Facebook site
They have won many other awards as well. Take a look here at the impressive awards. You can buy some books, from small booksellers as well as the big names. Spread the word about these books. Literacy changes lives—there is no doubt about that. Books are vitally important for all children, and I’d say especially those who rarely have them. This is a beautiful and effective way to support vulnerable children in Ethiopia and elsewhere.
According to The Korea Herald, “The South Korean government is preparing to end overseas adoptions by 2029, shifting responsibility for adoption from private agencies to the state in a move officials say is aimed at strengthening child protection.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday it has approved a five-year child welfare blueprint, formally titled the Third Basic Plan for Child Policy, which prioritizes domestic adoption and charts a gradual end to overseas adoptions. The plan was endorsed by a government coordination committee chaired by the prime minister.
The scheme anchors the child welfare agenda of President Lee Jae Myung, who has described Korea’s history of overseas adoption as a national failure.”
Some 200,000 children have been adopted from South Korea since the mid-1950’s, to the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe. The numbers of international adoptions generally have declined significantly in recent years; South Korea is no exception. In addition, South Korea has been under scrutiny for its historic adoption practices.
Per PBS, the U.N. played a role in this newest development: “United Nations investigators voiced ‘serious concern’ over what they described as Seoul’s failure to ensure truth-finding and reparations for widespread human rights violations tied to decades of mass overseas adoptions.
The announcement Friday came hours after the United Nations human rights office released South Korea’s response to investigators urging Seoul to spell out concrete plans to address the grievances of adoptees sent abroad with falsified records or abused by foreign parents.”
South Korea will phase out foreign adoptions over a five-year period, aiming to reach zero by 2029 at the latest as it tightens welfare policies for children in need of care,’ Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Lee Seuran said during a briefing.
South Korea approved foreign adoptions of 24 children in 2025, down from around 2,000 in 2005 and an annual average of more than 6,000 during the 1980s.”
Per The Korea Herald, the Korean government has significant policies planned as adoptions end: “The plan also overhauls foster care, moving child placements under full state management and recognizing foster families as a formal family category with expanded legal authority.
Provincial governments will be required to regularly assess foster homes, adoptive families and child care facilities, while support for reunification with biological families will be expanded.
In response to repeated child abuse deaths, the government will establish a special review body to conduct in depth analyses of fatal cases and is considering a broader system to examine the causes of all child deaths.
Beyond adoption, the plan broadens social support. Child allowances will be gradually extended to children under 13 by 2030, with additional payments for nonmetropolitan and depopulating regions.
The government also plans to introduce short-term parental leave, expand overnight community child care and broaden vaccination coverage.”
Many countries (Guatemala, Ethiopia, Russia, China, Romania, more) have ended or drastically restricted international adoptions, sometimes with the urging of the United Nations. The reasons often involve fraud, corruption, and abuse of adoptees.
The restrictions or endings do not mean that there are no longer children in need of families, safety, education, and medical care. Given the numbers of Korean adoptees and adoptive families, the substantive advocacy of Korean adoptees, and the fact the United Nations has weighed in, I am hopeful that there will be oversight given to the new policies for vulnerable children in Korea, which include domestic adoption.
Adoptive parents can (and should) contribute to the needs of the children, even as programs close. In the case of South Korea, KUMFA (Korean Unwed Mothers and Families Association) might be of interest. There are many organizations doing hard work to help children, and they deserve support. Also, Adoptees for Justice have been promoting justice in adoptee, immigrant, racial, and social justice spaces for years, particularly around the deportation of Korean and other international adoptees.
Mike is an Ethiopian adoptee, raise by his U.S. Army adoptive dad on military bases. Mike settled in Georgia. He got married, had children, and ran various businesses.
Over 30 years ago, he got into trouble with the law. He served his time, and has had no trouble with the law since then.
As is true for too many adoptees today, Mike was unable to prove his citizenship, despite his dad’s efforts: documents had been lost, government agencies failed to respond, and his lawyers were unreliable and uniformed about adoption and immigration laws. Mike was deported back to Ethiopia in 2005, and been separated from his friends and family since then. He has yet to meet his grandchildren in person.
We started a GoFund Me for Mike in June 2023. Mike is deeply grateful to all who have donated.
Mike in Addis in 2023
A total of $5250 has been raised over the last two and half years. Mike has used about $5000 of it, so roughly $2500 each year, to cover rent, food, access to water, legal fees, and medical care. His other sources of income are minimal at this point.
While that $210 a month goes fairly far in Ethiopia, it’s not much. He lives a hard life. His efforts to attain citizenship have involved document fees, lawyer fees, and more, at U.S. prices. It’s been an uphill climb in many ways.
Many folks in the adoption community want to let Mike know he has not been forgotten. Mike has had a rough time in Ethiopia, though he does not complain. He had no friends, no money, and no work when he arrived 20 years ago. He’s done his best to survive alone. Safe housing, food, and medical care haven’t always been easy to find. He’s dealing with health issues now in his early 60’s.
Please help. Donations have slowed significantly, and inflation/expenses are rising these days in Ethiopia.
Please join me in wishing Mike a Happy Birthday, and donate to our GoFund Me. Please share the GoFundMe with others.
So many people support international adoption. Please support international adoptees as well, in this case a now-63 year old man who made a mistake over 30 years ago, and who believed (as many adoptees do) that he had citizenship (he paid taxes, he paid into Social Security). His wife, his sons, and his grandkids would love to have him back.
Mike is a good person. Adoptive families and adoptees have met up with him in Addis, which has brought him great joy.
As a community, I invite everyone to wish Mike a good birthday, and to send your prayers, blessings, and hopes that he might return to the U.S., which was supposed to be his forever home.
Many thanks. Amasegenallo (thank you in Amharic).
Please also support the valuable work of Adoptees for Justice, who have helped Mike and many other adoptees in positive, productive ways. They are a hard-working, amazing organization.
Today is Adoptee Remembrance Day, designed to honor and remember adoptees who have died, who have been deported, who are survivors of the Troubled Teen Industry, who are incarcerated, who have been abandoned after being adopted, and those dealing with mental illness and/or substance abuse. We honor and remember all the forms of loss in the adoption community.
My post today is drawn essentially from my 2024 post about Adoptee Remembrance Day. The reasons for the day remain the same, and I am grateful for all those, especially adopted people, who promote awareness and the need for this day.
In the words of Pamela Karanova, the U.S. adoptee who founded Adoptee Remembrance Day, “While our primary goal is to uplift the legacy of those who are no longer with us, we also seek to share the truth of how adoption has impacted each of us. October 30th is our day of truth, transparency, and remembrance—a day for adoptees around the world to come together and be seen.”
What can you do to observe this day? There are many wonderful suggestions here. I’ve drawn some ideas below from the Adoptee Remembrance page. Please consider these actions, and share them with others.
if you are in the U.S., contact your U.S. federal representatives asking for support of the Protect Adoptees and Adoptive Families Act, legislation to provide citizenship to all international adoptees.
Pause for a moment of silence for adoptees who have died.
Donate to help Mike Davis, who was adopted by a U.S. Army officer and was deported to Ethiopia in 2005. He has never met his grandchildren, and hasn’t been his wife and children for many years.
Twelve years ago yesterday, the parents of Ethiopian adoptee Hanna Williams were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for Hanna’s death. So many of keep Hanna in our hearts.
Adoptee Remembrance Day is “a beacon of awareness, remembrance, and solidarity.” Deep gratitude to those who work tirelessly to help and support adopted people around the globe.
While I have not yet had the joy of meeting Hanna in person, I know her through her beautiful essay in “Lions Roaring Far from Home: an Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees.” We chose her essay intentionally to close out the book. If you’ve read “The Return” from our book, you know its gentle power.
“#Ethiopia Launches “Journey to Root” Initiative to Reconnect Adoptees Abroad with Ancestral Heritage Addis Abeba –The Ethiopian government has unveiled a new initiative titled “Journey to Root” to help Ethiopian-born adoptees living abroad reconnect with their ancestral homeland and strengthen their cultural identity, the Ministry of Tourism announced. In a press briefing held on 24 October 2025, the ministry said the program is designed to enable adoptees to “learn, appreciate, and experience the country’s diverse culture, natural beauty, and historical heritage,” while fostering deeper emotional and cultural ties with Ethiopia.
Endegena Abebe (PhD), State Minister of Tourism, said during the briefing that the initiative draws inspiration from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s earlier call for people of Ethiopian descent around the world to visit their homeland. That call led to the “Back to Your Origins” campaign, which sought to encourage greater diaspora engagement. According to the ministry, Journey to Root will organize guided visits for adoptees from various countries across #Europe and #North_America, providing opportunities to explore Ethiopia’s languages, traditions, and national identity.
The program is described as “a bridge of understanding and belonging” for those separated from their roots at a young age. Ambassador Fitsum Arega, Executive Director of the Ethiopian Diaspora Service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the government remains committed to supporting all Ethiopians abroad, including adoptees, who wish to take part in the country’s cultural and development efforts. The Journey to Root initiative was jointly developed by the Ministry of Tourism, the Ethiopian Diaspora Service, the Addis Ababa Tourism Commission, Hareg Audio-Visual Production, and members of the adoptee community in Sweden, according to the ministry.”
Screen Shot from Addis Standard on X.
I hope this is a positive development for Ethiopian adoptees. It will be interesting to see how the program rolls out. Will adoptees’ travel be funded? Will there be access to their records? Will programs go to all regions? Will there be social work support for the emotional journey of visiting their motherland?
Beyond the many questions of logistics and funding, there could be concerns about the current security levels in the country, pressure for adoptees to bring more dollars (and other currencies) to Ethiopia as other members of the diaspora often do, and a rekindling of unregulated cottage industries that faded when adoptions were ended from Ethiopia in 2018. Adoptions of Ethiopian children brought in huge amounts of money to the country, via drivers, bed and breakfasts, translators, tourist spots, and more. Not all of them, including the adoption agencies, were as scrupulous and transparent as would have been hoped. The role of capitalism, the imbalance of wealth, and the impact of privilege all played a complex part.
I don’t mean that to sound cynical on my part. Perhaps cautious. And I am happy to be proven wrong.
I am heartened by the fact that members of the Swedish adoptee community were involved–they are an older (many in their 40’s and 50’s) group–and so they have an important perspective on this.
I am hopeful that this will be a positive, viable, feasible program for adoptees from around the world. Ethiopia is a complex country with astonishingly beautiful nature, mountains, waterfalls, and wildlife. Many adoptees have been unable to return because of the costs, though many (at least via GoFundMe and similar) very much want to go. May the adoptees who are able to travel there be welcomed back to their homeland.
The subtitle is “Republicans are laying the groundwork for the President to deport Black folks. We cannot let them do so without a fight.”
The post discusses a proposal by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) to block ICE agents from using tax dollars to deport U.S. citizens. The Root says, “the idea of deporting U.S. citizens should give any thinking person pause. We can have a debate about people who are in the country illegally, but there should be NO debate about folks who are citizens.” (Emphasis in the original.)
Republicans voted down Jayapal’s proposal twice.
“When it comes to immigration,” The Root notes, “President Trump clearly has it out for brown folks…it is reasonable to suspect that we (Black people) are a close second.” They note the attack on DEI programs, the quote about considering deportation of U.S. “homegrown” criminals, and the troops sent into predominantly Black communities. “His behavior suggests that he equates cities that have an abundant Black population as inherently criminal.”
The article concludes: “(W)e must remain vigilant and keep a watchful eye. They are laying the groundwork for the Commander In Chief to deport Black folks. We cannot let them do so without a fight.”
Whatever your race, you may or may not agree with The Root. The article deserves consideration, as a position voiced by a media site with 1.6 million followers.
We know that brown folks are being rounded up, sometimes including U.S. citizens. We know that too few are getting due process. We know that international adoptees have been deported.
We know that adoptees, those born in the U.S. and those adopted internationally, are wondering about their status and value here in the U.S. That includes black adoptees, whether from New Orleans, Haiti, Ethiopia, Congo, or New York City.
To learn and understand, I listen to a range of black folks and a range of adoptees, and to black adoptees, because I am a white, non-adopted, born in the U.S.-with-proof-thereof person.
So I am also remaining vigilant and keeping a watchful eye.
