KAAN, NAKASEC, Adoptee Citizenship, and a GoFund Me

The time is long overdue for the passage of adoptee citizenship legislation, and, as understandably tired as some folks are, we need to gear up more than ever.

Action steps:

(1) See how you can help via Adoptees for Justice. You can click on the QR code in the photo below, which shows Jimmy Byrne, a Korean adoptee who spoke about citizenship at the 2023 KAAN conference.

Photo Description : The photo shows Jimmy Byrne, a Korean adoptee wearing glasses, on a panel at the KAAN conference. There is a QR code on the screen behind him, which has information about the work of Adoptees For Justice.

(2) Support deported adoptees, like Mike Davis. Any and all help is deeply appreciated. Please donate; please share the link.

Photo Description: This is a photo of Mike Davis, an Ethiopian adoptee, on the GoFundMe page that hopes to raise money for Mike’s legal costs so he can return to the United States.
He was deported to Ethiopia in 2005.

Some background info for this post: About a week ago I attended the national conference of KAAN, the Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network. This was the second time I had attended this conference, and, as before, I was presenting a workshop with the wonderful Astrid Castro and Shelise Gieseke of Adoption Mosaic. I also attended several great workshops presented by others.

One was on Adoptee Citizenship, presented by folks from Adoptees for Justice and NAKASEC, the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium. Both groups have been working on the issue of citizenship for many years, including citizenship for international adoptees.

Adoptees from South Korea make up the largest and now oldest group of international adoptees. As such, they have been active in advocacy work for decades, in South Korea and in their adoptive countries. Around 200,000 South Korean children have been brought to the Unites States for adoption; some 18-20,000 of that group are estimated to be without U.S. citizenship. Some have been deported; some do not know they are not citizens. Some are working on getting through the naturalization process.

The NAKASEC and KAAN efforts are not only for Korean adoptees. Adoptees for Justice (A4J), which has connections with NAKASEC and KAAN, is working for all international adoptees, advocating for full and retroactive citizenship.

At the KAAN workshop, the presenters talked about the legislative history of trying to get citizenship enacted. It seemed possible at the end of the last Congress, but failed again, probably for many reasons. I speculate on some of them here. Certainly there was a lot of time, energy, advocacy, prayers, and hope that went into the effort.

Advocates are working on citizenship legislation in the current session of Congress. It won’t be easy, with so much anti-immigrant sentiment and the upcoming elections. Groups like A4J (and I’m sure other groups) are looking at a variety of strategies, such as state and local government resolutions.

Please contact your legislators. Ask them to support citizenship for all international adoptees. Please help deported adoptees. Please spread the word that deported adoptees deserve to come home, and that all international adoptees deserve citizenship. Many thanks.

Adoptees For Justice: NAAM

This is day 3 of National Adoption Awareness Month, so this is my daily post to amplify the voices of adoptees.

Most people outside the adoption community are often moved by stories of babies and children being adopted internationally, brought to new families, and growing up as proud Americans. It’s the Hallmark narrative, and there are elements of truth to it.

Another less well-known truth is that some of those sweet children grow up not knowing that they’ve never received U.S. citizenship. They don’t learn that truth until they go to vote, or apply for certain financial aid programs, or commit a crime, whether a petty one or a serious felony. Like others (such as biological adult children) who have committed crimes, these adoptees serve their time and handle the consequences. But then, some adoptees, who know only America as their home, are then deported.

it is an outrage. It undermines the heart of adoption, and it is shameful that our United States Congress has yet to enact new legislation to provide citizenship for all international adoptees. I don’t think any other country has failed to do this the way that we have.

The organization Adoptees for Justice has been working to change that. They’ve advocated for the Adoptee Citizenship Act to grant U.S. citizenship to all international adoptees, a status that should have been automatic.

I hope you will visit their website and their Facebook page, for updates and actions. I hope you will contact your federal representatives and ask them to support the Adoptee Citizenship Act, and urge others to do so as well.