Citizenship for Adoptees Project: Implementation in Washington State

Abstract

The United States has been a receiving country of intercountry adoptees since the end of World War II, with the trend increasing dramatically during the aftermath of the Korean War. Since that time, over 500,000 children born overseas have been adopted by American parents, with the promise of being placed in a safe, loving, and permanent home. Unfortunately, when intercountry adoption began, citizenship was not automatically granted to the adopted children of American citizen parents. Adoptive parents needed to ensure the adoption was final, and then complete the naturalization process on behalf of their child. For various reasons, some parents either did not know or did not choose to complete the process, which left tens of thousands intercountry adoptees without U.S. citizenship. The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 granted automatic and retroactive citizenship to some, but not all intercountry adoptees. This excluded an estimated 25,000-49,000 adoptees nationally, with approximately 2,000 adoptees residing in Washington State. As a result, adoptees are denied the equal rights and protections promised through their adoption by U.S. citizen parents, such as the right to vote, obtain a passport, go to school, or legally work. Adoptees without citizenship live in fear, and some are at risk for deportation back to a country where they don’t have the language or cultural skills needed to survive.