Accountability by agencies
Jennifer Haynes was adopted from India when she was eight years old. She was sexually abused by her foster and adoptive parents and her adoption was disrupted. She bounced around to various placements.
And nobody acquired citizenship for her. So at the age of twenty-seven, she was deported.
Now she’s moving to hold the agency accountable.
What I want to know is why agencies don’t require parents to obtain citizenship and proof of citizenship for their children. I know that some agencies require a deposit to ensure that post-placement report requirements are met. However, I do not believe that agencies routinely require proof of citizenship by adoptive parents for their adoptive children. In fact, an adoptive parent I recently met told me that her agency said that proof of citizenship was not necessary. Worse yet, her child arrived on an IR-4 visa, which means that she did not acquire automatic citizenship.
I suspect we’re going to see more Jennifer Haynes and Brad Zazuetas in the future.
Posted on June 22, 2009, in privilege. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.
I think my daughter arrived on an IR-4 and I believe I was told that was enough (since they changed the rules a couple years ago?)
We did receive a COC about 6 weeks or so after we brought her into America.
PS, I have never heard of a great adoption agency. Only the lesser of evils.
Our homestudy agency did our Postplacements like this:
Our 1 month was done at 3 months though we called them repeatedly. While at our house she berated us for not trying to socialize our daughter enough.
Our 3 month was done at 6 months and she didn’t even bother to come to our house.
Our six month has not been done to my knowledge. Our daughter has been here 9 months. It’s really disgusting. I am going to have to change agencies.
Some agencies have gag clauses in their contracts, if you complain publicly than they will sue you.
Adoption agencies are big business, once the adoption is final, they don’t want to spend any more money than they have to, so pushing parents to obtain the necessary paperwork, such as an amended birth certificate so it is on file where your child can access it in case the originals get lost, or getting a valid passport, or the CoC, is not in their interest. They really don’t care.
Anybody who claims that they have a good agency, well, any time I ever met someone who said that, I could usually find out something horrible that the parents either had happen or happened to someone in their travel group. Like one couple who loved their agency but saw nothing wrong with switching a baby’s paperwork with another?
The follow up home studies for China, are China’s requirements, not the agencies, that was implemented a few year ago, before that, agencies didn’t perform them.
I hope the adult adoptee in this case sues and wins, but the courts seem to favor agencies. I know of an adoption “specialist” who was convicted of forgery, when a family and social worker sued that agency, the court ruled in the agency’s favor, I couldn’t believe it, oh wait, yes I could.
Wow, I didn’t realize that was not the case all-around nowadays. Both our agency and the sending country required proof of citizenship within 2 years of guardianship.
Psychobabble, i would be willing to bet that your agency requires proof of citizenship because the sending country requires it.
Good point, Kathy. Post placement requirements definitely differ from program to program within the agency, based on each sending country’s laws.
Jennifer Haynes was adopted prior to 2000, when the Child Citizen Act became law and as a result of which international adoptees automatically receive US citizenship.
This law does not apply retroactively, so international adoptees adopted before 2000 are at risk being deported in case they break the law if for some reason their citizenship has not been successfully applied for.
Here are some other cases: http://poundpuplegacy.org/deportation_cases
Hi Niels, nice to see you. Your site is great.
The Child Citizenship Act was effective February 27, 2001, and did apply retroactively in limited circumstances. The child had to be under 18 as of that date, adopted before age 16*, have at least one parent who is a United States citizen and have a very specific immigration status.
But every year thousands of children immigrate to the U.S. to be adopted under the IR-4 visa, which means they don’t acquire automatic citizenship.
There is also at least one case of an adoptee being picked up in an immigration sweep. Also, state and county governments are increasingly moving towards having local law enforcement enforce immigration law. Thus I believe adoptee deportation will unfortunately become more common.
*Note that this can sometimes be a later age if a sibling adoption was completed and a biological sibling was younger than 16.
Niels, thanks for all the work you are doing.
I just want to add here that I had to call my United States Senator for both of my children, one adopted prior to the Child Citizen Act took INS two years to process and then only after calling the senator’s office. The second time around, the one that was supposed to be automatic, was a NIGHTMARE, they spelled her name wrong, our address, and county, and we waited for hours on end, you can’t eat or drink there, they wouldn’t let my 82 year old mother wait with us, and I even saw them tell a man to take a toy away from a baby. I filed a complaint with my United States senator, and it took another nine months to get a new appointment. I know that not everyone has had that experience, but I hated going to that office so much I thought I’d have a nervous breakdown the last time I was in there.
There is another important issue besides citizenship. Even for a child adopted after 2000 who had automatic citizenship, there is not automatic legal acceptance of the child as a full, legal child of the family for inheritance purposes. I have heard of a couple of cases of bio children successfully contesting an adopted child’s claim to an inheritance. Example – bio kids from a first marriage, adopted child from a second marriage, there is no bond at all between the families.
The protection is to readopt under US law, regardless of citizenship status (and I believe that this assists documenting US citizenship too). I’ve often seen postings by APs who snivel about the cost (a few hundred dollars) – unconscionable, to me, not to do this. But I think trying to avoid this step is common.
Lori,
That is a good point. also designated beneficary forms for 401k/457/ and pensions , when a parent is single, should be filled out and notorized, designated beneficiary forms do not go through probate, the transfer of funds goes automatically to the beneficiary. I think a married couple must agree to designate other than spouse for the primary beneficiary for these forms.
I was told that although citizenship IS automatic, you still have to acquire PROOF of citizenship, and that could take the form of a US Passport *OR* a Certificate of Citizenship. I opted for the $80 passport (a document with other uses) over the $450 Certificate.
The more I read about these cases, though, I am rethinking this. I think when my second child comes home later this year, I’ll get certificates for both of my kids. Even tho the cost is ridiculous.
Hi Bets, the reason I have both is because the CoC is permanent, the passport expires and has to be renewed.