House Bill Introduced to Restrict Abusive Private Adoption Practices

Unscrupulous private adoption practices may become heavily restricted under new federal legislation (H.R. 6220) introduced in the House on November 3.

Private adoption is currently regulated at the state level, where laws vary widely and enforcement is often lax. In recent years, some private agencies have been accused of turning adoption into a lucrative baby brokering business, taking advantage of both vulnerable birth mothers and unsuspecting adoptive parents paying sizable fees for the chance to adopt.

The proposed new legislation would institute new restrictions on unlicensed adoption agencies to prohibit advertising, certain intermediary services between birth and adoptive parents, and payments to or on behalf of the birth parents. Public agencies, private licensed child-placing agencies, and attorneys are exempt from the legislation’s provisions.

The proposed new bipartisan legislation – called the Adoption Deserves Oversight, Protection, and Transparency (ADOPT) Act – was introduced Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH) and cosponsored by Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), and Lloyd Smucker (R-PA).  Ethical Family Building, a new VFA member, and the National Council for Adoption have been leading advocacy efforts on behalf of the legislation.

“The ADOPT Act aims to protect families involved in private domestic adoptions from unlicensed adoption providers and deceptive advertising,” said Celeste Liversidge, Executive Director of Ethical Family Building. “Its primary objective is to safeguard the interests of birth families, adoptive families, and adopted children, from some of the unethical practices that have become increasingly common in recent years.”

Voice for Adoption is also supporting this legislation. We are currently working to add an additional exception for nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations contracted by a public child-placing agency when companion legislation is introduced in the Senate.