Congressional Coalition On Adoption
An informal bicameral caucus of members of Congress who actively support adoption.
Members of the coalition are interested in children who would benefit from adoption and in adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents. The coalition seeks to remove barriers to adoption, both domestic and international, promote understanding of infant adoption and support the adoption of children in foster care awaiting adoption.
As of this writing, there are four cochairs, all of whom are adoptive parents. They are: Rep. Thomas Bliley (Va.) and Rep. Jim Oberstar (Minn.), original cofounders with former senator from Texas Lloyd Bentsen, and the initiating founder, former senator from New Hampshire Gordon Humphrey. The current Senate cochairpersons are Larry Craig (Idaho) and Mary Landrieu (Louisiana).
Staff members of these four congressmen collaborate in tracking key adoption legislation that is moving through Congress and regularly inform members and the general public of the status of a variety of bills related to adoption and foster care. For example, in the 1999 Congress the coalition tracked the Hope for Children Adoption Act, a bill to double and make permanent the adoption tax credit. They are also tracking the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption ratification and implementation process.
Find more information on Congressional Coalition on Adoption
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©2000 by Christine Adamec and William Pierce, Ph.D. Reprinted from The Encyclopedia of Adoption, 2nd Edition (2nd Edition) with permission of Facts On File, Inc.
