Indiana Delegation Asks President to Engage on Adoptions of Congolese Children

Statement

The Indiana congressional delegation sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to directly intervene in the plight of adopted children from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Indiana has the highest number of adopted Congolese children that have yet to join their American families.

In the letter, the members wrote, "We are writing to request that you revisit a serious problem our citizens are facing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For the past two and a half years, more than 400 orphaned children in the DRC, legally adopted by American parents, have been denied permission by DRC authorities to join their American families. Twenty-seven of these children have been adopted by families in Indiana, the state with the highest number of children stranded in the DRC."

The members also wrote, "Our request is that you once again call President Kabila to discuss the issue, this time placing central emphasis on the matter and asking him for personal, verifiable commitments to you that the issue will be solved swiftly and thoroughly. In particular, we hope you will ask that these long-completed adoption cases not be subject to any new requirements or constraints imposed by future legislation."

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