Letter to Secretary Clinton and Secretary Napolitano

Letter

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar today urged their departments to work closely with the Nepalese government to swiftly complete pending U.S. adoptions in Nepal. Earlier this month, the State Department announced the indefinite suspension of the processing of new adoption cases from Nepal where children have been alleged to be abandoned. Officials have found that the documents required to prove a child has been abandoned by his or her parents are unreliable. Without reliable documentation, children cannot meet the definition of "orphan' under U.S. immigration law and therefore may not be adopted.

In her letter, Klobuchar highlighted a Minnesota couple, Todd and Cherie Beumer, who are in the process of adopting their second child from Nepal. Klobuchar urged the Departments of State and Homeland Security to swiftly implement new procedures to process orphan investigations for the children with pending adoptions, including that of Todd and Cherie Beumer.

In August, Klobuchar introduced legislation to improve pre- and post-adoptive support services for American adoptive families. The Supporting Adoptive Families Act will increase resources and programs for families adopting domestically and internationally, and improve data collection on the incidence of failed or disrupted adoptions.

Klobuchar was also actively involved in helping Minnesota families with pending adoptions in Haiti following the devastating earthquake that struck the island on January 12. Minnesota has one of the highest international adoption rates of any state.

The text Klobuchar's letter to Secretary Clinton and Secretary Napolitano is below:

Dear Secretary Clinton and Secretary Napolitano:

I write regarding the recent Nepal adoption suspension and the group of American families currently in the process of completing their adoptions of children from Nepal. As you know, the United States and Nepal have traditionally maintained a strong partnership on adoption. In the past few years, American families welcomed nearly 200 Nepalese orphans into their homes. However, I understand that adoptions have been suspended in light of irregularities in documents supporting abandonment cases in Nepal.

Currently, there are approximately 80 pending cases of American families who have been matched to a child, but have not yet had their I-600 petitions or visa applications approved. One of these families is the Beumers of Collegeville, Minnesota. Todd and Cherie Beumer are in the process of adopting their second child from Nepal, a little girl. They learned of the suspension the day before they were scheduled to travel to Kathmandu to finalize the adoption.

While I share your goal of ensuring that all Nepalese children and birth parents are protected from exploitation, I am concerned that the families who have already begun the adoption process will be subjected to unpredictable delays and substantial emotional and financial burdens. Additionally, these delays may force these children to remain in orphanages, which I fear could result in their long-term physical, emotional, and psychological harm. The recent announcement from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services regarding the implementation of new procedures for the review of these outstanding cases is a welcome development. I urge the Department of State and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to work closely with Nepalese officials to efficiently process the orphan investigations for the children in these 80 cases, including that of Todd and Cherie Beumer.

I want to thank you for your continued support of international adoption efforts, in Nepal and in other countries around the world. I look forward to working with you to ensure both the continuation of Nepal adoptions and the strengthening of our international adoption process.

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