Strengthening State Adoption Laws
The Adoption Institute is using its recommendations for regulating international adoption to provide a blueprint for domestic law reform. In 2002, the Adoption Institute will consult widely with judges, adoption professionals, state officials, adoptive and birth parents, and adoptees to build consensus on the critical changes needed in state adoption laws to address the roots of unethical practice and advance the interests of triad members, including giving adopted persons access to information about their origins.
Currently, adoption laws vary widely from state to state in the U.S., making the process needlessly complicated and difficult. All too often the legal patchwork of state adoption laws results in serious abuses, such as the recent bidding war for the "Internet Twins." Even in states with comprehensive statutory protections, responsibility for enforcement frequently is ambiguous, resulting in adoption practice that fails to meet legal standards.
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