WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley today praised recent progress from the Congolese government in processing the legal adoptions of children by American families and asked for continued review of the remaining adoptions that remain in limbo.
“But while Members of Congress are greatly encouraged and grateful for the progress made, we cannot forget about the nearly two hundred American families who remain separated across oceans from their legally adopted children,” Grassley wrote to His Excellency François Balumuene, the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United States. “For them, the crisis continues. These children continue living without the loving homes they deserve, while their anxious parents struggle to support them from abroad.”
Over the last few weeks, roughly 200 children received the exit visas they needed to complete their pending adoptions by American families. Grassley today sought continued help from the Congolese government to consider the remaining pending cases. Families across the country, including several in Iowa, have been waiting to finalize adoptions after the Democratic Republic of the Congo stopped issuing the necessary exit permits in 2013.
As a result, the adoptive families face challenges and added expenses of caring for the children who remain in a foreign country. In the meantime, the child’s U.S.-issued visa needed to enter the United States expires after six months. Families must then continually renew the American visas, a process that can cost up to $550 each time.
Also today, Grassley met in Des Moines with adoptive parents Alyssa Walker and Kevin Walker and their children, Manasseh and Sayira, whose adoption recently came through. Grassley’s office helped with the case. The children’s grandparents who contacted Grassley’s office live in Johnston.
Grassley chaired a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee about the problems some families faced in international adoptions from certain countries. He then led through the committee a bill to allow U.S. visa fees to be waived or refunded for families facing adoption delays in any foreign nation for any reason beyond the family’s control. The bill was signed into law on Oct. 16, 2015.
In addition, Grassley and other members of the Senate met with the Congolese ambassador to the United States to discuss the adoption issue and a way forward for these families.
Grassley has championed several other policy initiatives that help families overcome some of the roadblocks that make it difficult to bring a child into a permanent home. His work includes the expansion of the federal adoption tax credit, which is now permanent and indexed to inflation, as well as authorship of several pieces of legislation that improve the ability of children to secure permanent homes.
Grassley's letter to the ambassador is available here.