Family Law

• Adoption
  Adoptions by United States citizens of children who are not citizens of the United States are labeled as foreign or international adoptions.  Special care and attention should be taken as a child born in a foreign country is not automatically deemed a citizen of the United States if adopted by a United States citizen.  Foreign or International adoptions may be highly technical, specialized, and expensive.  The state of foreign adoptions is constantly in flux.  Many adoptions of foreign born children are now governed by the Hague Convention.  Some foreign adoption processes have been deemed problematic and foreign adoptions suspended.  In the alternative, foreign governments have refused adoptions by U.S. citizens for political reasons.   The significant reduction in foreign / international adoptions by United States citizens has fallen so precipitously that politicians in the United States have now sent messages to the State Department questioning if the restrictions and red tape meant to prevent baby selling, kidnappings, etc., are too severe and restrictive as to punish the very children that the red tape was designed to protect.  This debate remains ongoing.