“To amend title 18, United States Code, to criminalize unlawful adoption practices.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states the purposes of the Act as (1) protecting individuals and families impacted by private domestic interstate adoption from exploitation by unlicensed adoption intermediaries; (2) ensuring that individuals seeking assistance with private domestic interstate adoption have ready access to licensed and regulated adoption providers in their communities; and (3) preventing the commodification of children who are the subjects of private domestic interstate adoptions.
This section establishes new federal criminal offenses under 18 U.S.C. §228A for unlawful adoption practices involving interstate or foreign commerce, punishable as provided in subsection (f). Specifically, it prohibits (1) providing adoption intermediary services (i.e., soliciting placing or prospective adoptive parents or linking them for child placement), except by public child-placing agencies, certain nonprofits under public contract, private licensed child-placing agencies, state-licensed attorneys, or accredited intercountry adoption providers; (2) placing adoption advertisements (i.e., paid solicitations for parents or offers to cover placing parent expenses), except by specified agencies, nonprofits, attorneys, or intercountry providers; and (3) providing payments exceeding $2,500 to or for a placing parent in connection with a child's birth and adoption prior to the parent's consultation with a private licensed child-placing agency or state-licensed attorney, except for payments by such agencies, attorneys, or public entities. (Thus, the provision targets unregulated for-profit intermediaries and excessive pre-consultation incentives, while exempting licensed professionals and public entities.)