Our Mission:
Serve the child’s need for family.
Establish the child’s right to family as a fundamental human right.
Combat the policies that deny children families:
- Policies treating children as the property of nations and of birth parents.
- Policies shutting down international adoption and other opportunities for family.
We Believe:
Children need permanent loving parents to survive and thrive.
Children need those parents early in life to avoid irreparable damage.
Children have a right to a family as citizens of our global community.
The Reality Today
Millions of children are now condemned to live out their childhoods in institutions.
Institutions have been scientifically proven to have a destructive impact on children’s potential for development.
Policies worldwide have systematically shut down international adoption, which is one of the best available options for providing unparented children with families. Since 2004 the number of children adopted into the U.S. is down by over two-thirds. This effectively locks children into institutions.
Movement Members:
America World Adoption (Brian Luwis, CEO)
Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (Dan Berger, Laurie Goldheim, Katie Jay and Karen Law)
Center for Adoption Policy (Diane Kunz and Ann Reese, Co-Founders & Executive Directors)
Children of All Nations (Snow Wu, CEO)
Christian Alliance for Orphans (Jedd Medefind, President)
Coalition for Intercountry Adoption (Kristen Hamilton, Co-Founder)
Harvard Law School Child Advocacy Program (Elizabeth Bartholet, Faculty Director and Crisanne Hazen, Assistant Director)
Love Grows Kids (Pete Leppanen and Kelly Dempsey, Co-Directors)
Mary Ann Glendon, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
National Council For Adoption (Chuck Johnson, President & CEO and Ryan Hanlon, Vice President)
Paulo Barrozo, Associate Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
Saddleback Church Orphan Care Initiative (Elizabeth Styffe, Director)
University of Pennsylvania Field Center for Children’s Research, Policy and Practice (Cassie Statuto Bevan, Child Welfare Fellow)