Wicker’s bill aims to improve accessibility to nation’s adoption process

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) sponsored bipartisan legislation that would ensure families have trusted local agencies to help them navigate the adoption process.

“We should be making it easier for adoptive parents to welcome children into their homes,” Sen. Wicker said on Monday. “Unfortunately, bureaucratic red tape makes the process difficult for adoption agencies and minimizes opportunities for Mississippians to pursue.”

The Voluntary Limited Accreditation for Adoption Services Act, S. 3551, which Sen. Wicker introduced on Dec. 14, 2023, alongside lead original cosponsor U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), would modify the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 to allow for a voluntary limited accreditation for adoption agencies for specific services.

These services include: performing a background study on a child in an outgoing case and reporting on such a study; conducting a home study on the prospective adoptive parent(s) in an incoming case and reporting on such a study; and monitoring a case after a child has been placed with prospective adoptive parent(s) until final adoption, including preparing post-placement reports, according to the text of the bill.

“The one-size-fits-all accreditation standard doesn’t work. Agencies can navigate different paths to reach the same outcome,” said Sen. Wicker. “Our bill reverses course, is pro-family, and puts more children in loving homes.”

Sen. Klobuchar also pointed out that too often, families struggle to find accredited adoption service providers to assist them through the process.

“By creating a new pathway for providers that offer critical services like background and home studies, our bipartisan legislation ensures that families have trusted local agencies to help them navigate the adoption process and give children safe, stable homes,” she said.