State Dept blames you for plummet in adoptions

The number of children adopted from foreign countries is down and adoption organizations believe they know why.

Tens of thousands of foreign children are adopted annually by American families, who rescue many of them from orphanages, but by 2018 the number had dropped to a little over 4,000.

The problem can be traced back to the U.S. State Department and to one person in particular, Susan Jacobs, who oversaw the federal agency's adoption division during the Obama administration.

Jacobs, whose State Department title was special advisor for international children’s issues, penned an April op-ed acknowledging the drop in adoptions but denied the federal agency is responsible for what she called “plummeting” numbers.

The adoptions have decreased, she claims, because foreign countries have tightened their rules due to loose federal oversight that endangers children’s safety.

She also suggests there is “outrage” from countries over the U.S. response to illegal aliens --- “the abuse of their children," she wrote --- at the U.S.-Mexico border, an obvious swipe at the Trump administration.

According to Tom Velie of adoption agency New Beginnings, Jacobs has stated publicly the adoption division would pause every adoption case if even one presented a problem. Although she stepped down when President Trump took office, that policy remains in place hence the slowdown in adoptions, he says.

Ryan Hanlon of the National Council for Adoption says the 2018 figure of about 4,000 adoptions is a sad figure.

“That number's going to decrease when they see the 2019 report,” he predicts, “because we're halfway through that fiscal year already, and the numbers of adoptions are moving in the wrong direction."

That means more children are languishing in orphanages, he warns, and the situation can be reversed if the State Department begins cooperating again with U.S. adoption agencies.