Lawmakers urge White House to restore visas for international adoptions

Lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to offer government exceptions for international adoption visas so that children can be united with their adoptive families and “welcomed into safe and stable homes.”

U.S. Sens. Kevin Cramer and Amy Klobuchar, along with U.S. Reps. Robert Aderholt and Danny Davis, asked the Department of State to restore a “categorical exemption for adoption visas,” one that was suspended in December 2025 amid government travel restrictions on certain countries.

The suspension of the visas “has introduced uncertainty for children and American parents who have waited years for their adoptions to be completed and were preparing to bring their children home,” the lawmakers said.

The letter cited Department of State guidance from 2025 that acknowledged that adoption “involves children in need — some in urgent need — of a loving, permanent home and family.”

In that guidance the State Department acknowledged the need to “vigorously engage at both the policy and case levels to protect the interests of all parties involved.”

“We strongly urge you to advocate for the restoration of the categorical exemption for adoption visas,” the lawmakers said, calling on the department to “move expeditiously to address this situation to ensure these children are united with their adoptive parents.”

Difficulty of international adoption changes with governments

Katie Dillon, a spokeswoman for Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Virginia, said international adoptions “typically follow clear, predictable steps,” though she said the process is “lengthy.”

Like many Catholic charity groups, Commonwealth Catholic Charities offers adoptive families a variety of resources and services to facilitate in both domestic and international adoptions. Dillon said the Virginia group “acts as the home study provider and post-placement agency” for families seeking to adopt from other countries.

Such adoptions “can be a difficult process that ebbs and flows with global policy shifts,” she said. “It can be a challenging process for families to navigate.”

“Families interested in international adoption work with an in-state agency like Commonwealth Catholic Charities to complete their home study and an international agency to help with the placement of the child,” she said.

Child placement agencies must be accredited by the Hague Adoption Convention of 1993, an international accord that established protections for children in international adoptions. Such agencies “have programs in certain countries to legally assist a family in the adoption of a child from that country,” Dillon said.

Though there are numerous resources that prospective adoptive families can utilize to help them in their journey, Dillon said international adoption “is often a long process that can take upwards of three or four years.” Some countries can require parents to reside in the country in question for anywhere from several months to a year, she said.

Amid the uncertainty at the federal level, Dillon stressed that the difficult process is at times upended by elections in which government rules can shift without warning.

“Parents who are considering international adoption should be aware that adoption policies can change abruptly with changes in government leadership,” she said. “There are no guarantees.”