Mr. President. I rise to express my support for H.R. 2464. legislation to exempt internationally adopted children under age 10 from the immunization requirement that was contained in last years immigration bill. Mr. President. in my view it is important that the Federal Government not unnecessarily burden American parents who adopt foreign born children. The process of adopting a child abroad is already quite arduous and involves great emotional risk. The Federal Government should not make that process yet more difficult. It is particularly important that we not endanger the health of these children. Last years immigration bill unnecessarily and unintentionally made the process of adopting foreign born children more difficult. I am. however. concerned that this bill did not go far enough. There are adopted children 10 years of age and older who do not need to be treated differently than those under 10 years old. Moreover. the problems with infected needles in many countries should give us serious pause as to whether immigrant children who are not adopted are undergoing undue risk. I also want to call attention to a provision that I would have preferred not be in this billthe provision requiring that parents of the exempted adopted children must sign an affidavit promising to vaccinate their children within 30 days or when it is medically appropriate. I think we do not want to imply in this or other legislation that the Federal Government cares more about children than parents do and. unfortunately.
Keywords matched
immigrant foreign born immigration