Sponsors (16)
The bill strengthens federal protections and deterrence against exploitative interstate and online adoption intermediaries—improving safety for children and families—while increasing regulation that may slow or raise the cost of private placements, impose burdens on states and small providers, and create legal uncertainty for informal facilitators.
Children (and birth families) are better protected from exploitation because private interstate adoptions must be routed to licensed, regulated providers, reducing opportunities for unlicensed intermediaries to profit or traffic children.
Prospective adoptive parents and children benefit from new criminal penalties that are likely to deter unscrupulous brokers and reduce trafficking, coercion, and other abusive practices in adoption placement.
Parents and children whose cases cross state lines—especially online arrangements—gain federal protections because the bill establishes an interstate-commerce nexus that allows federal enforcement against cross-state or online exploitative schemes.
Individuals and small organizations that have informally facilitated adoptions (including kinship or community-based helpers) could face severe federal criminal penalties if they inadvertently violate the law, potentially criminalizing otherwise well-meaning actors.
Families using private or kinship placement routes may experience slower, more expensive adoptions because tighter licensing and routing requirements can restrict informal placements and add procedural costs.
State governments and nonprofit agencies may face increased administrative burden and costs to meet licensing and regulatory requirements, and some providers could be squeezed out of providing services.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Adds a new federal criminal prohibition on unlawful private domestic interstate adoption practices and defines adoption advertising and intermediary services.
Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to criminalize unlawful adoption practices.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Robert Aderholt · Last progress November 20, 2025
Creates a new federal criminal prohibition on certain private domestic interstate adoption practices, defines key terms for adoption advertising and intermediary services, and sets the law to take effect 120 days after enactment. The measure aims to curb unlicensed adoption intermediaries, protect placing parents (birth parents) and prospective adoptive parents from exploitation, and promote access to licensed, regulated adoption providers.