Immigration and citizenship have been prominent in the news over the course of the last few months. And for adult adoptees potentially unsure of their proof of U.S. citizenship or adoptive parents of children born outside of the U.S., it can be an unnerving time. 
 
While immigration and citizenship issues are typically outside of Buckner’s expertise, we’d like to offer a few resources that may help ease confusion and fear in what can be a challenging and difficult-to-navigate system. 
 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be your first source for accurate and up-to-date information. Adult adoptees can find information to help determine if they’re already a citizen or have a potential path toward citizenship. 
 
Adult adoptees include foreign-born individuals who as children were adopted abroad and brought to the United States to live with their adoptive parents or were brought to the U.S. to be adopted. 
 
For adoptive parents unsure of citizenship status for their children today, there are a few items we recommend you make sure you have on hand. 

• Adoption documentation to provide as evidence for citizenship document applications.
  • If you adopted through Buckner, you can reach out to our post-adoption program for copies of those records.
• Obtain both forms of proof of citizenship:
  • The U.S. Certificate of Citizenship 
  • U.S. passport 

“Since the passport expires every 10 years, it’s critical adoptive parents also have the U.S. Certificate of Citizenship for their adopted child since it doesn’t expire and is more widely recognized as irrefutable proof of U.S. citizenship for other U.S. government institutions,” shared Debbie Wynne, director of international therapeutic services for Buckner Children and Family Services.