Growing up believing that this was their country, only to discover that they do not truly belong where they call home—this is the reality for thousands of foreign-born adoptees without U.S. citizenship. After decades of being told they were American and living as Americans, they find themselves denied by the only homeland they have known.
Adam Crapser (Korean name Shin Song-hyuk, 49), a Korean adoptee who was forcibly deported to Korea in 2016 after his adoptive American parents failed to secure his U.S. citizenship, sharply criticized the U.S. and South Korean government and adoption agencies. Crapser emphasized during a hearing on October 23 at the Seoul High Court that thousands of Korean children adopted into American families over the past few decades have been placed at risk due to the two governments’ failure to guarantee their citizenship.
Crapser was adopted from Korea to Michigan with his sister in 1979 when he was three years old. He endured abuse in his adoptive families and was “un-adopted” twice. His adoptive parents neither completed his adoption citizenship process nor renewed his green card, leaving his status unresolved. Crapser only became aware of this issue long after reaching adulthood. However, during the process of applying for a new green card, past minor criminal records surfaced, ultimately leading to his deportation from the U.S. in 2016.
“I had no right to choose whether or not to live in my own country,” he said, adding that he was never given the chance to learn Korean, know his culture, or grow up with his Korean family. He expressed frustration over his ongoing struggle to adapt to life in Korea, his lack of language and cultural knowledge, and especially his forced separation from his two children, who remain in the U.S.
The reasons why some adoptees are put in a situation where their mother country turns back on them vary: some adoptive families mistakenly believed their adopted children were automatically granted citizenship, while others failed to complete the burdensome naturalization paperwork. As a result, international adoptees without citizenship are still living in uncertainty, without the rights and privileges they should already possess.
This issue traces back to the year 2000, when federal policy inadvertently marginalized adoptees. The Child Citizenship Act (CCA) of 2000 was intended to grant citizenship to international adoptees who had not yet been naturalized. However, due to multiple loopholes, the law ultimately left many adoptees without legal status, despite their legal adoption by American parents.
The CCA did not apply to all adoptees but only to a specific group. To qualify, an adoptee had to be under 18 on the law’s effective date. When the CCA went into effect on February 27, 2001, those adoptees born on or before February 27, 1983, were ruled out from receiving automatic citizenship, resulting in significant gaps in protection for this population.
Efforts to resolve this issue have been ongoing. The Adoptee Citizenship Act aims to correct an error that has long awaited a solution. Bills were introduced in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021 to address the problem, but each time, they failed to pass. The act requires bipartisan support, yet consensus between the two parties was not reached.
In June, the ACA of 2024 was reintroduced by Representatives Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to grant U.S. citizenship to adoptees who were legally adopted but did not acquire citizenship due to a legislative gap in the CCA of 2000.
However, five months later, the bill has not made meaningful progress. The likelihood of it passing appears slim, given Congress’s schedule and the upcoming administration changes after the election.
Though the ACA did not pass this year, the message continues to grow stronger. The voices of international adoptees are amplifying and reaching wider audiences each year. In 2025, may the relentless efforts of those advocating for change finally shed light on this long-standing issue.
By Hoonsik Woo [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
