ACT NOW! Ask Your members of Congress to Sign Letter Opposing Drastic USCIS Fee increases for Adoption

REMINDER! 

Please call now!

Congressional staff need time to alert the Members of Congress and communicate their interest to the leading offices by noon tomorrow. If you haven’t reached out yet, please pause for a few minutes and do it right now.

I also want to encourage you, if at all possible, to pick up the phone and call first (instead of just emailing or using an online form). We know that reaction time and processing time is slower and level of concern is slower to email and online forms. Congressional staff also report that concern seems higher when people actually make the call. Make the call! Congressional staff are friendly and helpful – you just may make new friends in your Senators’ and Representative’s offices!

Please see tips below on all you need to know!

NCFA Members,

Ask your Members of Congress to sign this letter regarding USCIS’s proposed adoption fee increases. The deadline to sign this letter is noon on this Thursday, June 30^th. We’ll have to ask fast!

We encourage you to take 15 minutes to call the DC office of both of your Senators and your Representative. (Find them here.)

Here are some basic suggestions for that call:

1. Ask to speak to the person who handles international adoption issues

2. Ask them to ask their boss to sign the letter increasing USCIS fees for adoptive families

3. Tell them to contact the offices of Senator Blunt, Senator Klobuchar or Representative Franks by noon on Thursday, June 30^th to sign the letter.

4. Ask for the staffer’s email to forward them a copy of the letter and explain how to sign on. (Check out the sample email below!)

5. Don’t forget to send that followup email! Polite persistence helps get the job done!

You can send something like the below email to finalize your request:

Dear NAME OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION STAFFER,

Thanks for taking my call today! I hope Representative/Senator XYZ will support this letter to prevent burdensome USCIS fee cost increases from impacting adoptive families.

Join Senators Blunt and Klobuchar, Representative Franks and others in this important effort to support adoptive families.

Please contact Lauren_McCormack@blunt.senate.gov, Shannon_Dorsey@Klobuchar.Senate.gov, or Chelsea.patterson@mail.house.gov by noon on this Thursday, June 30^th to sign on to this important letter.

Thanks for supporting adoption!

Megan Lestino
Director of Public Policy & Education
National Council For Adoption