HR 588 is a House Bill that is now being considered that would increase the expiration date for the 171H, or 797C, in some states! (this is the paper adoptive parents need to start their adoptions, and it is currently good only for 18 months. If the adoption takes longer, which is easily the case when adopting from places like China, you have to re-do it, and in doing so, you have to wait longer to bring home your child!)

The bill has just gone to the house committee so now is the time to write and encourage your representative to support this bill - HR 588.

The intent of HR 588 is "To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that an individual may file an orphan petition for at least 2 years after approval of an advanced processing application."

The "orphan petition" is the what our attorney submits on our behalf in the final package at the end of the adoption. You can read then entire bill here: thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.5888.IH:

And if you'd like, here is a link that you can click on and follow simple steps to send your representative an email and politely ask him or her to support HR 588:send my representative an email

Thanks for your help!