Kim Mulford

The (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post

The Accuracy for Adoptees Act is awaiting President Obama%27s signature

If approved%2C the law would make it easier to correct birth dates for children in international adoptions

The ages that are given to parents who adopt children from other countries often are different from the child%27s actual age

When they adopted their first child from Ethiopia, Lauren Hart and her husband, Todd Carmichael, were told they were bringing home a 4-year-old. But the birth date they were told was off. Way off.

"She told us she was 7," said Hart, a singer and songwriter known as the longtime voice of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Dental exams and a bone density scan agreed. "It was about right."

Within a year, Hart said, the little girl tripled her size, thanks to proper nutrition, health care and love from her new family. But her official birth date needed to be corrected.

If President Barack Obama signs a measure now before him, that process could get a lot easier for parents who adopt children internationally. The Accuracy for Adoptees Act would require federal agencies to use an adoptee's birth date as determined by a state court.

Haddonfield, N.J., lawyer Donald Cofsky leads the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, the group pushing for the law. Introduced into legislation in October and backed by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, the bill shot through Congress in time for the holiday break.

"It's such a short act, and it makes so much sense, you would think, 'Gee, it's a no-brainer,'" said Cofsky.

"You had kids coming in who were given birth dates two, three years different than what they physiologically were. It's a mess."

Gina Leclerc of Philadelphia adopted two sisters from Haiti after hearing about the opportunity from a co-worker. Leclerc is a social worker in the CASTLE Program at Virtua Health in Camden.

A Haitian immigrant herself, Leclerc visited the girls every three months for two years, while waiting for the adoption to go through. When she met her oldest daughter, Maya, she was told the girl was 3 years old.

"She looked tall for her age," Leclerc said. "She was a chatterbox 3 ... I said, 'OK, she's 3. I guess she's very advanced for her age.'"

After all the paperwork was finalized, Leclerc learned from the child's birth mother that Maya was actually a year older than the date shown on her birth certificate, passport and Social Security card. She's not sure how to get that problem straightened out, or whether the Philadelphia school system will allow her daughter to start school.

"She should be going to kindergarten," Leclerc said. "I don't know if I can do anything to change that, at this point."

She's just starting to investigate her options but said she's daunted by the prospect of getting the records changed, especially at the federal level.

Sam Wojnilower, an adoption social worker for Adoptions From the Heart, said the proposed law appears to target just this kind of problem. An international services coordinator, Wojnilower handled the local case work for both the Hart and Leclerc adoptions.

When families ask him for advice on fixing inaccurate birth dates, Wojnilower links them to an adoption attorney.

There is an existing state court process in the United States that allows families to present medical, educational and dental evidence to support a request for an amended date of birth, Cofsky said. But federal agencies will not accept the amended dates. As a result, the children end up with two different dates of birth on their federal and state documents.

As children age, the conflicting birth dates can cause a multitude of problems, from improper school placement to accusations of identity fraud, according to Cofsky.

While the problem doesn't affect all adoptees born internationally, it's well-known within the adoptive community.

Randy Schrager of Cherry Hill, N.J., adopted her 12-year-old son, Craig, from Guatemala. She knew her child's birth date and never had a problem with aligning paperwork to fit his biological age.

"A lot of the people who adopted from Russia or China don't have the exact date of when their child was born," Schrager said. "I'm sure there were a lot more obstacles for those folks trying to get everything squared away once they came back to the United States. I think (the bill) would be very helpful for a lot of people."

Hart's family has since grown. She now has three girls and one boy, ages 11, 8, 5 and 2. All were adopted from Ethiopia, though only Yemi's birth date was wildly inaccurate. Because the issue was discovered before the adoption went through, the issue was resolved easily.

"We felt the process was very clear and very manageable," Hart said. "At the end of the day, they did the right thing."