Advocate & Adoptive Parent Blogger
Jessica Davis and her husband intercountry adopted from Uganda in 2015 only to realise they had participated in a system that unlawfully separated a child from her family. After a thorough investigation, she and her husband made the unprecedented decision to reunite their adopted child back with her Ugandan family.
Since then she has been an outspoken advocate for intercountry adoption reform and feels a sense of responsibility to raise awareness about the many misconceptions and the dark underbelly that intercountry adoption often wields. Due to her findings, Jessica appealed to the authorities for an investigation into the American adoption agency, European Adoptions Consultants, Inc. (EAC) that had facilitated this adoption. As a result of that investigation, EAC was debarred and as of August 2019, one of their employees pled guilty to federal charges of visa fraud, wire fraud & bribing Ugandan judges and other officials in order to facilitate illegal adoptions abroad.
Due to the corruption brought to light through this case, the State Department demanded more oversight from the Council of Accreditation (COA) eventually causing them to step down from their position of overseeing adoption agencies and bringing in Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity (IAAME). Since then intercountry adoption regulations in America have tightened up resulting in a large number of adoption agencies either losing their accreditation or choosing not to renew it.
Jessica is also currently in the process of writing a proposal for the United Methodist Church to be the first religious organisation in America to take a stance against donating to orphanages and orphanage volunteerism.
Jessica has co-founded 古加田, a non profit organisation committed to helping re-connect Ugandan families with their children, separated by intercountry adoption.