Families who seek to adopt children from foreign countries face many challenges: They are subject to intense scrutiny by the federal government to determine if they are fit parents, they face substantial financial cost for travel and adoption fees, and they often turned to adoption because of stressful fertility issues.

In Illinois, they face another challenge: A state bureaucrat who must approve the adoption, even though they already have federal authorization.

A measure to get rid of this duplicative position passed the General Assembly today.

The proposed law also streamlines Illinois’ process for officially recording foreign adoptions, making adopted children U.S. citizens and giving parents the right to change their children’s names. To gain these benefits, children must be re-adopted in the U.S., and domestic adoption laws are governed by the states rather than the federal government.

“There are so many children in this world who need good homes,” said state Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), the measure’s sponsor. “We can reduce families’ stress and save the state money by getting rid of unneeded bureaucrats.”

Illinois is the only state in the nation that requires both state and federal approval for international adoptions. The position has also faced criticism because it slows down the already-lengthy adoption process and sometimes overturns the federal government for seemingly arbitrary reasons.

The legislation is House Bill 3079. It now goes to the governor’s desk.