The Senator Next Door: on Families & Children

Amy Klobuchar: 1996 AdWatch: my daughter endorses 48 hour stay for new moms

Amy Klobuchar: Daughter's "drive-by birth" inspired 48-hour maternal stay

Once Abigail's health began slowly improving, I spent a lot of time thinking about what had happened and decided that I didn't want any other mom to go through what I had experienced. I became determined to change the policy. I went to the state legislature and worked to pass one of the first laws in the country guaranteeing new moms and their babies a minimum 48-hour hospital stay. I testified in support of the bill before both houses of the legislature.

The 48-hour maternity hospital stay rule became law on March 20, 1996.

Amy Klobuchar: Allow adoption of older kids to keep siblings together

The Merkourises was ready for these nine kids. But the law was inflexible and it required the Merkourises to make a painful decision. There was only one solution: the law had to be changed. They brought their case to me.

I led the bill to change the adoption restriction, and in the end we were able to pass legislation that allows 16- and 17-year-old kids from other countries to be adopted if they have a younger sibling who is also being adopted. The International Adoption Simplification Act meant that after years of waiting, thousands of kids, including the children of the Merkouris family adopted, would be able to come to the US to loving parents.