Children's Bureau Express

Final Rule on Intercountry Adoption Accreditation

The Department of State has issued a final rule on the accreditation and approval of agencies and persons in accordance with the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption and the Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA) of 2000. The Convention and the IAA generally require that agencies and persons be accredited or approved to provide adoption services for intercountry adoptions when both countries involved are parties to the Convention.

Effective March 17, 2006, the new action establishes:

The accreditation and approval standards that accrediting entities will use for agencies and persons
Requirements applicable to potential accrediting entities
A framework for the Department's oversight of accrediting entities, agencies, and persons

In taking this step, the United States has moved closer to ratification of the Hague Convention, since there must be accredited and approved service providers before the Convention can be brought into force.

To read the State Department's final rule as published in the Federal Register, Vol. 71, No. 31, go to:

www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/search.html

For more general information on the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, visit the State Department's website:

http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/convention/convention_462.html

Related Item

Children's Bureau Express last wrote about the Hague Convention in "State Department Issues Proposed Regulations for Intercountry Adoptions" (October 2003).

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