6-22-06 Visa Processing Regulations out for public comment until July 24, 2006

6-16-06 Issuance of Hague Convention Certificates and Declarations in Convention Adoption Cases comments until Aug. 15. 2005

6-16-06 DOS letter to licensing authorities

7-6-07 Memorandum of Agreement Between the U.S. Department of State and the Colorado Department of Human Services Regarding Performance of Duties as an Accrediting Entity Under the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000.

Publication no. 11336 in pdf OVERVIEW by Dept. of State What your agency needs to know

Please see the COA website about accreditation

NOTE: Items still to be published:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be issuing separate but complementary regulations relating to the immigration process for Hague children

The final regulations have been issued. For Q and A and more information read the State Department links listed below.

Download the final regulations here. 

Download HR2909 the Inter-country Adoption Act (IAA). This is the bill that is the actual law; the regulations are how the bill is going be implemented. The final regulations on agency record-keeping are here.

Links from the State Department for information.  The links below will open a new window.

Intercountry Adoptions and the Hague Convention: Guatemala
Frequently Asked Questions: Intercountry Adoptions and the Hague Convention: Guatemala
Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption and The IAA 2000 (Background)
Hague Convention: Advantages and Provisions
IAA: Summary of Provisions
How Will the United States Implement the Hague Convention?
Preparations for U.S. Implementation of the Hague Convention
List of Hague Convention Signatory Countries
What Your Agency Needs to Know

Other Q and A can be found at these links below

http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/implementation/implementation_470.html

Q and A of April 20, 2006  http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/64596.htm

Overview April 2006

The State Dept is in the process of signing contacts with the bodies that will accredit agencies. If you are an agency in Utah, Colorado or New Mexico you will be able to be accredited by your state.  All other agencies or persons will be applying to the COA (Council on Accreditation).  The State Department will publish to the Federal Registry the contracts when they are signed. These contracts will also reveal the cost of applying for accreditation.

Overview  (October 2005)

The significance of accreditation or approval to adoption service providers.

Draft regulations to implement the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption (the Convention) and the Inter-country Adoption Act of 2000 (the IAA) were proposed for the first time with publication for comment in the Federal Register in 2003.

On August 30, 2005, the U. S. Department of State (responsible for Hague Convention activities) took the next step in the regulatory development process and submitted the proposed regulations for required official review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). (See September 2005 UPDATE at the end of this section for details.)

The regulations are intended to enable the United States to become a party to the Convention, which governs inter-country adoptions between countries that are parties to the Convention. The IAA is the U.S. implementing legislation for the Convention. Once the Convention enters into force for the United States, all Convention adoptions must comply with these IAA regulations.

As proposed, the regulations address the accreditation of agencies (non-profit adoption service providers) and the approval of persons (for-profit and individual adoption service providers) to provide adoption services in Convention cases.

They also set forth:
¦ The process for designating one or more accrediting entities to perform the accreditation and approval functions,
¦ The procedures for conferring and renewing accreditation and approval,
¦ The procedures for monitoring compliance with accreditation or approval standards,
¦ The rules for taking adverse action against accredited agencies and approved persons, and
¦ The standards for accreditation and approval.
They further address what activities are considered “adoption services” (see definition in next sub-section), which agencies and persons are required to adhere to these standards, and what adoption-related activities are exempted from the accreditation and approval requirements. Finally, they set forth the procedures and requirements for temporary accreditation.

Specifically to what and whom the proposed regulations apply

Authorized providers. Once the Convention has entered into force for the United States, according to the proposed regulations, an agency or person may not offer, provide, or facilitate the provision of any adoption service in the United States in connection with a Convention adoption unless it is:

 An accredited agency, a temporarily accredited agency, or an approved person
¦ A supervised provider
¦ An exempted provider, or
¦ A public body.

The proposed regulations indicate that the requirement to be accredited, temporarily accredited, or approved applies regardless of the number of adoption cases undertaken. As stated in comments to the regulations, “The provision of an adoption service in one Convention adoption case is sufficient to trigger this requirement. Conversely, if an agency or person does not provide ‘adoption services’ in any cases subject to the Convention, this requirement does not apply.

If an agency or person is providing adoption cases in both Convention and non-Convention cases, the requirement applies.”

“Adoption Service” defined. The proposed regulations apply to those providing any one of the following six core services:

¦ Identifying a child for adoption and arranging for an adoption;
¦ Securing the necessary consent to termination of parental rights and to adoption;
¦ Performing a background study on a child or a home study on prospective adoptive parent(s) and reporting on such a study;
¦ Making non-judicial determinations of the best interests of a child and the appropriateness of an adoptive placement for the child;
¦ Monitoring a case after a child has been placed with prospective adoptive parent(s) until final adoption; or
¦ When necessary because of a disruption before final adoption, assuming custody and providing (including facilitating the provision of) child care or any other social service pending an alternative placement.

Adoption-associated services not subject to the proposed regulations. The regulations specifically identify two activities that are not considered one of the six core adoption services above. Accordingly accreditation or approval is not necessary to perform these activities if the provider is not performing one or more of the six core adoption services in a case. These two activities are defined in the proposed regulations as follows:
¦ “Child welfare services,” meaning services, other than those defined as “adoption services,” that are designed to promote and protect the well-being of a family or child. Such services include, but are not limited to, recruiting and identifying adoptive parent(s) in cases of disruption (but not assuming custody of the child), arranging or providing temporary foster care for a child in connection with a Convention adoption, or providing educational, social, cultural, medical, psychological assessment, mental health, or other health-related services for a child or family in a Convention adoption case.

¦ “Legal services,” meaning services, other than those defined as “adoption services,” that relate to the provision of legal advice and information and to the drafting of legal instruments. Such services include, but are not limited to, drawing up contracts, powers of attorney, and other legal instruments, providing advice and counsel to adoptive parents(s) or completing DHS or Central Authority forms; and providing advice and counsel to accredited agencies, temporarily accredited agencies, approved persons, or prospective adoptive parent(s) on how to comply with the Convention, the IAA, and the regulations implementing the IAA.

Exempted social work provider. As stated in the proposed regulations, a social work professional or organization that is performing a home study on the prospective adoptive parent(s) or a child background study (including any reports or updates) in connection with a Convention adoption but is not providing any other adoption service in the case is an ‘‘exempted provider.” Exempted providers do not have to be accredited, temporarily accredited, approved, or operate as a supervised provider. If the agency or person provides another adoption service in the case in addition to the home study or child background study, it must be accredited, temporarily accredited, approved, or operate as a supervised provider. The home study or child background study prepared by an exempted provider must be submitted to an accredited agency or temporarily accredited agency, not an approved person, for review and approval.


Anticipated process for implementing final regulations

The expectation of most is that, with public comments and OMB review taken into account, the proposed regulations will proceed to final form and implementation.

They reflect the following process:
¦ Announcement of effective date. The U. S. Department of State will announce in the Federal Register the future date upon which the Hague Convention will enter into force for the United States. As of that date, the final regulations will govern all adoptions between the United States and other Convention countries. Agencies or persons providing adoption services must comply with the new regulations thereafter.

¦ Completion of accrediting and approval vehicles. Appropriate governmental agencies will continue putting into place the necessary framework for accreditations and approvals. That framework quite likely will include final identification of the organizations to serve as accrediting entities (with uniform application procedures) in various jurisdictions around the country, and will provide for the establishment of functions such as a complaint registry that are called for in the regulations.

¦ Full accreditation or approval before/at the time regulations are put into effect. Recognizing that some agencies and persons will seek to be fully accredited or approved as of the in-force date of the Convention and new regulations, the Department will also provide public notice of a “transitional application deadline.” That will be the date by which agencies and persons must submit their application to an accrediting entity. There will subsequently be announced a further deadline by which applicants must have completed the accreditation or approval process in time to be on the “initial list” below.

¦ Temporary accreditation opportunity for eligible smaller agencies. If unable to work toward full accreditation immediately, eligible non-profit agencies (but not for-profit or individual persons) are provided the one-time opportunity for temporary accreditation of one or two years. Temporary accreditation is available only to agencies that apply by the transitional application deadline above and who complete the temporary accreditation process by the same deadline required for full accreditation. (See following sub-section for summary of eligibility and requirements.)

¦ The “initial list.” Only those agencies and persons that do meet the deadlines and earn full accreditation, approval, or temporary accreditation will be included on the initial list of accredited agencies and approved persons that will be furnished to the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Convention.

¦ Initial application thereafter. Agencies or persons seeking full accreditation or approval for the first time may submit an application at any time, with the required fees. Even if they miss the transitional application deadline, they can attempt with permission of their accrediting entity to achieve accreditation or approval in time to be included on the initial list. But no assurance can be given, since others that met the deadline will have priority.

Other countries. Various other countries that are parties to the Hague Convention are in a process of ratification/implementation similar to that taking place in the United States.

For a list of party countries and status report, check governmental and other Web sites including:
http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.status&cid=69.

Temporary accreditation

The following is a summary of the proposed regulations’ provisions for temporary accreditation:

¦ Availability.
One-time temporary accreditation of one or two years is available only to non-profit agencies that apply by the transitional application deadline and complete the temporary accreditation process by the deadline set for initial accreditation. Applications for temporary accreditation that are filed after the transitional application deadline will not be considered.

¦ Eligibility.
The agency must demonstrate that:
o It has provided adoption services in fewer than 100 intercountry adoption cases in the calendar year preceding the year in which the transitional application deadline falls. (For purposes of the regulations, the number of adoptions includes all intercountry adoption cases that were handled by, or under the responsibility of, the agency, regardless of whether they involved countries party to the Convention.)

  It qualifies for non-profit tax treatment under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
  It is properly licensed under state law to provide adoption services in at least one state, and it is providing intercountry adoption services and has been providing such services for the last three years prior to the application deadline.
  It has the capacity to maintain and provide to the accrediting entity and the Secretary of State, within 30 days of request, all of the information relevant to the Secretary’s reporting requirements relating to intercountry adoptions.
  It has not been involved in any improper conduct related to the provision of intercountry adoption or other services, as evidenced in part by the following:
  The agency has maintained its state license without suspension or cancellation for misconduct during the entire period in which it has provided intercountry adoption services.
  The agency has not been subject to a finding of fault or liability in any administrative or judicial action in the three years preceding the transitional application deadline.
  The agency has not been the subject of any criminal findings of fraud or financial misconduct in the three years preceding the transitional application deadline.

¦ Required basis.
To earn temporary accreditation, the agency must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the accrediting entity that it has a comprehensive plan for applying for and achieving full accreditation before the agency’s temporary accreditation expires, and is taking steps to execute that plan.

¦ No dual applications.
An agency may not seek temporary and full accreditation at the same time. The agency’s application must clearly state which it is seeking. An agency’s option of applying for temporary accreditation will be deemed to have been waived if the agency also submits a separate application for full accreditation prior to the transitional application deadline.

¦ One year or two year?
Application for one-year temporary accreditation is available for agencies that have provided adoption services in 50-99 intercountry adoptions in the calendar year preceding the year in which the transitional application deadline falls. Application for two-year temporary accreditation is available for agencies that have provided adoption services in fewer than 50 intercountry adoptions in the calendar year preceding the date in which the transitional deadline falls. The one and two-year periods commence on the date that the Convention enters into force in the U. S.
(See the proposed regulations for more detail about temporary accreditation.)

About The Master Book and supporting nine books

Purpose
The Master Book is intended as an aid for those agencies and persons wishing to get a head start on understanding and preparing for accreditation, approval, or temporary accreditation by the deadline described earlier, assuming the regulations go into effect in substantially their proposed form.
Content
The content of the Master Book, following this introductory section, includes these things, in order:
¦ Each proposed Hague Convention Standard by its standard number as identified in Subpart F “Standards for Convention Accreditation and Approval” of 22 CFR Parts 96 and 98 Proposed Rules.
¦ An example statement of compliance that an agency or person could make to represent that it meets requirements of each proposed standard.
¦ Lists of supporting documentation that an agency or person could provide to demonstrate that its statements of compliance are accurate and valid.

Accompanying detailed “file” books
Readers will see references to other volumes (Books 1-9) that accompany this Master Book. These accompanying books together are designed to be the “file” that an agency or person may use to assemble accreditation/approval requirements and insert copies of the supporting documents they will need all in one place. These books contain examples, model forms, or checklists for this supporting documentation.

No certainty of final regulatory requirements
In fact, it is not certain at this time when and possibly even if the proposed regulations with their Hague standards will be made final. Or what final form they may take considering comment and review continuing underway.

At this point, since the regulations are not final, it is also uncertain what the form of the accreditation or approval application will be and what specific information and documentation application and examination will require. It is not certain even that “statements of compliance” as included here will be asked for in that form.
Accordingly, HagueAccreditation.com cannot say with certainty that its guidance, examples, etc., in this Master Book and its accompanying volumes will apply with accuracy to the regulations and the accreditation/approval process as they might actually go into effect.

Comments welcomed for ongoing development
This “beta version” issued October 2005 represents our best assessments on the basis of the regulations as they are proposed now. It is the intent of the publisher to immediately publish updates when the regulations are final or undergo substantial interim revision. As refinement proceeds, the publisher welcomes suggestions and reaction from users. Continuous improvement is the goal!
HagueAccreditation.com
P. O. Box 281
Gastonia, NC 28053-1300
info@HagueAccreditation.com

October 2005
 

UPDATES

From the U. S. Department of State August 2005
Copies from the link below: click the link to read the full update.

On August 30, 2005, the Department of State delivered to the Office of Management and Budget for interagency review proposed regulations on accreditation and approval of adoption service providers who wish to provide services in adoption cases subject to the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention (22 CFR Part 96), and on the federal government’s preservation of Hague Convention records (22 CFR Part 98). Notice that the final rules for 22 CFR Parts 96 and 98 are officially under OMB review is posted at www.reginfo.gov. To see the announcement, go to the OIRA Executive Order Submissions Under Review, and access agency Department of State.

http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/implementation/implementation_2641.html

June 30, 2004

In a phone call with State Department representatives Scott Boswell and Gloria Laguna, we were told today that they are nearly finished with the 1500 comments they received in the comment period that ended last fall.  Some of the comments were as long as 40 pages so it has taken at least six months for them to compile the results.

The decision that is being made now is whether to make a few changes to the Hague regulations and let this be the final set of regs, or to publish them for additional comments.  We got the impression that this last comment period was so massive that it would be nearly overwhelming to do it again, so possibly there will not be another comment period, though they were clearly saying that this decision has not yet been made.

The accrediting bodies will not be announced until the regulations have been completed. Then each accrediting body will sign a contract with the State Department and the names will be announced.

The department assured us that we would be receiving updates as they have them.  Member agencies of Hague Accreditation Services will also be added to the State Department's list of organizations to contact with updates.