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EmailLetter To Adoption Service Provider Applicants
This Open Letter is addressed to the Adoption Service Providers who are seeking accreditation under the Hague Intercountry
Adoption Convention, to update you on the accreditation and approval process.
As you know, the Council on Accreditation (COA) and the Colorado Department of Human Services – the two “Accrediting Entities”
designated by the U.S. State Department – are working to accredit or approve adoption service providers wishing to offer adoption
services in adoption cases under the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention and the Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA). As
an applicant for accreditation or approval, you are already aware of the time and effort the Accrediting Entities and the
candidates for accreditation have devoted to the Hague application process. We need your continued strong support and active
participation in this process to achieve our shared goal of depositing the U.S. instrument of ratification for the Convention
this year, and bringing the Convention into force with respect to the United States in 2008.
The Colorado Department of Human Services has worked collaboratively with COA and with us to create and develop the building
blocks of the Hague accreditation process. They will review 11 agencies and they have demonstrated a strong commitment to
ensure that the agencies/persons they accredit or approve will be in substantial compliance with the standards and prepared
to provide high quality adoption services to applicant adoptive families.
I recently met with COA CEO Richard Klarberg and his accreditation staff to review plans for the next six months. COA’s
dedicated and talented staff is absolutely committed to finishing its work by the February 15, 2008 deadline for initial accreditation
or approval (DIAA). As you have already been informed, COA has adjusted the site visit schedule to ensure that all eligible
adoption service providers will receive a site visit before the end of the year.
In order to stay on their timeline and ensure that each candidate-adoption service provider has a fair chance to rectify
any deficiencies identified in the site visit, we are pleased to hear that COA has recruited an additional 40 volunteer evaluators.
The Department deeply appreciates this response by the adoption community and acknowledges it as continuing support for the
Hague accreditation process.
We also acknowledge and appreciate assistance from JCICS and NCFA, which recently urged the adoption community to provide
more evaluators. Their appeal has helped to generate the encouraging response that COA has reported.
The State Department is also reaching out to professional and interest groups whose members may be able to help in this
effort. By means of this letter, I am reaching out again to you. Even if you can “only” contribute an evaluator for one
or two site visits, that will make a critical difference. The decision to use volunteer evaluators was made in an effort
to keep the cost of accreditation as low as possible. We depend on each candidate adoption service provider to help make
this work. Furthermore, service as an evaluator is likely to provide ideas and insights that will help you understand the
new Hague procedures even better.
The cost and time required to attend training has deterred some adoption service providers from volunteering to serve
as evaluators. COA has now developed an online distance/self directed training program so that volunteers can get the necessary
training without traveling to a training site. The site visits themselves require a commitment of two to three days. I urge
you to contact COA today, if you are not already participating as an evaluator, to discuss how you might be able to contribute
to the successful, on-time completion of this vital work. The Hague accreditation process will not end with this phase. Evaluators
will be needed for new applications and as adoption service providers renew their accreditations and approvals in the future.
The DIAA, the UND and Entry into Force
The meaning and significance of three different dates seem to be causing some confusion, which I would like to clarify.
The DIAA, or Deadline for Initial Approval or Accreditation, is February 15, 2008. All adoption service providers who have met the initial criteria must have completed the review process
for accreditation or approval by this date, including correcting any deficiencies that have already been noted by the Accrediting
Entities. This date is most important for the Accrediting Entities so they will be able to process agencies for accreditation
by the time the Convention enters into force.
The UND, or Uniform Notification Date, is the date when the Accrediting Entities will notify each candidate-adoption service provider that it has or has not met
the requirements for Hague accreditation. The initial list of accredited adoption service providers will also be provided
to the Hague Permanent Bureau at that time.
It is important to understand that the UND is not a cut-off date. The UND allows us to make the list of accredited adoption
service providers public so that they can finalize preparations to offer adoption services in Convention adoption cases.
The process of site visits, remediation and approval does not stop at the UND nor when the Convention goes into force. Adoption
service providers accredited or approved after the UND will be publicly identified and reported to the Hague Permanent Bureau
on an immediate and continuing basis. As a practical matter we cannot wait until “the last minute” before our entry into
force to notify adoption service providers that they have been accredited. However each adoption service provider accredited
before the entry into force will be eligible to offer adoption services in Convention adoption cases from the first day the
United States is a Convention country.
The Date of Entry into Force. The date of entry into force of the Convention will be set when the United States deposits its instrument of ratification
of the Convention. The Convention enters into force on the first day of the month following the expiration of three months
after the deposit of the instrument of ratification. This is the date by which an adoption service provider must be accredited
or approved in order to offer adoption services in Convention adoption cases from the first day the United States is a Convention
country.
Following entry into force of the Convention, the Accrediting Entities will notify the State Department of newly-accredited/approved
adoption service providers as soon as each individual decision is made, and the State Department in turn will make these names
public and notify the Hague Permanent Bureau. Once an adoption service provider is notified by its Accrediting Entity that
it has been accredited or approved, it may publicize its accreditation/approval status.
We anticipate that the UND will be set at least one month before the Convention enters into force for the United States.
Adoption service providers accredited/approved after the UND but before entry into force will be eligible to provide adoption
services in connection with Hague cases when the Convention enters into force for the United States.
Under the U.S. transition case rules in the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, adoption service providers that are not
on the U.S. list of accredited/approved ASPs may continue to complete those cases in which the I-600A was filed prior to the
date the Convention goes into force under the current system. However, we cannot predict whether a particular country of
origin (COO) will change its case-processing rules for U.S. transition cases once the Convention enters into force for the
United States.
The Adoption Tracking System (ATS)
Finally, I would like to bring you up to date on our Adoption Tracking System (ATS). As early as possible – probably
sometime in January – candidate Hague adoption service providers will be given limited access to the system and will be able
to enter information on cases into the system. We will post the ATS user’s guide and helpful, practical information about
the system on our website well in advance of U.S. accession to the Convention. This will allow you and other candidate- adoption
service providers to familiarize yourselves with the terminology, understand the process flow of an individual case in ATS,
and learn what ATS does and does not do. We will be available to answer questions about the system, and will post answers
to FAQs on our web site. Following the UND, we will work with accredited/approved adoption service providers to provide appropriate
ATS access before the Convention enters into force for the United States.
Your comments and suggestions about the accreditation process are always welcome. Please send them to AdoptionUSCA@state.gov, the e-mail address we have designated specifically for Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention inquiries and issues.
In closing, I would like to thank you for your willingness to participate in this new process, for your enthusiasm in
doing the hard work needed to prepare for and follow-up a site visit, and for your constructive engagement as we work together
to achieve the shared goal of U.S. accession to the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention.
Sincerely,
Michele T. Bond
Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Overseas Citizens Services
