National Authority � The Hague Convention requires that each country designate a Central Authority to oversee international adoption. The U.S. Department of State has been designated as the U.S. Central Authority.

Accrediting Entity � each country must also designate entities to review and accredit service providers based upon their practices, financial stability, and expertise. The U.S. Department of State has initially selected 2 accrediting entities for this role: the Counsel on Accreditation and the Colorado Department of Human Services. The Council on Accreditation is an organization based in New York that partners with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting professional standards. The Colorado Department of Human Services is a state-supervised, county-administered provider of traditional social services, including programs such as public assistance and child welfare services. The Department of State has been monitoring these accrediting entities to ensure that each performs its functions properly.

Accredited Agencies (or Approved Agencies and Persons) - Adoption Service Providers providing adoption services to families adopting children from other countries that have also ratified and implemented the Hague must be accredited, or approved in order to provide adoption services. The accreditation regulations were published in the Federal Register in February 2006 and are designed to ensure that U.S. Adoption agencies perform their duties in a manner that is consistent with the Convention and the Intercountry Adoption Act. Standards of practice have been established with which adoption service providers must conform and which form the basis for accreditation of agencies or approval of persons. These standards of practice are based upon several key principles: to ensure that intercountry adoptions take place in the best interests of children; and to prevent the abduction, sale, or trafficking of children in connection with intercountry adoption.

The Accreditation Process � The transitional application deadline (November 17, 2006) is the date by which adoption service providers in the United States needed to submit an application if they wish to be accredited, temporarily accredited, or approved to handle Hague Convention adoptions when the Convention enters into force for the United States. The accrediting entities are in the process of accrediting agencies.  Most are expected to receive site visits by the accrediting entities in 2007 and some will take place in 2008.

Licensing and Corporate Governance - These standards relate to the adoption service provider's compliance with state licensing and similar requirements and to its corporate and internal structure and internal oversight mechanisms.

Financial and Risk Management - These budget, audit, insurance, risk assessment and compensation standards address issues such as disclosure of financial information, financial soundness, safeguards to prevent charitable donations from influencing child placement decisions, contingency planning, risk assessment, professional liability insurance, bonding of organization officials, disclosure of vendor relationships, and compensation methods and levels.

Ethical Practices and Responsibilities - These standards relate to the suitability of the organization to provide adoption services consistent with the Convention. Included are standards that address disclosure of information related to current and past practices of the organization and its individual directors, officers and employees and standards that address payments to birthparents and others in connection with adoptions.

Professional Qualifications and Training for Employees - These standards address the education, experience, and training of various personnel of the organization. The education and experience standards include standards relating to social work supervisors, certain non-supervisory social service employees, and home study and child background study preparers. The training standards for social service personnel include standards on orientation training, initial training, and continuing education.

Information Disclosure, Fee Practices, and Quality Control Practices - Standards on information disclosure primarily address disclosure to prospective clients of information such as agency policies and practices, supervised providers to be used, and the adoption services contract that the adoptive parents sign. The standards on fee policies and procedures focus on fee-related disclosures to prospective adoptive parents, including fee levels, purposes for which the fees are paid, and fee collection and refund policies and practices.

Responding to Complaints and Records and Reports Management - The standards on complaints primarily address complaint procedures and methods of improving adoption service delivery. The standards on retention, preservation, and disclosure of adoption records include standards on how adoption records are to be retained, safeguarded, accessed and, when necessary, transferred. The standards on case tracking, data management, and reporting focus on reporting of both case-specific and general information to the accrediting entity and the Department of State.

Service Planning and Delivery - These standards address the responsibilities of a primary provider, the use of U.S. and foreign supervised providers, and the use of other private foreign providers. The standards on primary providers relate primarily to the organization�s capacity to supervise.

Standards for cases in which a child is immigrating to the U.S. - These standards relate to the preparation of home studies, preparation and training of prospective adoptive parents, the provision of medical and social information, post-placement monitoring, and post-adoption services.

Standards for cases in which a child is emigrating from the U.S. - These standards relate to child background studies, birth parent consents, placement practices, preparation and transfer of the child, and post-placement duties.