China
Guatemala
Russia
Vietnam
India
Ethiopia
FTIA has developed this FAQ section to answer some commonly asked questions about the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) that is effective in the United States as of April 1, 2008.
The Hague Conference on Private International Law is an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague, Netherlands, the purpose of which is "to work for the progressive unification of the rules of private international law."
The Hague conventions cover a variety of topics. There are currently 39 Conventions dealing with a variety of topics. Only Convention No. 33 deals directly with intercountry adoption.
The Hague Adoption Convention seeks to set forth a uniform set of standards to strengthen protections for children, birthparents, and prospective adoptive parents in the adoption process. The Convention provides a framework for convention countries to work together to ensure that 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 final text of the Hague Adoption Convention, a multilateral treaty, was approved by 66 nations on May 29, 1993 at The Hague. On May 1, 1995, the Convention entered into force between the first three countries that ratified it: Mexico, Romania, and Sri Lanka. Over 70 countries have now joined/ratified the Convention.
The United States signed the Convention on March 31, 1994, signaling its intent to proceed with efforts to ratify the Convention. In 2000, both Houses of Congress passed bills for implementation of the Convention. President Clinton signed the IAA into law on October 6, 2000, and the next step of developing the implementation regulations began.
On February 15, 2006, the Department of State issued the final regulations on the Accreditation and Approval of Agencies and Persons to implement the Convention and the Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA) following analysis and consideration of approximately 1,500 public comments they received. Among other things, these regulations included guidelines for accrediting agencies involved in international adoption services.
The Hague Convention becomes effective on April 1, 2008 in the United States. Other countries have been working under the Convention since as early as 1995.
The Intercountry Adoption Act or IAA is the legislation passed by the United States Congress to implement the Hague Convention. The Hague Convention contains very general principals and the IAA and its regulations set forth how the Hague Adoption Convention will be applied in the United States.
The accreditation regulations published in February 2006 are designed to ensure that U.S. adoption agencies perform their duties in a manner that is consistent with the Convention and the IAA. Prospective adoptive parents should know that, in order to be accredited, their Convention/Hague accredited adoption service provider has been evaluated based on comprehensive standards contained in the accreditation regulations. As a general matter, all adoptions from Convention countries must involve a primary adoption service provider that is accredited.
The following are some of the areas evaluated for accreditation:
The US Department of State designated two accrediting entities to perform accrediting functions—the Council on Accreditation (COA) and the Colorado Department of Human Services. The Department of State will monitor these accrediting entities to ensure that each performs its functions in compliance with the Convention, the IAA and its implementing regulations, other applicable law, and the accrediting entity agreement with the Department.
FTIA has completed the Hague Accreditation process required of all U.S. international adoption agencies and was notified on February 29, 2008 that it has been fully accredited under 22 CFR Part 96 to provide adoption services in Hague Convention countries. FTIA's accrediting entity was the COA. February 29, 2008 was the uniform notification date for all agencies and FTIA was one of the 109 agencies on the initial list of fully accredited agencies.
Unlike many agencies, FTIA has been operating according to all defined accreditation guidelines since August, 2007. We did this so that we would be fully prepared to provide services to our families on the effective date of 4/1/08. As new processes are defined by the U.S. Department of State, FTIA is implementing them.
Currently Brazil, China, India, Guatemala and Panama are Hague Convention countries.
Ethiopia, Russia and Vietnam are not Hague Convention countries.
A list of all Hague countries can be found at the Hague Conference for Private International Law website.
The Hague Adoption Convention specifies that each member country must have a centralized entity which is in charge of supervising the adoption process. This entity is referred to as the Central Authority. The Central Authority may handle all adoption related issues itself or it may delegate certain functions to accredited agencies. In the United States, the Department of State is our Central Authority.
The most significant change will be more direct communications between the Central Authorities of each country. The Hague Adoption Convention requires that the Central Authority in both the sending and receiving country approve each international adoption prior to the finalization of the adoption.
China, Brazil, and Panama adoptions will not be significantly affected because all of these countries already have their internal processes in place under the Hague.
The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) is China’s Central Authority. Adoptions in China should not significantly change as the processes in China were largely already compliant with the Hague Treaty.
In Brazil, the Central Authority is the State Judicial Commision on Adoption or CEJA. Brazil has been operating under the Hague for several years already.
The National Direction of Adoptions or DNA is the Central Authority in Panama. Like Brazil, Panama has been operating under the Hague for several years and has a compliant system in place.
India is expected to continue to process adoptions under its current arrangements although it has announced a reorganization that will require all initial adoption approvals to come from the Central Adoption Resource Agency or CARA. Since CARA does not currently have the staff to handle this change, it is uncertain when any change in process will occur.
Guatemala has recently established the National Adoption Council (CNA) as its Central Authority but has not yet developed internal procedures for implementing the Hague Convention. FTIA (like all agencies) is unable to accept applications for its Guatemala program until the Guatemalan government enacts necessary regulations. Please see our Guatemala FAQ’s for more information.
Adoptions in Ethiopia, Russia and Vietnam will not be affected since these countries have not yet implemented the Hague Adoption Convention.
The I-600a (or Application for Advanced Processing of Orphan Petition) has been the form filed with USCIS to begin an international adoption. Any adoptions where either the I-600a or I-600 has been filed before April 1, 2008 will not be affected by the new regulations in the United States. The adoption will be processed under the regulations in effect at the time the I-600 or I-600a is filed.
Regardless of the US implementation policies, each foreign country has the option of requiring US adoptions to immediately conform to the requirements of the foreign country under the Hague Adoption Convention.
Adoptions with non-Hague countries will continue unchanged under the existing process.
The USCIS has initially created 2 new forms. The I-800a will replace the I-600a to initiate pre-approval of the adoptive parents under the Hague Convention. The I-800a can be downloaded from USCIS at:
Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country
The I-800 will replace the I-600 for adoptions with another Hague accredited country. Unlike the I-600, the I-800 will be filed in the United States prior to the finalization of the adoption in the foreign country. The I-800 is available on the USCIS website at:
Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative
We expect that additional new forms will be created by USCIS and DOS as needed to implement the Hague Adoption Convention.
Home Study agencies working with FTIA families must have agreements with FTIA to provide services according to Hague regulations. Families will need to check with FTIA before selecting a Home Study agency to assure that an agreement is in place or can be established. This is especially important since differences in adoption processes in each country may require different types of agreements between FTIA and the Home Study agency.
The Hague Convention requires that all adoptive parents complete 10 hours of training on specific issues in international adoptions. This can be completed through a local resource in your area whose training is approved by FTIA or through an online education system available from Heart of the Matter Seminars called “Because They Waited." In addition, parents will complete a workbook covering adoption laws in the sending country.
