§14902 Definitions

Summary

Defines key words used in this chapter about intercountry adoptions. "Accredited agency" is an agency approved under subchapter II to handle Convention cases in the United States. "Accrediting entity" is the group named in section 14922(a) that approves agencies and people under subchapter II. "Adoption service" covers things like finding a child for adoption, arranging the placement, getting parental consents, doing background and home studies and reports, deciding a child’s best interests and fit for a placement, monitoring the case until the adoption is final, and caring for or placing the child if the adoption breaks down before it is final. "Agency" means an organization or business, not an individual. "Approved person" is someone approved under subchapter II to provide adoption services in Convention cases. Except as noted in section 14944, "Attorney General" means the Attorney General acting through the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization. "Central authority" is the body a Convention country names under Article 6(1). "Central authority function" means any duty that body must perform under the Convention. "Convention" means the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption done May 29, 1993. "Convention adoption" is an adoption between the United States and another Convention country, in either direction. "Convention record" means any stored information about a specific Convention adoption (final or not) kept under section 14941(a) by the Secretary of State or the Attorney General. "Convention country" is a country that has joined the Convention; "other Convention country" means any of those countries except the United States. "Person" has the meaning in section 1 of title 1 and does not include government or tribal agencies. "Person with an ownership or control interest" has the meaning in section 1320a–3(a)(3). "Secretary" means the Secretary of State. "State" means the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.