§14902 Definitions

Summary

Defines key words used in this chapter. It explains who and what the chapter is talking about when it uses certain terms. An accredited agency is an agency accredited under subchapter II to provide adoption services in the United States for cases under the Convention. An accrediting entity is the body named under section 14922(a) to accredit agencies and approve persons under subchapter II. An adoption service covers things like finding and arranging adoptions, getting required consents, doing background or home studies and reports, deciding a child’s best interests and placement, monitoring after placement until final adoption, and taking custody and care if a placement breaks down before finalization; “providing” also includes helping make the service happen. An agency means any person except an individual. An approved person is someone approved under subchapter II to provide adoption services in the United States for Convention cases. Attorney General, except in section 14944, means the Attorney General acting through the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization. A central authority is the body a Convention country names under Article 6(1). A central authority function is any duty the Convention requires that body to do. The Convention is the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co‑operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993. A Convention adoption is an adoption of a child living in a foreign Convention country by a U.S. citizen, or an adoption of a child living in the U.S. by someone living in another Convention country. A Convention record is any stored information (paper, electronic, photo, audio, video, etc.) about a specific past, current, or prospective Convention adoption that has been preserved under section 14941(a) by the Secretary of State or the Attorney General. A Convention country is a country that is a party to the Convention; an other Convention country is any Convention country except the United States. Person has the meaning in section 1 of title 1 and does not include a government agency or tribal government entity. 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, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.