§14923 Standards and Procedures for Providing Accreditation or Approval

Summary

Write rules that say how agencies get accredited and how people get approved to handle adoptions covered by the Hague Convention. The Secretary must make these rules after hearing from experts and groups with adoption experience and following the public rulemaking steps in title 5, section 553(b),(c),(d). A “background report (home study)” is the home study on prospective parents, including a criminal check and any extra statements needed by the child’s country. The rules must require that an agency meet several key conditions before it can be accredited. The agency must give parents the child’s medical records, with an English translation when possible, no later than 2 weeks before the adoption or before the parents travel to complete the adoption. The agency must complete and send the home study and criminal background check to the Attorney General. The agency must offer training and counseling to parents before placement or travel. Staff who work for pay must be paid on a fee-for-service basis, not by contingent fees. The agency must fully disclose its policies, disruption rates, and all fees. It must have enough trained staff, money, and organization; make sure clinical social work is done by qualified professionals; keep records, cooperate with reviews and audits, protect sensitive information; carry adequate professional liability insurance; and follow the Convention and other laws. Agencies must be private nonprofit organizations licensed in at least one State. A person approved under these rules must be a private for-profit entity that meets the same main requirements. Accreditation or approval lasts between 3 and 5 years and can be renewed. For a brief start-up period after the Convention takes effect, the Secretary may let smaller agencies register and operate even if they do not yet meet every rule: for 1 year if they handled fewer than 100 intercountry adoptions the prior year, or for 2 years if they handled fewer than 50. Those agencies must be state‑licensed nonprofits, have at least 3 years of intercountry adoption experience, provide required information to the U.S. Government, be actively seeking full accreditation, and have no record of improper conduct.