By Debbie Wynne
Director, Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services
On Feb. 29, after years of hard work on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, government agencies, Congress, and the adoption community, the list of Hague accredited adoption service providers was announced. Buckner is pleased to be a part of the first agencies to receive this accreditation.
Hague Accreditation establishes safeguards to ensure intercountry adoption occurs in the best interest of children and families with the highest of integrity and ethics in practice. It is expected that The Hague will be in full force by April 2008.
Prospective adoptive parents who hope to adopt a child from another Hague country will need to be sure they select a placing agency or Primary Provider who is either Hague Accredited or a Supervised Provider. Adoptions with non-Hague countries will continue with no changes.
As a Director of a newly Hague accredited adoption service provider, it is exciting to see U.S. history being made. Not only will families be able to have greater confidence in how they are joined with their child through adoption, but also other countries will be able to see America’s commitment on a global level for providing protection and best practice in adoption of the world’s children.
The U.S. ratification of the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and The
Intercountry Adoption Act is a milestone 14 years in the making.
The U.S. signing of the Hague Convention of Children’s Rights in 1994 was the first step in the United States agreeing to establish a central authority in our government – the U.S. Department of State – to create a framework of cooperation between other Hague countries to ensure intercountry adoptions would be in the best interest of children by overseeing intercountry adoption practices. More than 60 countries have signed on to be Hague-accredited countries.
The basic premisesthat all Hague countries agree to include:
* Every child has the right to a permanent family, even when that family is in another country.
* Adoption of children between countries should take place based upon agreed procedures with the highest of ethics.
The signing of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 set forth U.S. regulations that adoption agencies would have to follow for intercountry adoption practice.
In 2007, the U.S. Department of State selected the accrediting bodies to oversee Hague Accreditation of U.S. adoption service providers: The Council on Accreditation and the State of Colorado. It is the responsibility of these groups to assess and monitor adoption providers to ensure they uphold the highest of standards for intercountry adoption programs.
In 2007, Buckner went through a rigorous evaluation process on our intercountry adoption practice in order to receive Hague accreditation. We updated our policies and procedures to ensure we met Hague requirements and then were evaluated during a multi-step process through record reviews, audits, and interviews by the Council on Accreditation.
View our Hague Accreditation Certificate (.pdf)
Click here to the Questions and Answers about Intercountry Adoption Practice and the Hague Convention.
Click here to read the news release.
