On Monday (1/28/13) President Obama signed the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act (UAA).
In eighteen months ALL agencies providing adoption services involving children emigrating from or immigrating to the US will be required meet the Hague Accreditation Standards.
Adoption STAR recognized the importance of these standards and was fortunate to be a part of the initial Hague Accreditation process, becoming one of the first accredited agencies and subsequently re-accredited through 2017.
The act has removed the distinction between Hague and non-Hague Adoption Service Provider requirements in convention or non-convention adoption cases. Now, all adoption cases will be required to meet the standards established by the Hague Convention. The intention is to provide assurance of ethical practice and conduct to all those involved in the adoption process regardless the Adoption Service Provider being used.
Additionally, non-convention adoption cases (adoption involving a Country which has not joined the Hague Convention/become Hague accredited) being conducted by previously accredited agencies like Adoption STAR will also fall under review by the accrediting entities and be subject to Hague standards. All agencies currently accredited or not will be impacted by the UAA and its expectations for the highest quality adoption practice.
Update on the Russian Adoption Ban
While not much has changed we would like to reiterate that so many are still pushing/encouraging that all families in process of adopting from Russia be permitted to complete their adoptions. This includes, the Department of State and other government officials.
The way things lie for those who wished to add a child from Russia to their family is that only those families who were in the 30 day wait period for their adoption by Jan 1. 2013 are those being allowed to finalize and bring their children home.
So far this is what is being seen and what has verbally been confirmed by the Russian Central Authority. Anyone who has met their child or been matched with a child but not yet completed their court hearing and started the 30 day wait period prior to Jan 1st does not fall within the parameters for those being approved to move forward by the Russian Central Authority. Many of these families are not wavering just yet, they are holding on to the hope that an agreement will be made to allow them to proceed and not leave their child without a family.
We will keep you posted and keep all of those in the process of adopting from Russian in our thoughts as they wait for more news to come…hopefully positive.
Read More on the Hague and International Adoption: Adoption STAR Hague Accreditation, International Adoption: A Global Orphan Crisis, An Introduction to International Adoption, Reuniting with Birth Families in International Adoptions, International Adoption Statistics, FAQ’s on International Adoption