The Schuster Institute
for Investigative Journalism

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The international community woke up to unethical adoptions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1989, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which included principles about preventing wrongful international adoptions. The United States has signed but not ratified this treaty, although in 2002 it did sign the CRC’s two optional protocols.

• CRC: The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography
• CRC: The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation In Respect of Intercountry Adoption

In 1993, 66 countries, including the United States, gathered at the Hague Conference on Private International Law to create the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation In Respect of Intercountry Adoption. To join the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, as it is known, a nation must commit itself to cooperate “to prevent the abduction, the sale of, or traffic in children” for international adoption. The United States signed the treaty in 1994.

• The Hague Guide to Good Practice, or more formally, The Implementation And Operation Of The 1993 Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention: Guide To Good Practice, was published in 2008. It offers advice on implementing the Convention in a way that most effectively accomplishes the treaty’s aims.

The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000

In 2000, the United States Congress ratified the Hague Convention by passing the Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA). The Hague Convention offers only a general outline of what signatories must do. Each nation writes its own laws to implement the Hague treaty’s requirements. In passing the IAA, Congress assigned the State Department the task of writing regulations, acting as the “central authority” mandated by the Hague, and overseeing the other specific requirements of the Hague Adoption Convention.

Department of State Hague regulations: 22 CFR Parts 96, 97, and 98

• Department of State Office of Children’s Issues adoption website.

Regulations

• 22 CFR 42.24 (Visas for Convention Adoptees)
• 22 CFR 96 (Accreditation Standards)
• 22 CFR 97 (Outgoing Cases)
• 22 CFR 98 (Convention Records)
• 22 CFR 99 (Reporting Requirements for Outgoing Cases)

On Feb. 15, 2006, the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues published its final Hague regulations in the Federal Register. These regulations lay out the standards that “adoption service providers” must meet in order to be accredited to arrange adoptions (or offer other related services) from countries that have enacted the Hague Adoption Convention. In accordance with the IAA, the Department of State assigned two private, nonprofit “accrediting entities” the task of reviewing adoption agencies to see whether they met the requirements for accreditation: the Council on Accreditation and the Colorado Department of Human Services (for agencies based in Colorado).

• Department of State Annual Adoption Report 2009

Council on Accreditation  

The Council on Accreditation is the only national organization that accepts adoption service providers’ (agencies and others) applications for accreditation to work on adoptions in countries that have signed the Hague Adoption Convention. CoA trains volunteers with professional experience in international adoption to review these application materials, conduct site visits, and assess applicants’ fitness for accreditation, in keeping with the materials above. CoA then accredits or denies those applications. For accredited providers, CoA assesses any complaints and reviews applications for re-accreditation. 

  Summary Decision
  Chart

  Application FAQs

  Fee Schedule

  Policies & Procedures
  Manual

  Temporary Hague
  Convention
  Accreditation
  Standards

  Hague Accreditation
  & Approval
  Guidelines

  Hague Accreditation
  & Approval
  Standards

  Tables of Evidence

  Understanding the
  Hague Accreditation
  and Approval
  Standards and the
  Substantial
  Compliance System

U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS)

The U.S. Department of State explains that “Children adopted from other countries must first obtain a U.S. visa before they can travel or move to the United States. Visas are issued at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the foreign country where a child resides. Since a child being adopted abroad by a U.S. citizen parent(s) will usually be brought to live in the United States, that child will need an immigrant visa.” 

  8 CFR Parts 103, 204,
  213a et al.
  Classification of Aliens
  as Children of U.S.
  Citizens Based on
  Intercountry
  Adoptions Under the
  Hague Convention;
  Interim Rule

Before issuing an immigrant visa for an American’s adopted child, however, the USCIS has the responsibility of assessing whether that child qualifies under the relevant sections of the U.S. Immigration & Nationality Act, 101(b). The USCIS summarizes “orphan processing” on their website.

This Classification defines the USCIS's regulations for processing adoption visas for children adopted from Hague-signatory countries.

If USCIS denies a visa application for an orphan from a non-Hague country, a U.S. citizen may appeal. The relevant regulations can be found in the USCIS’s Adjudicator’s Field Manual, §21.5 Petition for an Orphan, especially (d) Adjudication of Form I-600. If the adoption is from a Hague-signatory country, the Department of State is responsible for assessing whether the adoption was valid; if yes, USCIS will issue the visa, as is explained in the Adjudicator’s Field Manual §21.6 Petition for a Hague Convention Adoption.

Regulations (Department of Homeland Security)

• 8 CFR 103.7
• 8 CFR 204 (immigrant petitions)
• 8 CFR 213a (affidavits of support on behalf of immigrants)

Beyond adoption: how else does the
U.S. help needy children?

PL 109-95: Orphans and Vulnerable
Children Act, 2005

In 2005, Congress passed a law to track, add up, and coordinate the U.S. government’s wide variety of child-related foreign aid efforts. The resulting Special Advisor on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), based at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), holds regular coordinating meetings with the federal staff and agencies that have invested in children’s well-being outside the United States.

Many international child welfare groups back this office’s approach, and want to see it more fully funded. For instance, see the final paragraph on this page at Global Action for Children.

• Also see the OVC’s 2009 report on Orphans and Vulnerable Children.

Families for Orphans Act of 2009

In 2009, Sen. Mary Landrieu and Sen. James Inhofe, in the Senate, and Rep. Diane Watson, in the House, introduced a controversial bill that would create a new State Department office to promote “permanent parental care for orphans,” through technical assistance and other means.

Organizations in favor. A number of individuals and adoption & children’s services organizations have created a coalition in favor of the FFOA. Go to Kidsave's Families for Orphans Coalition to learn more about their position and their responses to the opposition, below.

Organizations opposed. A number of child welfare organizations oppose the FFOA. Some of their reasoning can be found below:

• Ad hoc coalition letter to legislators
• American Association of Adoption Attorneys (AAAA)
• Ethica
• Center for Adoption Policy (CAP)
• Holt International Children’s Services
• PEAR's FFOA Statement