Some things about Hague

By Joanna Billigmeier | October 21, 2008 |

The United States is part of an important treaty on intercountry adoption called the Hague convention on protection of children and cooperation in respect ofÂ inter-countryÂ adoption. This treaty governs adoptions between the United States and nearly 75 other countries.The Hague Adoption Convention protects children and their families against the risks of unregulated adoptions abroad, and ensures that intercountry adoptions are in the best interests of children. The Convention also serves to prevent the abduction, sale of, or traffic in children.

Agencies in the US thatÂ facilitateÂ adoptions from foreign Hague countries must be hague accredited. When our

previous Taiwan agency was unable to get Hague accredited, they were unable to stay open.Â

Some of the new rules for Hague families includes taking at least ten hours of training which include adoptive parenting, andÂ the possible medical and developmental issues adopted children face; It also includes more in-depthÂ

background checks.Â

The new Hague laws went into effect in April, and we were nervous that we would have toÂ

have a Hague approved homestudy for our China adoption, which would have meant a lot more paperwork and money, and possibly a disruption in our adoption. We were very excited last week to find out that after the joint council had advocated on behalf of adoptive families for six months, the USCIS ruled that adoptive families whose paperwork was filed before April, would be grandfathered in as long as they kept their paperwork up to date.

This is great news for us, and we are grateful to the joint council for all their work!

Posted in Adopting