In international adoption, prospective adoptive parents must work with a Hague Accredited or Approved Adoption Service provider. This is true for both relative and non-relative adoptions. To successfully attain Hague Accreditation or Approval, international adoption agencies must undergo a rigorous review by their accrediting entity to ensure substantial compliance with relevant U.S. law. To maintain Hague status, the agency has many compliance requirements that may not be immediately obvious to prospective adoptive parents.
Some agency requirements include reporting to their accrediting entity when they begin working in a country, entering contracts with providers in the foreign country who will facilitate certain aspects of the foreign adoption procedure, and supervising the foreign provider. Opening a new country program requires an enormous amount of work from an adoption agency. Once the country program is open, the agency will be responsible for reporting on that country and each individual case until the post-placement or post-adoption phase has been completed.
When a prospective adoptive family reaches out to Hague agencies interested in pursuing an intercountry adoption from a country, and especially from a country where intercountry adoption to the U.S. is not common, the family may find that agencies are unwilling or hesitant to take their case. This is especially true when a family is committed to a particular country where intercountry adoption is rare. It may be the case that there is no Hague agency willing to accept the case. Unfortunately, if there is no Hague agency open to taking the case, the family will not be able to proceed with an intercountry adoption and may need to consider alternative paths to immigration for the foreign-born child.
There are alternative means to immigration through adoption for foreign-born children though the eligibility criteria are different. If your family is having trouble identifying and locating a Hague agency to take you case, our firm would be happy to discuss any available alternative immigration paths for your family.