The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, known as "the Hague Convention" is an international agreement between countries that is designed to protect children adopted across national boundaries. The Hague Convention itself took place on May 29, 1993 in The Hague, Netherlands and many countries were in attendance. In 2000 both the House and Senate passed bills for implementation of the Hague Convention in the United States. The implementing legislation is known as the Intercountry Adoption Act (IAA) and was signed into effect by President Bill Clinton on October 6, 2000.
Currently, the Hague Convention has 68 member nations. The United States is still in the process of implementing the Hague Convention into US law and will become a member nation by late 2007 or early 2008.
The Hague Convention has two fundamental goals:
With the implementation of The Hague Convention, each country will have one central authority to monitor and oversee the intercountry adoption process. In the United States, the Department of State will be the authority for intercountry adoption and will regulate the process. Oversight from the Department of State is designed to ensure that parents will get the most accurate information regarding adoption and that adoption practices are ethical, with the needs of children placed above all else.
The Hague Convention also means that in order to provide adoption services between the US and another Hague Convention nation (such as China) adoption agencies will need to be accredited. Accreditation assures that adoption agencies follow strict guidelines in terms of accountability, ethical practice, record keeping and the provision of information to adoptive families.
We are so very happy to announce we received our notification from the Council on Accreditation (COA) that Great Wall China Adoption's application for Hague Accreditation was granted. We are very proud to be a part of this accomplishment and treaty whose goal is to protect the children of the world that may not be able to speak for themselves.
Thank you to all of our families for their support throughout the accreditation process.
Overall the adoption process will remain very similar. The only notable change will be required training prior to completing an adoption. Adoptive parents, including all Great Wall Families, who have a log-in-date (LID) after December of 2005 or those who are currently in the process will be required to complete 10 hours of training. The training is separate from the home study and will be an excellent opportunity for adoptive parents to learn about institutionalization, cultural issues, the health of orphans, attachment, bonding, and many more interesting topics.
In order to meet the training standards, Great Wall has developed a pre-adoption education curriculum for all families to complete before traveling to China. To ensure we have the documentation for all families, we have devised a schedule for LID groups to complete the training in plenty of time before their referral. We will notify each LID group, 3 months at a time, as their turn arrives, with a friendly reminder to complete the training.
You will be provided with more detailed information from your case manager on how to complete the training requirements in the near future.
If you have a question or comment about The Hague Convention and how it will affect your adoption please contact your case manager at Great Wall China Adoption.
For more information please visit the following websites:
